[stephenkhoo]

FACT OF BODILY RESURRECTION
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ ACT 2:14. 22-33; MT 28:8-15]

The foundation of Christian Faith and Christian Hope is rooted in Christian belief in the bodily resurrection of our Lord. Without the corporeal resurrection of our Lord, there is no justification for Christians to believe that Jesus is Lord and God, much less have faith in the resurrection of the body at the end of time. These two corollary beliefs are tied to the reality of the bodily resurrection of our Lord. This is why the early Church took pains to substantiate their faith in the bodily resurrection of our Lord after His tragic death on the cross. Right from the start of the early Church, and in later times, including the modern rationalistic skeptical generation, the bodily resurrection of Christ has been disputed and challenged. How, then, do we give an answer to those who challenge our faith in the bodily resurrection of our Lord?

Firstly, we must dismiss the hypothesis that the disciples were visionaries and therefore hallucinated the appearances of our Lord. Nothing is further from this truth. No one in the early Church accused the early disciples of hallucinating. There was no collective hypnosis of the disciples. On the contrary, the resurrection narratives showed otherwise, that the apostles and the disciples were very skeptical when they heard of the resurrection of Christ. More so, when the first people to bear witness to the resurrection of our Lord were women. In the ancient days, the testimonies of women were not accepted in law. That was why, when the Lord sent them to tell His brothers, they were all skeptical.

The Lord reprimanded them for their obstinacy in not believing the reports and testimonies of those who had seen Him. “Later he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were sitting at the table; and he upbraided them for their lack of faith and stubbornness, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen.” (Mk 16:14) Even Peter, who was the first to reach the Empty Tomb said nothing. “Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself.” (Jn 20:6f) St Thomas was adamant in refusing to believe that the Lord was risen even when the rest confirmed the truth of His corporeal resurrection. “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.” (Jn 20:24)

Secondly, it was suggested that perhaps they did see Jesus, but it was only an apparition. This is to say that He was a ghost, which was something that could be accepted by many people since most of us believe in spirits. Some people noted that St Paul spoke about the appearances of our Lord without referring to the Empty Tomb, that His body was missing and not found. Again, the gospel takes pain to emphasize that Jesus was not a ghost. Jesus told Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” (Jn 20:27) When He appeared later to His disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, Jesus invited them for breakfast. And we read, “Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish.” (Jn 21:12f)

Thirdly, there is also the far-fetched theory that His body was stolen by the disciples from the Empty Tomb. In today’s gospel, the evangelist exposed the attempt to cover up His resurrection by the authorities. When the guards told the chief priests all that had happened, they bribed them with a considerable sum of money with the instruction to say that “His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.” Such a possibility is untenable. Firstly, if the guards were to fall asleep at night, they would be put to death for allowing the prisoner to escape. Even if they did fall asleep, the stone covering the tomb was so heavy it would have taken a few people to remove the stone and surely by so doing, they would have awakened the soldiers.

It would be inconceivable for the disciples to steal the body of Jesus and then go about proclaiming Him as Lord and Saviour. If, during the time when Jesus was still alive, they ran away and dared not even acknowledge Him as their master, what would they do with a dead body? Surely they would know that if their master could not save them when He was alive, and not even Himself, how could they now believe that Jesus would protect them from their enemies? What changed them from being cowards to being so heroic as to stand before the people and the Sanhedrin and rulers to testify to the resurrection of our Lord unless they had seen Him?

Indeed, encountering the Risen Christ is the basis for faith in Him as Lord and Saviour. From this encounter, Peter and the apostles were ready now to proclaim Christ as Lord and God, as what we read in today’s first reading. The disciples, after encountering the Lord, went back to the scriptures to find confirmation that Jesus was indeed the fulfillment of God’s promise. And so Peter stood up with the Eleven and in a loud voice said, “Men of Israel, listen to what I am going to say: Jesus the Nazarene was a man commended to you by God by the miracles and portents and signs that God worked through him when he was among you, as you all know. This man, who was put into your power by the deliberate intention and foreknowledge of God, you took and had crucified by men outside the Law. You killed him, but God raised him to life, freeing him from the pangs of Hades; for it was impossible for him to be held in its power since, as David says of him: I saw the Lord before me always, for with him at my right hand nothing can shake me. So my heart was glad and my tongue cried out with joy; my body, too, will rest in the hope that you will not abandon my soul to the Hades nor allow your holy one to experience corruption. You have made known the way of life to me, you will fill me with gladness through your presence.”

Finally, how do we explain why some could see the Risen Lord and some could not? The fact remains that the corporeal resurrection of our Lord cannot be empirically proven. There is no way to test and verify the truth of the corporeal body of the Risen Lord. The Risen Body is a transfigured body, pertaining to this world and yet goes beyond this world. This explains why the Risen Lord could walk through locked doors to appear to His apostles; and could vanish before the eyes of the disciples at Emmaus. The resurrected body is not confined by space and time. But it is truly a body, not a spirit. This is what the witnesses of the resurrection want us to understand.

The way to encounter the Risen Lord presupposes faith. Although the guards witnessed the power of God when the stone was removed and Jesus appeared like lightning in white clothing, “For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men.”, it was only to the women that the angel said, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.” (Mt 28:4-6) The women had faith in the Lord. Their faith was intuitive love. Faith is primarily not reasoning but love. No wonder the Lord appeared to the women first, because only love can perceive His presence intuitively and personally. Reason comes only after the experience.

Indeed, theology is faith seeking understanding. We must first believe to understand before we can understand to believe. This requires faith and a personal relationship with the Lord. Jesus did not appear to the men first simply because men tend to use their reason and not feel with their hearts. To try to prove to those who do not believe in the resurrection of our Lord would be a futile endeavor. We must lead people to encounter Him in prayer, worship and in relationship. Only then can their hearts open their minds to believe.