All four Gospels tell the story of the resurrection of Jesus, with John's being much more detailed than the others. The accounts vary in details, differing according to the perspective of the source who told it to the evangelists. (John's account varies from the others' because he was a Gospel writer who was also an eyewitness.) But the main outline is that at dawn following the Sabbath, myrrh-bearing women made their way to the tomb where Jesus had been interred, sealed by a huge stone.

When they got near, they saw the stone rolled away, and an angel glowing like lightning greeted them and told them Jesus was not there, but had risen as he had foretold. The angel also said they should tell the Eleven (Judas having hanged himself after realizing the gravity of his sin in betraying his Lord), and should return to Galilee, where he would come to them.

Some skeptics point out that the resurrection and its aftermath get fewer verses in the Gospels than many other events, including the crucifixion, to suggest that this may be an addition to the story of Jesus appended later. The church's traditional answer to this doubt is two-fold. First, Jesus' resurrection was foretold many times in the other sections of the Gospels; the prophesies about Jesus' life and passion were fulfilled when he arose. And second, the raising of Jesus was the precursor of the raising of his other, larger, body, the church, which was the point of all of his stories or events.