Appearances of Jesus

The post-resurrection appearances of Jesus Christ fall within the broader context of apparitions in Christian experience: from the theophanies of the Old Testament to the Easter apparitions of the Risen One, to the apparitions of Mary and angels. It should be noted that the Christophanies in the New Testament are not simply "visions", but represent the unique experience that, for Christianity, the apostles had with the risen Jesus.

Quotes

Bible

He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

Acts of the Apostles 1:2-3 NKJV.

Now when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons. She went and told those who had been with Him, as they mourned and wept. And when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe.

After that, He appeared in another form to two of them as they walked and went into the country. And they went and told it to the rest, but they did not believe them either.

Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen.

Gospel of Mark 16:9-14 NKJV.

Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Gospel of John 20:24-29 NKJV.

For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.

For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

First Epistle to the Corinthians 15:3-9 NKJV.

Others

In typical Palestinian masculine style, the Twelve refused to believe the women, since according to Jewish law they were not allowed to bear legal witness. It is clear that Jesus was aware of this legal norm. His first appearance to the women and the fact that he entrusted them with bearing witness to the most important event of his life cannot have been anything other than deliberate choices: this is clearly a dramatic link between a very clear rejection of the principles that placed women in a position of inferiority and the most important moment of his Gospel, namely the resurrection. Jesus' effort to link these two points is so evident that it becomes a damning indictment of the intellectual short-sightedness of men who have failed to discern its great value for two thousand years.

Leonard Swidler, AA.VV., Crisi dell'antifemminismo, Fernando Vittorino Joannes (editor), Mondadori, Milano, 1973, pp. 136-140; 142-143. Reported in Riccardo Marchese, Luigi Concato, Giuseppe Tibaldi, Antonio Genovese and Adriano Colombo, Uomini e istituzioni. Ricerche interdisciplinari sui principali meccanismi della società, La Nuova Italia Editrice, Firenze, 1979² reprint, p. 269.

Quotes

Bible

Others

See also