The Post-Resurrection Appearances
"Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which
are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to
believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing
you may have life in his name." (John
20:30-31)
The Roman historian, Tacitus, who wrote about 50 years after the Crucifixion,
explained to his readers who these Christians were, on whom the Emperor Nero had
blamed the great fire of Rome in 64 AD.
"Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty
during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius
Pilate, and a deadly superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out,
not only in Judea, the first source of the evil, but also in the city of Rome
where all things hideous and shameful from all parts of the world meet and
become popular."
That "deadly superstition" was of course that Jesus was the Son of
God, and that he had risen from the dead.
The stories of Jesus' appearances to his disciples after the Resurrection
fall into two groups - the appearances in Jerusalem, and the appearances in
Galilee. The original ending of Mark's gospel, the first to be written, includes
no post-resurrection appearances. Matthew's gospel describes Jesus' appearance
in Galilee in fulfillment of his words to Mary Magdalene. Luke's gospel
describes Jesus' appearances to the disciples in Jerusalem. And John's gospel
cites appearances in both places. Like the story of the empty tomb, the stories
of Jesus' appearances to his disciples after the Resurrection became important
only as the Church grew. As one writer put it, "The Resurrection is not
itself an historical event in the modern sense of the expression, but is rather
an attempt to understand the course taken by events after the death of
Jesus." (The Living Pulpit, March 1998, p.12)
Now the Bible has several stories of people being raised from the dead -
resuscitated - restored to physical life. But this is not what the early
Christians claimed about Jesus. Shockingly, they claimed that he had overcome
death - and that he had risen with a "spiritual" body, a
"resurrection" body - and at the same time he was both
"recognizable " as Jesus, but somehow changed. Remember that in John's
story of the resurrection, Mary Magdalene thought he was the gardener, and in
Luke's gospel that the disciples on the road to Emmaus thought him a fellow
traveler, and again in the gospel we read this morning, that Jesus showed the
disciples his hands and his side in order to confirm to them who he was. After
the resurrection, Jesus appeared only to his disciples, but they did not always
recognize him immediately. They knew him, not by sight, but by his voice, his
touch, and his fellowship with them in the breaking of the bread. They
recognized his presence among them - the presence which the Jews referred to as
the "Shekinah" - the presence of God.
What then evolved from this amazing story was the promise that all who were
followers of Christ would participate in this "resurrection" and would
gain eternal life. The details of the theology evolved over three centuries
until the time of the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D., but those who followed
Christ as Lord went to their deaths in the first three centuries convinced that
they would join Jesus in heaven. Listen to the end of the story of the stoning
of Stephen in Acts:
"But filled with the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory
of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. "Look," he said,
"I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of
God!"… While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, "Lord Jesus,
receive my spirit." (Acts
7:55-60)
What made the Resurrection story believable was not that there were undeniable
facts - no one could prove that Jesus had risen from the dead or that they had
seen Him - after all he appeared only to His disciples - but rather that the
followers of Jesus changed. They were scattered and intimidated at the time of
the Crucifixion, and within months they were preaching the kingdom of God,
proclaiming Jesus as Lord and Son of God, and recruiting others to be followers
of the Way. Contrast, if you will, the story of Jesus' appearance that we read
in John today,
"When it was evening on that day (the day of the Resurrection), the
first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met
were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said,
"Peace be with you." (John
20:19)
and the following section from Acts describing Peter's actions at Pentecost,
less than two months later in Jerusalem:
"Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in
the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive
the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you, for your children, and
for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him."…
So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three
thousand persons were added." (Acts 2:
38-41)
Fifteen years ago, I attended a class taught by Wayne Meeks, a classical
scholar from Yale, on the growth of the Christian Church in the first three
centuries. I was there as an interested observer and skeptic, listening to his
detailed description of how the Christian Church spread throughout the Roman
Empire. What struck me most profoundly at that time was his statement that there
was no reason why Christianity should have become the institutional church of
the Roman Empire. Looking back, he said, it would be more likely to have
expected the worship of Mithras to have lasted 2000 years, than some offshoot of
Judaism, which should have been confined to the deserts of Palestine. There is
no discernible reason, he said, why Christianity would be adopted by the Romans
- its premises were significantly different from those of the Greco-Roman
religion which had held sway over the Mediterranean world for centuries. It
struck me then what an amazing statement that was from one who was an expert in
the culture of the ancient world. From all the ways we understand cultural
change, it should never have happened. The Greeks and the Romans believed that
the world was ruled by the whims of capricious gods. Death was final -
immortality was only for the gods, and perhaps some noble spirits who lived in a
shadowy afterworld. The Christian belief in the Resurrection turned the Roman
world upside down.
"What is truth?" Pilate asked Jesus during the trial before His
Crucifixion. The truth of the Easter story is that the followers of Jesus
changed the world. They lived their lives empowered by his words and presence,
and they died in expectation of uniting with him in the resurrection life. This
has been true for nearly 2000 years.
-
A Newsweek article put it this way:
- "Historians did not record his birth. Nor, for 30 years, did anyone pay him
much heed. A Jew from the Galilean hill country with a reputation for teaching
and healing, he showed up at the age of 33 in Jerusalem during Passover. In
three days, he was arrested, tried and convicted of treason, then executed like
the commonest of criminals. His followers said that God raised him from the
dead. Except among those who believed in him, the event passed without notice."
"Two thousand years later, the centuries themselves are measured from
the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. (On January 1, 2000), calendars in India and
China, like those in Europe, America and the Middle East, registered) the dawn
of the third millennium. … (When) the second millennium (drew) to a close,
nearly a third of the world's population claimed to be his followers."
(Newsweek, March 29, 1999, p. 53)
- So what does that mean to us today? How has being a Christian changed our
lives?
- So what does that mean to us today, as we prepare to baptize new members
into this remarkable faith, and welcome them into this loving community of St.
Dunstan's? How has being a Christian changed our lives?
I have had the privilege for the last eight years of being ordained as a priest
in the Episcopal Church. In that time, I have seen many miracles - changes in
people's lives which some believed were impossible. At ECS, we work with people
trapped in darkness - whether that be addiction, abuse, neglect, illness, or
poverty. The stories from ECS are truly remarkable - and probably more powerful
because of the nature of the desolation that some suffer. However, I also have
had the opportunity to work in many parishes - at retreats, quiet days,
lectures, seminars, and at Sunday services - and in those times, with people
whom you and I know and with problems with which you and I are familiar - I have
also seen miracles happen. But what is perhaps most powerful for me in my
Christian journey is to hear people share their experiences of Christ present in
their lives.
- I would encourage you as part of this Easter season to share your stories
of faith with each other, because this is how we as a Christian community grow
in our understanding of Christ.
- I would like to invite you now to share with those who are about to be
baptized - or with their parents and godparents - what being a Christian has
meant to you… How has being a Christian changed your life?
William J. Carl wrote, "Christianity is not merely a religion that was
marketed well with just the right political spin by gifted writers. It is a
living, breathing, ongoing conversation between God, humanity and all creation
empowered by the resurrection of Jesus Christ." (Living Pulpit, March 1998,
p.6)
So what do we believe, almost 2000 years after Jesus' life on earth? Do we
see Him as simply a moral leader, a wise teacher, a prophet, healer and priest?
Or do we know Him as the Son of God - loving, merciful, forgiving - entering our
lives and changing them forever? Are we ready to let Christ be the center of our
lives - to recognize Him as Lord and God?
- There is a wonderful hymn (#370) that is generally sung at ordination
services and on Trinity Sunday, "St. Patrick's Breastplate". Towards
the end there is a stanza different from the others, which I commend to you
today:
-
"Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before
me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ to comfort and restore me.
-
Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me, Christ in mouth of friend and
stranger."
- Throughout the centuries the followers of Jesus have changed their world. Let
us pray that the same will be said of us.
-
Risen Lord, create in us new life through the waters of baptism.
Risen Lord, be known to us in the breaking of the bread.
Risen Lord, from this day forward, Easter in us all. Amen. Alleluia!
The Rev. Amanda G. R. May,
© 04/07/02, all rights reserved
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