1.       The Resurrection: Source of the Christian Proclamation

·        Jesus' resurrection has always been the basis of Christian faith and the essential content of Christian preaching.

·        It is the crowning truth of our faith in Christ (CCC 638), the keystone of the mystery of Christ, and the absolute criterion of the truth of the Gospel (1 Cor 15:15-16).

2.       The Resurrection: Source of Understanding the Mystery of Jesus

·        Jesus' resurrection did not seem to fit the understanding and expectation of the disciples. His death had caused a grief so deep that it left no hope.

·        In order to regain their trust, Jesus had to prove that he had really risen (by letting Thomas touch him, by eating with them). He frequently upbraided them for their astonish­ment and their unbelief (Lk 24:25-26).

·        It is only on Easter that the disciples came to understand fully the mystery of their master. it is the marvellous and unexpected event of the resurrection that enables the disci­ples truly to understand Jesus.

·        It is the resurrection that restores to Peter and the disci­ples their faith and enthusiasm in Jesus, and makes them tenacious and persevering messengers who spread the Gospel of salvation.

3.       What the Resurrection is Not:

·        Not re-animation, that is, simple return to life, to be followed by a second death (v.g. Lazarus, Jairus’ daughter, the son of the widow at Naim).

·        Not immortality of the soul (Gnostic understanding). In that case, it would be a sort of “half resurrection” (Tertullian).

·        Not re-incarnation (Hindus and Buddhists). These religions speak of man’s rebirth or new fall into a new earthly existence through an unlimited series of passages or transmigrations of the soul from one body to another.

·        Not simple recollection of Jesus and his teaching, a conviction in the disciples’ mind that he was present after his death, a psychological creation of the disciples. 

·        The resurrection was an event considered to be a real fact by the first Christian community (Lk 24:34). It was the encounter with the risen Jesus that caused the disciples to believe in the resurrection, and not vice versa. The resur­rection was not the consequence, but the cause of the disci­ples' faith.

4.       The Resurrection is a Transcendent but Real Event

·        The resurrection indicates the fact that Jesus was restored, together with his humanity, to God's glorious, full, and immortal life.

·        The resurrection is an essentially transcendent and metahis­torical event. This may explain the women and the disciples did not recognize the risen Christ. It is not they who recognize Jesus; rather it was Jesus who gives them the grace to see and recognize him.

5.       The Many Meanings of the Resurrection

·        It reveals Jesus to be "Lord and Christ", "Lord and God", "Son of God". It confirms Jesus' divinity; it completes the supreme revelation of God as Trinity: of the Father, who glorifies the Son by raising him and exalting him; of the Holy Spirit, who proves himself the Spirit of life and resurrection (1 Pt 3:18).

·        It is an event that repairs the friendship between God and man; it is the realization of the new humanity set free from the slavery of sin and its consequences (Acts 3:6-8), the  fulfillment of man's hope for immortality and transcendence.

·        For Christians it is an experience of mercy, forgiveness, spiritual renewal, and participation in Jesus' victory over sin and death.

RESURRECTION ACC. TO CCC: 

1.       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.

2.       The empty tomb and the linen cloths lying there signify to 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.

3.       Christ, "the first-born from the dead" (Col 1:18), is the principle of our own resurrection, even now by the justifica­tion of our souls (cf. Rom 6:4), and one day by the new life he will impart to our bodies (cf. Rom 8:11).

4.       Christ's ascension marks the definitive entrance of Jesus' humanity into God's heavenly domain, whence he will come again (cf. Acts 1:11); this humanity in the meantime hides him from the eyes of men (cf. Col 3:3).

5.       Jesus Christ, the head of the Church, precedes us into the Father's glorious kingdom so that we, the members of his Body, may live in the hope of one day being with him forever.

6.       Jesus Christ, having entered the sanctuary of heaven once and for all, intercedes constantly for us as the mediator who assures us of the permanent outpouring of the Holy Spirit.   

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Last Updated: Tuesday, November 20, 2001 08:27:03 PM