Day 17 of 30 · Week 3 · Jesus Christ the Messiah

The Resurrection of Jesus

But at daybreak on the first day of the week they took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb; but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
While they were puzzling over this, behold, two men in dazzling garments appeared to them. They were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground. They said to them, “Why do you seek the living one among the dead? He is not here, but He has been raised. Remember what He said to you while He was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners and be crucified, and rise on the third day.” And they remembered His words. Then they returned from the tomb and announced all these things to the eleven and to all the others.
The women were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James; the others who accompanied
them also told this to the apostles, but their story seemed like nonsense and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb, bent down, and saw the burial cloths alone; then he went home amazed at what had happened.
THE APPEARANCE ON THE ROAD TO EMMAUS
Now that very day two of them were going to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus, and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred. And it happened that while they were conversing and debating, 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; and besides all this, it is now the third day since this took place. Some women from our group, however, have astounded us: they were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find His body; they came back and reported that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who announced that He was alive. Then some of those with us went to the tomb and found things just as the women had described, but Him they did not see.”
And He 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, He interpreted to them what referred to Him in all the Scriptures.
As they approached the village to which they were going, He gave the impression that He was going on farther. But they urged Him, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.” So He went in to stay with them. And it happened that, while He was with them at table, He 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. Then they said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning [within us] while He spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to us?”
So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem where they found gathered together the eleven and those with them who were saying, “The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!” Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how He was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.
Luke 24:1–35

Evening Prayer

Death Has No Victory

My Catholic Life!

The Resurrection of Jesus is the crowning truth of our faith in Christ, a faith believed and lived as the central truth by the first Christian community; handed on as fundamental by Tradition; established by the documents of the New Testament; and preached as an essential part of the Paschal mystery along with the Cross. (CCC #638)

Without the Resurrection of Jesus, all hope is lost, and there is no meaning to His death. The Resurrection makes it possible for us to share in His new life and is then followed by Jesus ascending into Heaven and sending the Holy Spirit. Let’s look at some of the essential truths of the Resurrection so as to understand what it’s all about.

A REAL HISTORICAL EVENT

There was a specific day and time that Jesus rose from the dead. It happened in history and was witnessed by many. Mary Magdalene and the other Marys were the first to see Him. Soon after this, some of the Apostles saw Him. Some doubted, such as Thomas. Others saw and immediately believed. The process of coming to believe in the Resurrection of Jesus was a process dependent upon faith. Faith does come from seeing and hearing. It comes from hearing accounts of Jesus being alive and, for some, actually seeing it. Ultimately, the act of believing in the Resurrection required the inspired gift of faith. And this gift of faith produced knowledge of its truth. In other words, upon hearing or seeing, the person must be open to the gift of the Holy Spirit speaking in their soul, revealing the truth of Jesus’ resurrection. So even though the Resurrection was a real and historical event, it was only properly understood and believed in by a gift of God speaking to one’s soul.

RESURRECTION OR BROUGHT BACK TO LIFE?

Jesus did many miracles in His earthly life, including the amazing act of bringing some people back to life after they had died. For example, He raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead (Mk 5) and also brought Lazarus, His friend, back to life (Jn 11). What did Jesus do in these two cases, and how did it differ from His Resurrection?

In both these cases, a person had died. Jesus came to them after death, gave a command, and they returned to life. They were the same as they were prior to death, everyone recognized them, and they were able to resume their lives. This is different from what happened with Jesus in His Resurrection. Jesus did not just come back to life. He did not just resume the life He had been living. No, Jesus was resurrected. He took on a new form of living. He now had a transformed and resurrected body. It was His old body that was resurrected, but it was different. With this new resurrected body, Jesus brought about a new potential existence for all humanity. This new body was physical but could also appear and disappear as was reported. Many who knew Him did not immediately recognize Him in this new resurrected state. He was different. He could eat but also suddenly appear behind closed doors. He carried the wounds of the crucifixion but was not wounded. He spoke and people listened with hearts set aflame.

It’s important to understand this essential point of the Resurrection. Jesus takes on a new sort of physical existence. It’s an existence that is now meant for all to share in, one day when the time comes for the final Judgment and the resurrection of all the dead. All of our bodies will be raised up, and those who are just will share in this new form of living. What is this new state? It’s the glorified state. It’s life with a new glorified body. Jesus still has this glorified body in Heaven, and it is this body that stands before the Father. So Jesus was not just raised up to His former state, He was transformed to the new physical existence we are all predestined to share in!

A WORK OF THE TRINITY

Jesus had the power to resurrect Himself, but it was not only His action. This was an action of the entire Trinity. It was the will of the Father and done by the power of the Holy Spirit. But, as in all of their works, the entire Trinity acted as one. They were united in their one divine will for a divine purpose.

It’s also significant to point out that the Resurrection unites humanity itself to the Trinity in a new way. It brings this new resurrected and glorified human state into the life of God. The new resurrected and glorified human nature is now fully united to Christ, and He is united to the Father and the Spirit, which reveals the unity of humanity with the entire Trinity.

This points to the end and goal of all humanity. We now have hope for our own lives to share in this new glorified state of the Resurrection and union with the Trinity. We look forward to this and hope in this. And hope is not just something we wish for. True Christian hope is a virtue that is grounded in some divine truth revealed to us. We have true faith in the Resurrection, and this gift of faith also produces hope of achieving what we hope for. It’s a hope and desire that is fully able to be realized, because this hope is instilled in us by God and by the reality of the Resurrection.

The Resurrection of Christ tells us that all humanity is now predestined by God’s plan and by this historical act of the Resurrection to share in a new glorious state of life that goes even beyond the original intention of God in the Garden of Eden. We are now called to share in God’s very life, united with Him in a new and glorious existence. This should fill us with excitement, wonder and awe!

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Summary of Key Concepts

Jesus and the Resurrection

Questions to Consider

When you are feeling downcast and overwhelmed, do you try to find the Lord or do you first seek other means of comfort? If you want to find Him, do you know where to look?
Have you ever been confused, then had something explained so well that you had a whole new

understanding and appreciation for something that you had missed before? Has this ever happened in your spiritual life?

JESUS ASCENSION & THE HOLY SPIRIT