105. Faith in the Resurrection was born, under the action of divine grace, from their direct experience of the reality of the risen Jesus.

Faith in the Resurrection was born, under the action of divine grace, from their direct experience of the reality of the risen Jesus.

YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 105

Ave Maria series

105  How did the disciples come to believe that Jesus is risen?

The disciples, who before had lost all hope, came to believe in Jesus’ Resurrection because they saw him in a different way after his death, spoke with him, and experienced him as being alive  [640-644, 656]

The incredulity of the Apostle Thomas….by Caravaggio…75…105

The Easter events that took place in Jerusalem in the year 30 are not a made-up story.  Following the death of Jesus and the defeat of their whole cause, the disciples fled (“We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel”, Luke 24:21) or else barricaded themselves behind locked doors.  Only their encounter with the risen Christ freed them from their paralysis and filled them with an enthusiastic faith in Jesus Christ, the Lord of life and death.

“Anyone who knows Easter cannot despair.”  Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945, Lutheran theologian and resistance fighter against Hitler who was put to death in the concentration camp in Flossenburg)

[640-644, 656]

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 —Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

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

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

JR  Doubting Thomas