INTRODUCTION
The Passion, death, and the Resurrection of Christ are the central message in our salvation story. The cross is the symbol of Christianity. The cross is both disgrace and shame and glory and eternal life. Our faith is grounded in paradox. Those who would save their life will lose it, and those who lay down their lives will gain life.
On the first day of the week, Jesus will rise from the dead in all His glory. He is risen! Had He not arisen, our faith would be absurd. Nothing we do would matter. Jesus has fulfilled his mission from the Father. He has redeemed us from our sins and opened the door to eternal life.
:Jesus is ALIVE! He died that our sins may be forgiven…now He calls us to follow him to heaven…the risen Lord is not gone…He remains with us in the sacraments…in our faith…in our prayers…for those who follow Jesus…the same fate awaits…a glorious resurrection of our bodies on the last day…eyes have not seen…ears have not heard what await those who love Jesus…
The Lord is Risen, Alleluia!
MARY MAGDELENE
THE FIRST TO SEE THE RISEN LORD
Mary was weeping because she could not find her Lord…Jesus appears to Mary in his resurrected glorious state…Jesus addresses her, Mary…immediately she knew it is the Lord…gently Jesus admonishes her…she must not cling to him…go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'” Mary of Magdala went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,”JOHN 20:10-18
LUKE 24:13-31 ON THE ROAD TO EMMAUS
Now, that very day, two of the disciples were going to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him. He asked them, “What are you discussing as you walk along?” They stopped. Looking downcast, one of them, named Cleopas, said to him in reply, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem, who does not know of the things that have taken place there in these days?” And he replied to them, “What sort of things?”
They said to him, “The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over to a sentence of death and crucified him. But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel”…
Jesus said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and enter into his glory?”
Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, Jesus interpreted to them what referred to him in all the scriptures. As they approached the village they urged Jesus to stay and have supper.
While at table Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that, their eyes were opened, and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight. The two disciples of Emmaus set out at once for Jerusalem where they found gathered together the eleven and those with them… the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how Jesus was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.
APPEARANCE TO HIS APOSTLES
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples* were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. [Jesus] said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”JOHN 20:19-23
BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO HAVE NOT SEEN
AND HAVE BELIEVED
Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” But 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.”
Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them… Jesus said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”JOHN 20:24-31
REFLECTION:…sometimes I am a doubting Thomas…blessed are those who have not seen and have believed…My Lord and My God…help my unbelief…Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God…trust in Jesus…through Jesus, I may have life…look for the signs…listen for that small voice in the heart…place my hands in Jesus’ hands…walk with Jesus…do not be unbelieving but believe…
JESUS ON THE SHORE AT THE SEA OF TIBERIAS
Jesus revealed himself again to his disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. He revealed himself in this way. …The disciples are in a boat fishing…Jesus is on the shore…the disciples haven’t caught anything to eat…they are hungry…Jesus is hungry…He is not a ghost…He is truly risen and truly alive…cast your net on the other side and you will catch something, I will start the fire…they ate breakfast together…shared a meal and shared their love for one another in community…we will know him in the breaking of the bread…JOHN 21:1-14
SIMON, DO YOU LOVE ME? YES, LORD.
FEED MY LAMBS.
When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He then said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was distressed that he had said to him a third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.”
JOHN 21:15-19,24-25
REFLECTION:
Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves him to allow Peter to make amends for his three denials….Peter asserts his love for Jesus, vigorously….the results…Peter will shepherd Jesus’ church….Jesus predicts Peter’s martyrdom for love of Christ…those who follow Christ must pick up their crosses…in so doing they will give glory to God…and will share in the glory of Jesus’ resurrection…
COME FOLLOW ME!
JESUS IS TAKEN UP TO HEAVEN
He said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.” “Thus it is written that the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
You are witnesses of these things. And (behold) I am sending the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city until you are clothed with the Holy Spirit from on high….. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age…clothed with the Holy Spirit…pray with great joy, always…I do not leave you orphans… As he blessed them, He parted from them and was taken up to heaven. They did him homage and then returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and they were continually in the temple praising God. LUKE 24:44-53
St. John tells us at the end of his Gospel, Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book.
There are also many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written. But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.
I have included a few of Jesus’ appearances after His Resurrection from the dead. Besides the women and apostles according to St. Paul in First Corinthians Chapter 15 Jesus appeared to more than 500 brethren before ascending to Heaven.
CONCLUSION
The next Chapter, Chapter 7, will conclude the blog, STORY OF SALVATION. It is titled NEW JERUSALEM. “The Lord God and the Lamb, Jesus Christ, will serve as temple and light, providing for every need of the inhabitants of the New Jerusalem”.
“the Holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God”
REVELATIONS 21:10
Jesus never intended to leave us orphans but on the Rock Peter He made Peter Prime minister of His kingdom, custodian of His church, and Shepherd of His Flock. In Chapter Seven we will see how this new born church from His very side on Calvary begins to take root and flourish under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the advocate and Sanctifier through the Sacraments instituted by Christ and ministered by successors of Peter. It all comes together in the Book of Revelations at the wedding feast of the Lamb.