Witnesses to the resurrection of
Jesus.
YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the
Catholic Church Lesson 106
Ave Maria series
106 Are there proofs for the resurrection of
Jesus?
There are no proofs for the resurrection of Jesus in the
scientific sense. There are, however,
very strong individual and collective testimonies by a large number of
contemporaries of those events in Jerusalem.
[639-644, 647, 656-657]
The Ascension, by Dosso Dossi, 16th
century. Many Ascension scenes have and
upper (Heavenly) and a lower (earthly) part. …..460
The oldest written testimony to the Resurrection is a letter
that St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians around twenty years after Christ’s
death: “For I delivered to you as of
first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in
accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the
third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then
to the Twelve. Then he appeared to more
than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom are still alive, though
some have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:3-6). Paul is recording here a living tradition
that was present in the original Christian community two or three years after
Jesus’ death and Resurrection , when he himself became a Christian—on the basis
of his own staggering encounter with the risen Lord. The disciples took the fact of the empty tomb (Luke 24: 2-3) as the first indication of the reality of the
Resurrection. Women, of all people,
discovered it—according to the law of that time they were not able to testify.
Although we read about the Apostle John that he “saw and believed” (John 20: 8b) already at
the empty tomb, full assurance that Jesus was alive came about only after a
series of appearances. The many
encounters with the risen Lord ended with Christ’s Ascension into heaven. Nevertheless, there were afterward and there
are even today encounters with the living Lord:
Jesus Christ lives.
“The love of God passes by radiantly, the Holy Spirit goes
through every person in his night like a lightning bolt. In this passing the risen Lord lays hold of
you, he burdens himself with everything that is unbearable and talks it all
upon himself. Only afterward, often
much, much later, do you realize: Christ
passed by and bestowed grace out of his superabundance.” Brother Roger Schutz (1915-2005)
[639-644, 647, 656-657]
THE HISTORICAL AND TRANSCENDENT EVENT
639 The mystery of Christ's resurrection
is a real event, with manifestations that were historically verified, as the
New Testament bears witness. In about A.D. 56 St. Paul could already write to
the Corinthians: "I delivered to you as of first importance what I also
received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and
that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the
scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the
Twelve. . ."(1
Corinthians 15:3-4.)491 The Apostle speaks
here of the living tradition of the Resurrection which he had learned after his
conversion at the gates of Damascus.(Compare Acts of the Apostles 9:3-18.)492 --Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second
Edition
The empty tomb
640 "Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is
not here, but has risen (Luke 24:5-6)."493 The first element we encounter in the
framework of the Easter events is the empty tomb. In itself it is not a direct
proof of Resurrection; the absence of Christ's body from the tomb could be
explained otherwise (compare John 20:13; Matthew 28:11-15).494 Nonetheless the
empty tomb was still an essential sign for all. Its discovery by the disciples
was the first step toward recognizing the very fact of the Resurrection. This
was the case, first with the holy women, and then with Peter (compare Luke 24:3,12,22-23).495 The disciple "whom Jesus
loved" affirmed that when he entered the empty tomb and discovered
"the linen cloths lying there", "he saw and believed (John 20:2, 6, 8)".496 This suggests that he realized from
the empty tomb's condition that the absence of Jesus' body could not have been
of human doing and that Jesus had not simply returned to earthly life as had
been the case with Lazarus (compare John 11:44; Jn 20:5-7).497 —CCC
The appearances of the Risen One
641 Mary Magdalene and the holy women who came to finish
anointing the body of Jesus, which had been buried in haste because the Sabbath
began on the evening of Good Friday, were the first to encounter the Risen One (Mark 16:1; Luke 24:1; John 19:31,42).498 Thus
the women were the first messengers of Christ's Resurrection for the apostles
themselves (compare Luke 24:9-10; Matthew 28:9-10; John 20:11-18).499 They
were the next to whom Jesus appears: first Peter, then the Twelve. Peter had
been called to strengthen the faith of his brothers (compare 1
Corinthians 15:5; Luke 22:31-32),500 and
so sees the Risen One before them; it is on the basis of his testimony that the
community exclaims: "The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!
(Luke 24:34,36)"501 —CCC
642 Everything that happened during those Paschal days
involves each of the apostles - and Peter in particular - in the building of
the new era begun on Easter morning. As witnesses of the Risen One, they remain
the foundation stones of his Church. The faith of the first community of
believers is based on the witness of concrete men known to the Christians and
for the most part still living among them. Peter and the Twelve are the primary
"witnesses to his Resurrection", but they are not the only ones -
Paul speaks clearly of more than five hundred persons to whom Jesus appeared on
a single occasion and also of James and of all the apostles (1 Corinthians 15:4-8;
compare Acts of the Apostles 1:22).502 —CCC
643 Given
all these testimonies, Christ's Resurrection cannot be interpreted as something
outside the physical order, and it is impossible not to acknowledge it as an
historical fact. It is clear from the facts that the disciples' faith was
drastically put to the test by their master's Passion and death on the cross,
which he had foretold (compare Luke 22:31-32).503 The shock provoked by the Passion was
so great that at least some of the disciples did not at once believe in the
news of the Resurrection. Far from showing us a community seized by a mystical
exaltation, the Gospels present us with disciples demoralized ("looking
sad (Luke 24:17; compare John 20:19)"504 and frightened. For they had not believed the
holy women returning from the tomb and had regarded their words as an
"idle tale (Luke 24:11;
compare Mark 16:11,13)".505 When Jesus reveals himself to the
Eleven on Easter evening, "he upbraided them for their unbelief and
hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had
risen (Mark 16:14)."506 --CCC
644 Even
when faced with the reality of the risen Jesus the disciples are still
doubtful, so impossible did the thing seem: they thought they were seeing a
ghost. "In their joy they were still disbelieving and still wondering (Luke 24:38-41)."507 Thomas will also experience the test
of doubt and St. Matthew relates that during the risen Lord's last appearance
in Galilee "some doubted (compare John 20:24-27; Matthew 28:17)."508 Therefore the hypothesis that the
Resurrection was produced by the apostles' faith (or credulity) will not hold
up. On the contrary their faith in the Resurrection was born, under the action
of divine grace, from their direct experience of the reality of the risen
Jesus. --CCC
The Resurrection as transcendent event
647 O truly
blessed Night, sings the Exultet of the Easter Vigil, which alone deserved to
know the time and the hour when Christ rose from the realm of the dead!("O
vere beata nox, quae sola meruit scire tempus et horam, in qua Christus ab
inferis resurrexit!")513 But no one was an eyewitness to Christ's
Resurrection and no evangelist describes it. No one can say how it came about
physically. Still less was its innermost essence, his passing over to another
life, perceptible to the senses. Although the Resurrection was an historical
event that could be verified by the sign of the empty tomb and by the reality
of the apostles' encounters with the risen Christ, still it remains at the very
heart of the mystery of faith as something that transcends and surpasses
history. This is why the risen Christ does not reveal himself to the world, but
to his disciples, "to those who came up with him from Galilee to
Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people."(Acts of the Apostles 13:31;
compare John 14:22.)514 --CCC
IN BRIEF
656 Faith in the Resurrection has as its
object an event which is historically attested to by the disciples, who really
encountered the Risen One. At the same time, this event is mysteriously
transcendent insofar as it is the entry of Christ's humanity into the glory of
God. --CCC
657 The empty tomb and the linen cloths
lying there signify in themselves that by God's power Christ's body had escaped
the bonds of death and corruption. They prepared the disciples to encounter the
Risen Lord. –CCC
JA Ascension
