Perspectives on the Ending of Mark: Four Views

by David Alan Black

There seems to have been a reluctance from the beginning to tell of Jesus' Christophany to Peter, especially if it was independent of a general appearance to the Eleven or if it occurred first. But some echoes of the tradition have survived. In Luke, Cleopas and his companion are keen to relate to the disciples that they have just witnessed the risen Christ in Emmaus, only to be informed that these two, otherwise unknown, followers, were not the first to see him; they are told that he has “already appeared” to Simon (Peter) but the episode itself is not included. Paul, despite his rivalry with Peter expressed through his letters,29 is also aware of this private Christophany first to Peter (1 Cor 15:5). Obviously, an appearance of the risen Christ to Peter was so well known that reference to it could not have been expunged entirely from the tradition, but it is mysterious that no record of the encounter has survived.