Resurrection of Jesus

Resurrection of Christ, Noël Coypel, 1700, using a hovering depiction of Jesus

The resurrection of Jesus (in Greek: ἀνάστασις τοῦ Ἰησοῦ, anástasis toú Iēsoú) is the Christian belief that God raised Jesus (who is believed to be God Himself) from the dead on the third day after His crucifixion, starting—or restoring—his exalted life as Christ and Lord. According to the New Testament writing, Jesus was firstborn from the dead, ushering in the Kingdom of God. He appeared to his disciples, calling the apostles to the Great Commission of forgiving sin and baptizing repenters, and ascended to Heaven.

Quotes about

Bible

• In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.

And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.

His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow:

And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.

And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.

He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you.

And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word.

And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.

Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me.

• Gospel of Matthew 28:1-10 NKJV.

• Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

• Epistle to the Romans 6:3-11 NKJV.

Others

• What the disciples observed regarding the resurrection therefore contains, in any case, an objective element that is visible to the outside world, observable, perfectly demonstrable, and verifiable: the fact of the empty tomb.

• Karl Adam, Gesù il Cristo, translation into Italian by Pietro de Ambroggi, Morcelliana, 1995.

• But Tertullian himself recognizes that the dogma of the resurrection of the Christian God is identical to that of the Persian religion.

• Emilio Bossi, Gesu Cristo non è mai esistito, Alfredo Bonanno (editor), La Fiaccola, 1976, p. 77.

• Modern man cannot understand... how the Resurrection of Jesus could be an event that unleashed a vital force that man can now make his own through the sacraments. This seems absurd to the biologist, since death is not a problem for him. The idealist, of course, speaks of a life that escapes death, but cannot imagine that this life is given by the fact that a dead person returns to physical life. God's action, which in these conditions would give life back to man, seems to him incomprehensibly inserted into the course of nature. He cannot recognize God's action as something that touches him personally in this natural event, which is as miraculous as the resurrection of a dead person, which, on the other hand, is unbelievable.

• Rudolf Bultmann, L'interprétation du Nouveau Testament; quoted in Christian Duquoc, Cristologia, Queriniana, Brescia 1972.

• The resurrection of Christ contains the answer to the most universal of human aspirations: that evil and injustice will not prevail forever.

• Raniero Cantalamessa, Gettate le reti. Riflessioni sui vangeli, Piemme, Casale Monferrato, 2001. ISBN 88-384-9498-3. Ch. III, p. 110.

• The texts that bear witness to the Resurrection of Jesus are first and foremost confessions of faith. The Gospel accounts are of a particularly difficult construction and literary genre: they presuppose the formulas of faith or the kerygma. It is impossible to reconcile the narratives of the four Gospels. Their authentic interpretation should not aim to harmonize them but should take their divergences as a starting point. This poses serious problems for the unprepared reader.

• Christian Duquoc, Cristologia (Cristologie. Essai dogmatique), traduzione di Luisito Bianchi - Mario Cuminetti - Graziella Dolli, Editrice Quiriniana, Brescia, 1972, p. 394.

• The resurrection is not an event that concerns only the Lord, but becomes alive and effective when it takes root in the hearts of the disciples, when they cannot contain the joy in their hearts, which overflows in words of proclamation and witness.

• q:it:Elio Guerriero, in Aa.Vv., Il Giubileo, Editoriale Jaca Book, Milano, 1998.

• The events of Easter represented a veritable big bang, which, however, did not merely overturn the emotional state of his disciples (taking them from fear to enthusiasm), but above all triggered in them an enormous hermeneutical effort regarding the figure of Jesus himself, leading them from a low opinion of him to absolutely extraordinary confessions of faith.

• q:it:Romano Penna, I Fondamenti della cristologia neotestamentaria, in Path, 2 (2003), 305-320.

• The resurrection of Jesus is like the first eruption of a volcano. It shows that the fire of God is already burning within the world, which will bring everything back into the ardor of its light.

  Karl Rahner, quoted in Carlo Maria Martini, Il grande vulcano dell'amore di Dio per l'uomo, omelia pronunciata durante la Messa in Duomo nel giorno di Pasqua, 23 April 2000, fondazionecarlomariamartini.it, 21 April 2020.

• Most people believe in the resurrection of Christ, but very few see it clearly.

• Symeon the New Theologian, Catechesi, translation into Italian by Umberto Neri, Città Nuova, 1995.

• Christ is not only the One who rose from the dead, but also the One who raises the dead. This change in man is the clearest demonstration of the Resurrection. Man is awakened, he rises with the power of metanoia, faith, and hope.

• Gennadios Zervós, from the message for Orthodox Easter 2018; quoted in Riccardo Benotti, Pasqua Ortodossa: Gennadios (metropolita Italia), "l'amore e l’unità dominano", agensir.it, 7 April 2018.