Luke 24 consists of a series of resurrection appearances of Jesus to various of his followers and culminates in his ascension (v. 51). Unlike the passion narrative, where there is fairly close agreement, the resurrection narratives of the Gospels diverge widely. Where the Gospels come the closest is in the telling of the discovery of the empty tomb (Luke 24:1–12). The reason for this is that this is the part of the narrative that Mark preserves (16:1–8). Since Mark breaks off rather abruptly with the frightened women at the tomb speaking to no one, the other evangelists have no common guide; hence they diverge. (Matthean and Lucan divergence in their respective infancy narratives is analogous.) Unlike the account of Jesus’ arrest, trial, and crucifixion where apologetic concerns made it ne…