JESUS’ RESURRECTION
EVENTS AFTER THE DEATH OF JESUS
The events after the death of Jesus are:
1. The burial of Jesus (Mt 27:57-61, Mk 15:42-47, Lk 23:50-56, Jn 19:38-42).
2. The guard at the tomb (Mt 27:62-66).
3. The resurrection of Jesus (Mt 28:1-10, Mk 16:1-8, Lk 24:1-12, Jn 20:1-10).
4. The appearance to Mary Magdalene (Mk 16:9-11, Jn 20:11-18).
5. The appearance to two disciples (Mk 16:12-13, Lk 24:13-35).
6. The appearance to the disciples in Jerusalem (Lk 24:36-49, Jn 20:19-23)
7. The report of the guards (Mt 28:11-15)
JESUS’ RESURRECTION (Mt 28:1-10)
At the crucifixion and burial of Jesus, “There were also some women who watched from a distance; they had followed Jesus from Galilee and saw to his needs. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons” (Mt 27:55-56). Zebedee’s sons were James the Elder and John. Salome was their mother. “The other Mary,” mentioned in Matthew 28:1, was the mother of James the Less.
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary stayed at home during the Sabbath hours. After that, they brought spices and ointment to complete the anointing of Jesus’ body and, early on Sunday morning, they went to Jesus’ tomb. Inexperienced in late embalming, they were not very practical in their approach because they did not know how to remove the stone covering the tomb. Of course, though their purpose in visiting the tomb was to anoint Jesus’ body, they could not do it because he had risen to life before they arrived at the tomb.
Mary of Bethany had previously anointed Jesus’ body when he was alive. According to John 12:1-8, Lazarus and his sisters, Martha and Mary, gave a dinner for Jesus just six days before the Last Supper. During the dinner, “Mary took a pound of costly perfume made from genuine nard and anointed the feet of Jesus, wiping them with her hair. And the whole house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume” (v 3). When Judas Iscariot demurred, “This perfume could have been sold for three hundred denarii and the proceeds given to the poor” (v 5), Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Was she not keeping it for the day of my burial?” (v 7) Jesus seemed to have a premonition that the proper anointing of his body would not happen after his death.
Matthew reports that there was an earthquake before the two women arrived at Jesus’ empty tomb. An angel of the Lord who descended from heaven had rolled the stone covering Jesus’ tomb. That angel was sitting on the stone. Jesus himself, of course, didn’t need the stone rolled away for exiting the tomb because in his glorified body he could pass through walls.
A group of women arrived at Jesus’ tomb. Two of them came first. According to Luke, “Among the women who brought the news were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James” (Lk 24:10). The Angel of the Lord was visible as “a young man dressed in a white robe” (Mk 16:5) or “two men in dazzling garments” (Lk 24:4). He was God’s answer to their question among themselves: “Who will roll back the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” (Mk 16:3) The women could not open the tomb by themselves.
The Bible does not give the name of the angel. Scholars guess it must be Angel Gabriel, who had been communicating on the incarnation of Christ. However, Luke mentions two angels (Lk 24:4). Angels were present during the momentous events of Jesus’ life like his birth, at the end of his temptation, in the Garden of Gethsemane, and at the time of his resurrection. At the empty tomb, there might have been many angels present; but only one or two were visible.
According to Matthew, the angel’s “appearance was like lightning and his garment white as snow” (Mt 28:3). When Prophet Daniel saw an angel, “his face had the brilliance of lightning” (Dan 10:6). This angel on the stone had a similar appearance. During the transfiguration of Jesus, “even his clothes shone, becoming as white as no bleacher on earth could bleach them” (Mk 9:3)!
“The guards were so terrified at his sight that they shook with fear and became like dead men” (Mt 28:4). They were terrified at the extraordinary scenes, including the appearance of the Angel of the Lord. They might have fainted and fallen to the ground and seemed as if dead before they probably fled the place, stunned!
The women did not ask the angel anything. The angel could guess their inner thoughts from their reaction at the sight of the empty tomb, the terrified soldiers, and the angel. So, the angel said, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen as he said. Come, see the place where they laid him” (Mt 28:5-6). Just as the angels announced Jesus’ birth in a field in Bethlehem, the angels announced his resurrection in a garden in Jerusalem. Though the women were afraid of the scene, unlike the guards, they were Jesus’ friends, and they had nothing to fear, as the angel said.
The angel invited the women to inspect the empty tomb which they had seen on Friday. “Frightened, the women bowed to the ground. But the men said, ‘Why are you looking for the living among the dead?’” and reminded them of the prophecy of Jesus on his resurrection (Lk 24:5-7). After they finished their inspection, the angel commissioned them to communicate the good news to Jesus’ disciples, including Peter (Mk 16:7). The angel specified Peter’s name because he was the team leader and to pacify him from his guilt feeling of denying Jesus three times during the trial.
Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, Joanna, and the other women in the party met the eleven apostles and announced the good news of the Lord’s resurrection. “But however much they insisted, those who heard did not believe the seemingly nonsensical story” (Lk 24:11).
Peter and John ran to the tomb to verify the women’s message. Since John was younger than Peter, John reached the tomb first. He waited for Peter to go in first. They identified the burial clothes in the tomb and believed in the resurrection. According to Jewish law, the witness of two people was enough to determine the truth.
Stealing the body was not a possibility, especially without burial cloths, because the thieves will not get enough time to undo the burial cloths wrapped several rounds on the corpse. Besides, the napkin that covered the face was folded. That will not be a normal action of robbers who act in a hurry. Jesus’ appearance later confirmed the resurrection to the disciples, and he convinced them by eating with them.
RESURRECTION AND HOLY TRINITY
The resurrection of Jesus is an act of the Most Holy Trinity. All the three persons of God involved in Jesus’ resurrection according to the Bible. St. Paul writes, “Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father” (Rom 6:4). Examples of other references of God the Father raising Jesus are Acts 2:32; 2:24; 10:40; 13:30 and Galatians 1:1. Jesus himself came back to life according to John 2:19: “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” In John 10:18, Jesus said that he had the power to lay his life down, and power to take it up again. Paul in Romans 8:11 and Peter in 1 Peter 3:18 specify that the Spirit of God raised Jesus from the dead. Thus, we see the involvement of all persons of the Most Holy Trinity in the resurrection of Jesus.
RESURRECTION ON THE THIRD DAY
Third day does not mean 72 hours or three full days. Jews of Jesus’ time counted even a part of the day as one day. So, the death of Jesus at 3:00 P.M. on Friday and burial before 6:00 P.M. on the same day was the first day. Friday from 6:00 P.M. to Saturday, 6:00 P.M. was the second day. Early morning before sunrise on Sunday was the third day. Thus, Jesus rose early morning on the third day.
RESURRECTION APPEARANCES
Jesus had appeared to his disciples “during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3). The following are the recorded appearances of Jesus after his resurrection:
1. To Mary Magdalene in Jerusalem on the Resurrection Sunday (Jn 20:11-18, Mk 16:9-11).
2. To a group of women in Jerusalem on Resurrection Sunday as the Synoptic gospels present: “Mary Magdalene and the other Mary” (Mt 28:1,9), “Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James, and Salome” (Mk 16:1), “Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James; the others who accompanied them” (Lk 24:10).
3. To Simon Peter in Jerusalem on the Resurrection Sunday (Lk 24:34, 1 Cor 15:5).
4. To Cleopas and his companion on the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus on the Resurrection Sunday (Lk 24:13-35).
5. To ten apostles, excluding Thomas, in Jerusalem on the Resurrection Sunday (Jn 20:19-25).
6. To the eleven apostles, including Thomas, in Jerusalem on the eighth day after the Resurrection (Jn 20:26-29).
7. To seven disciples, “Simon Peter, Thomas called Didymus, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, Zebedee’s sons, and two others of his disciples” (Jn 21:2), who were fishing at the Sea of Tiberias in Galilee within weeks after the resurrection and before the ascension on the fortieth day.
8. To the eleven disciples at a mountain in Galilee within a few weeks after the resurrection (Mt 28:16-20).
9. To “more than five hundred brothers at once” (1 Cor 15:6) and to James (1 Cor 15:7). Its location is unknown, and it happened within weeks after the resurrection.
10. To the apostles in Jerusalem and Jesus led them to the Mount of Olives just before his ascension on the fortieth day (Lk 24:50-52, Acts 1:4-9).
DIFFICULTY TO RECOGNIZE JESUS DURING THE RESURRECTION APPEARANCES
People doubted when they saw the Risen Lord for two reasons. They did not expect the resurrection of Jesus, despite his several predictions of the same. Since the risen body had distinctive features, the disciples had difficulty in recognizing the Risen Lord and suspected him to be a gardener, some traveler, or even a ghost!
1. When the Risen Lord first appeared to Mary Magdalene, she did not know it was Jesus and thought it was the gardener. Only when Jesus called her by name, she recognized him (Jn 20:14-16).
2. When the Risen Lord joined the two disciples going to Emmaus, “their eyes were prevented from recognizing him” (Lk 24:16). They thought he was a pedestrian like them. While dining, Jesus blessed the bread, broke it, and gave it to them. “With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight” (Lk 24:31).
3. In Jerusalem, when Jesus appeared to the disciples who were talking about his resurrection appearances, “they were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost” (Lk 24:37). “They were still incredulous for joy and were amazed” (Lk 24:41). Jesus ate baked fish in front of them to convince them that he was real and not a ghost (Lk 24:42-43). “Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures” (Lk 24:45).
4. When Jesus appeared to seven of his disciples at the Sea of Tiberias while they were fishing, they did not realize that it was Jesus (Jn 21:4). At his question, “Children, have you caught anything to eat?” (Jn 21:5) they thought he was a customer who had come to buy fish from them. Later, John recognized Jesus and told Peter that it was Jesus (Jn 21:7).
The reason for difficulty in recognizing the Risen Lord was because of his transformed body. Though Jesus raised Lazarus (Jn 11:1-44), the son of the widow in Nain (Lk 7:11-17), and Jairus’ daughter (Lk 8:49-56), they came back to life with their natural body. However, the risen body of Jesus was different and perfect without limitations of the physical laws. That was why he could appear and disappear like angels and could enter through locked doors (Jn 20:19).
The resurrected body of Christ is a sign for the redeemed on how their imperfect earthly body would be transformed in the heavenly realm. The body of the Risen Jesus was different in appearance and characteristics. However, he was also close to how he looked like during his public ministry. That was why the disciples, though misunderstood first, could recognize him, and were convinced that he had risen from the dead.
According to Paul’s first letter to Corinthians 15:40-49, the heavenly bodies are bright, incorruptible, glorious, powerful, spiritual, heavenly, and bear the image of the heavenly one. Though they can be recognizable, their bodies would be different and perfect.
DIFFICULTY BELIEVING IN THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS
The disciples had difficulty in believing the resurrection of Jesus.
1. When Mary Magdalene who saw the Risen Lord reported that to the disciples of Jesus, they did not believe it (Mk 16:9-11). According to Luke, “Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James; the others who accompanied them also told this to the apostles, but their story seemed like nonsense and they did not believe them” (Lk 24:10-11).
2. When the two disciples who went from Jerusalem to Emmaus returned to Jerusalem and reported their experience of seeing the Risen Lord, the apostles did not believe them (Mk 16: 12-13).
3. “Later, as the eleven were at table, he appeared to them and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart because they had not believed those who saw him after he had been raised” (Mk 16:14).
4. When Thomas came to know from the other apostles that the Risen Lord had appeared to them, he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nail marks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe” (Jn 20:25).
5. As recorded in ‘Acts’, Jesus had to prove to people that he had indeed risen from the dead. “He presented himself alive to them by many proofs after he had suffered, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3).
The doubt of the disciples and several post-resurrection appearances of Jesus contributed as proof of the Lord’s resurrection.
REFLECTION
Our faith in Jesus and afterlife is based on the resurrection of Jesus. “If Christ has not been raised, then empty too is our preaching; empty, too, your faith” (1 Cor 15:14). Let us remember that our final destination in life is in heaven, that Jesus has opened for us. The short-term goals and actions must be based on the goal of eternal joy.