The Jerome Bible Commentary, book by book

Passion 15:
Resurrection of Jesus the Messiah

The Resurrection
Events of the Resurrection
The Apparitions and Revelations of Jesus Himself
The Resurrection Authenticated
Resurrection Questions
 

The "Testament of Jesus" on His resurrection
The "Testament of Jesus" in His Apparitions
The 14 "Stations of Joy", From the Resurrection to Pentecost
  

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ:

    Jesus Christ resurrected on Eastern Sunday, the third day after his death and burial. This is a plain fact stated very clearly in the four Gospels. He is the only founder of a great religion who resurrected, as the Holy Scriptures testify, and as all the Christians believe. Mohamed and Buddha and Confucius did not resurrect, as their Holy Scriptures testify, and as their faithful believe… and, of course, Abraham and Moses did not resurrect, nor Lao-Tze, nor any Hindu founder, nor Zoroaster, nor Guru Nanak…

    The last chapter of each Gospel tell the story of the resurrection of Jesus and his apparitions, and the Gospel of John dedicates the last two chapters to it … Probably, the most important chapters in the whole Bible are Mt.28, Mk.16, Lk.24, and Jn.20 and 21, because they tell the most important event in human history, the Resurrection of Jesus the Messiah from the dead, capstone of the whole Bible.

    In the Book of Acts, the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead was the one unvarying refrain of the Apostles who presented themselves over and over as the witnesses of the Resurrection of Christ (Act.2:24,31,32, 3:15,4:2,10, 33, 5:30, 9:3-6, 10:40, 13:30-37, 17:3,18,31, 22:6-12, 24:15,21, 26:8,23). 1Cor.15, is a great chapter on the Resurrection of Christ.

    Out of the Bible, the best prove of the Resurrection of Jesus is each one of the millions of Christians, in whom Jesus dwells… alive!… because he resurrected!… and the Resurrection of Jesus is unhesitatingly one of the best established facts in the history of mankind... the Annals of the Roman Emperors, specially Tiberius, record the existence of a sect of the so called Christians, who claimed to be the followers of Jesus the Messiah crucified, and the witnesses of his Resurrection, with thousands of them dying martyrs for their faith.

    It is curious and important the fact that his disciples were not expecting it, though Jesus had repeatedly and plainly told them he would rise on the third day after his death (Mt.16:21, 17:9,23, 20:19, 26:32, 27:763, Mk.8:31, 9:31, Lk.18:33, 24:7)… they may have taken his words as a symbolism or a parable, but the fact is that they were totally unprepared to even think in his resurrection:

    Mary Magdalene took Jesus at first for the gardener, and when she and the woman reported to the Eleven and to the rest that Jesus had risen, they thought of it as "an idle tale", as "pure nonsense", and they did not believed them (Lk.24:9-11, Mk.16:9-11). When the Two from Emmaus told the Eleven that Jesus had appeared to them, "they did not believe them" (Mk.16:13)…. and even when Jesus appeared to them on Easter, they thought he was a ghost, so he invited them to look closely to his hands, feet and side, and to "handle" him, end even more, Jesus had to ask for food and eat it before them! (Lk.24:36-43, Jn.20:20).

    So, it is curious to notice that the disciples were not expecting Jesus to resurrect, they could not believe it, they eventually came to believe it in spite of themselves. And this is important, because it renders untenable any possibility that the story was born of an exciting and expecting imagination.

    We didn't mentioned the story of the gloomy, doubting, Thomas, who was not in the first apparition to the disciples, and he did not believe till he personally saw Jesus a week later (Jn.20:24-29)… and we use to call Thomas the gloomy and doubtful, but actually all of the Apostles were in the same boat!, praise the living Jesus Christ!.

The Events of the Resurrection:
   1- Pilate's sealing and guarding the tomb (Mt.27:62-66).
    2- Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, Salome, Joanna and other women start for the tomb (Mt.28:1, Lk.23:55-24:1).
    3- On early Sunday: The earthquake, the stone rolled away by the angel, the open tomb, and the terror of the Roman guards (Mt.28:2-4).
    4- The report of the guards to the chief priests (Mt.28:5-6).
    5- The chief priests' bribe to the Roman guards (Mt.28:12-13).
    6- The Roman guards spread the lie that Christ's body was stolen (Mt.28:15).
    7- The women see the open tomb, and the message of the angels (Mt.28:2-7, Lk.24:2-8, M.16:3-8, Jn.20:1-2).
    8- The recovery of the grave clothes by Peter and John (Jn.20:3-8). The Shroud of Turin is a great relic constantly studied and visited in our times.
    9- The Apparitions and Revelations of the risen Lord: Next Section.

The Apparitions and Revelations of the Risen Lord:
   1- To Mary Magdalene (Jn.20:11-18, Mk.16:9): She recognized the Lord by his word "Mary".
    2- To women returning from the tomb (Mt.28:8-10).
    3- To Peter later in the day (Lk.24:34, 1Cor.15:5).
    4- To the Two Emmaus disciples (Lk.24:13-33): They recognized Jesus in the Eucharist, in the "fraction of the bread".
    5- To the 10 Apostles in Jerusalem, on Easter Sunday, with Thomas absent (Lk.24:36-43, Jn.20:19-24).
    6- To the 11 Apostles in Jerusalem, one week later, with Thomas present (Jn.20:26-29).
    7- To seven Apostles, by the Lake of Tiberias, in Galilee (Jn.21:1-23).
    8- To 500 brothers and sisters on a Galilean mountain (1Cor.15:6).
    9- To James (1Cor.15:7).
    10- To the Eleven in Galilee (Mt.28:16-20, Mk.16:14-20, Lk.24:33-53, Act.1:3-12).
    11- At the Ascension (Act.1:3-12).
    12- To Paul, in his way to Damascus (Act.9:3-6, 1Cor.15:15:8).
    13- To Paul in the temple (Act.22:17-21, 23:11).
    14- To John in Patmos (Rev.1:10-19).
    15- The statements of Act.1:3, 10:41, and 13:31 imply the possibility that he had made many appearances beside those recorded… many theologians believe that the first appearance of Jesus was to his Mother Mary, though it is not recorded in the Gospels.

The Resurrection Authenticated:

    The Resurrection of Jesus the Messiah from the dead is one of the best authenticated facts in the Bible, and in the history of humankind.
    The four Gospels report it at the dawn of Sunday (the first day of the week), or very early in he morning of Sunday, which henceforth would be called the Day of the Lord (Mt.28:1, Mk.15:2, Lk.24:1, Jn.20:1).

    These are some important facts of the overwhelming evidence:

    1- The certainty of Christ's death and burial (Jn.19:34-42, Mk.15:42-47).
    2- Pilate's sealing and guarding the tomb (Mt.27:62-66).
    3- The Roman soldiers and the chief priests' ironical, but important, testimony:
    - The violent earthquake and the terror of the Roman guards who trembled in fear and became like death men when they saw the angel with the appearance like lightning and his garments white like snow, who rolled the stone and sat on it. And all of this is the report of the Roman soldiers (Mt.28:2-4).
    - The report of some of the Roman guards to the chief priests of what had happened (Mt.28:11).
    - The chief priests' bribe to the Roman soldiers: They gave them a sum of money, with this instruction: "Say that the
disciples came by night while you were asleep, and stole the body of Jesus. If Pilate comes to know of this, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble" (Mt.28:12-14).
    - The Roman soldiers spread the lie that Christ's body was stolen (Mt.28:15).
    4- The "open tomb" discovered by the women: Mary Magdalene is mentioned in the four Gospels. Besides her, Mary the mother of James, Salome, Joanna, and others (Mt.28:1, Mk.16:1, Lk.24:10, Jn.20:1)… the woman had a problem: They were worried about how to remove the very big stone… and another problem they didn't know about: The Roman soldiers guarding the tomb!. When they arrived both problems were gone: The stone had been rolled away by the angel, and the roman soldiers were gone in terror, leaving the tomb open (Mk.15:3-4).
    5- The empty tomb, and the burial clothes of Jesus in it: When the woman, and later, Peter and John, entered the tomb, they found it empty, but the linen cloths were there lying flat, and the napkin which had been around his head was not lying flat like the other linen cloths, but lay rolled up in a separate place (Jn.20:5-7, Mk.15:5, Lk.24:2-3).
    6- The messages of the angel: "The angel said to the women: "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he is risen as he said… Remember what he told you in Galilee, that the Son of Man had to be given into the hands of sinners, be crucified, and rise on the third day". And they recalled Jesus' words" (Mt.28:5-6, Mk.16:5-7, Lk.24:5-8).
    6- The fifteen Apparitions and revelations of Jesus himself, mentioned above.
    7- The miracle of the Christian faith, with personal regeneration of billions of persons, willing even to die to proclaim the living Jesus in them.
    8- The Annals of the Roman Empire, with thousands of Christian Martyrs witnesses of the Resurrection of Jesus the Christ. 

1- Jesus resurrected at the third day:
   Question: The Gospel says that the Son of Man will spend three days and three nights in the depths of the earth, comparing the death of Jesus to the story of Jonah (Mt.12:40). But Jesus died on Good Friday at 3 PM and resurrected on Easter Sunday early in the morning (Mk.15:25, 34, 37, 16:9).
    Answer: Jesus resurrected "on the third day" (Lk.24:7): The Orientals reckon any part of the day as a whole day (Esther 4:16, 5:1, 15:1). Thus, one whole day and two parts of two days, along with two nights would popularly style as "three days and three nights". Such usage is seen elsewhere in the Scriptures. "The third day" of Mt.27:64 is used as being identical with "after three days" of Mt.27:63. The Gospels use both expressions meaning the same, from Friday afternoon to Sunday morning: "After three days", on Mt.27:3, Mk.8:31, 10:34, Jn.2:19. And "the third day", Mt.16:21, 17:23, 20:19, 27:64, Lk.9:22, 24:7,21,46.

2- Was it a hallucination?:
   It is impossible to say it was the imagination of the woman, plus the imagination of the two of Emmaus, plus the imaginations of the apostles who did not wanted to believe it, as mentioned above… How could a doubting Thomas have an hallucination, or 500 imagine something at the same time? (Jn.20, 1Cor.15:6).

3- Was the Body of Jesus stolen at night, as the soldiers claimed? (Mt.28:15):
    The only report we have on this issue is the Gospel of Matthew, who says clearly that the soldiers were bribed by the chief priests' to tell a lie (Mt.28:11-15). And certainly his Body was not stolen: If his enemies had done so, they would have produce it. If his friends had done so, they would had not been willing to die for it, preaching a lie.

4- Was that a hoax?:
   Not at all!. How one then account for the wonderful change in all the disciples from deepest gloom to radiant joy, cowardice to valor, timid disciples to powerful witnesses of the Resurrection of Jesus the Messiah?.

5- The Apparitions at Jerusalem or Galilee?:
   Jesus appeared many times to his disciples. None of the Gospels tries to tell us about all the apparitions. On 1Cor.15 some apparitions are reported not included in the Gospels. Matthew gives the apparitions at Galilee, John the apparitions at Jerusalem and one at Galilee… no contradictions at all!.

6- The women, how many?:
   They are mentioned in the four Gospels. No one is trying to give a complete account.
    - Magdalene is mentioned in the four Gospels, and the only one mentioned by John (20:1-3).
    - Mary, the mother of James and Joses, is called "the other Mary" in Mt. (Mt.28:1-8, Mk.16:1-8, Lk.24:1-11).
    - Salome, mother of James and John (Mk.16:1-8).
    - Joanna, wife of Herod's steward (Lk.24:1-11).
    - "Other women" (Lk.24:1-11).
    In all, a half a dozen, or possibly a dozen or even more.

    All the activity of the women and Peter and John around the tomb happened in less than an hour's time. It was all excitement and in a hurry: The first sight of the empty tomb, and the angel announcement that Jesus had risen, threw them into wild excitement.
    They run to tell others, hurrying back and forth in alternate joy, fear, anxiety, wonder and bewilderment. One Gospel tells one thing, another, another thing. One gives in a sentence what another gives in detail, or in a general statement cover various incidents. No one gives a complete account, and probably many other things happened that are not recorded.

7- How many angels, one or two?:
   - "An angel" sitting upon a stone, outside the tomb (Mt.28:2-7).
    - "A young man", inside the tomb, when the woman entered into the tomb (Mk.16:5).
    - "Two men" inside the tomb (Lk.24:4).
    - Magdalene, "two angels" inside the tomb (Jn.20:12).
    - When Peter and John went into the tomb, no angels, just the clothes (Jn.20:3-9, Lk.24:12).

    Again, nether Gospel tries to give a complete account. There were several women, who went to the tomb at different times, and sometimes one angel was visible, other times two. Luke mentions only Peter going into the tomb, John mentions both, Peter and John. No discrepancies, just different accounts of the real fact of the resurrection of Jesus.

8- The records tampered with?:
   Question: Could it not be that the resurrection was a later addition to the story of Jesus Christ, invented years later to glorify a dead hero?.
    Answer: Not at all: It is known from historical records, inside and outside the Bible, that the Christians came into existence in the reign of Tiberius, and that what brought them into existence was their belief that Jesus had risen from the dead. The Resurrection was not a later addition to the Christian faith, but the very cause and start of it. They rested their faith, not on records, but on what they had seen with their own eyes. The records were the result of their faith, not the cause of it. Had there been no resurrection, there would have been no New Testament, and no Church.

    What a halo of glory this simple belief sheds on human life. Our hope of resurrection and life everlasting is based, not on a philosophic guess about immortality, but an historical fact. Praise the Lord!.

    It is notorious, however, the problem of the divergences between the accounts of the Resurrection appearances in the four Evangelists... and, paradoxically, this may be one the best proves of "not tampering". If they would have try to tamper it, they certainly would have done a much better human work!. And the many "divergences" do not have any "contradiction"  as shown in the above harmonization of the Resurrection facts. Glory to God.

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