Risen Messiah Fr. Edward Booth OP

Monday, 30th April 2012

Third Sunday of Easter

The Risen Messiah

Edward Booth O.P.

• Acts 3:13-15,17-19
• 1 John 2:1-5
• Luke 24:35-48

The scope of the appearance of the risen Jesus given in the gospel extract from Saint Luke today is very great.

The full setting of his teaching was not explicitly evident in the missioning of his earthly life; he was the Galilean who had appeared with gifts of healing which entailed their divine endowment with which some passages in the later part of Isaiah's prophesy anticipated. His doctrinal and moral teaching were the elements of a divine wisdom implicit in all of his words. He claimed a heavenly origin, and that his teaching was implicitly and historically related to the Jewish scriptures, which it fulfilled by clarifying and fulfilling.

The central part of his teaching would be recorded in the discourses and discussions recorded by his disciple Saint John giving the weight of divinity behind his teaching, ultimately to be explained by his unity and identity with the Father, identified with the God of Israel, with whom he will send the Holy Spirit.

In his mission he had spoken as a man, but united personally with the Godhead and accompanied by the presence of Father and Holy Spirit, as also by the angels who had always been with him: anouncing his birth in Bethlehem, and accompanying his solitude in the Judean desert.

After his already prophesied betrayel and arrest, his passion and his Crucifixion by the Roman procurator under the pressure of the Jewish authorities, we are following his appearances in his human body resurrected by his fully-shared Trinitarian divinity. He had, according to Saint Luke, attached himself to two travelling disciples on the way to Emmaus, to whom he had opened the Scriptural perspectives which set him out as recapitulating all Jewish history in the world perspective anounced by the prophet Isaiah.

The disciples had returned immediately to the Apostles in Jerusalem and were telling them of their experience, and at that moment He Himself appeared in their midst uttering the words, 'Peace be with you!' So he called on them to enter into the peaceful heart of his Godhead: to experience its presence which underlay his passion-wounded body. And he asked for food to show that his presence was both physical and spiritual.

In his earthly mission he had spoken as a man; at this moment he speaks from his Godhead through his glorified manhood before its definitive Ascension. So he speaks from the perspective which embraces all perspectives, and therefore with the greatest authority, most useful for their ministering to his body which they would participate as his Church until time's end. He showed them how he was fulfilling prophesies in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.

Exegetes currently identify five Messianic prophesies in the Law-books. Firstly the enmity prophesied betwen the seed of the serpent and the Seed of the woman, not designated by a father (Gen 3,15). Secondly, the blessing promised to all the nations through the Seed of Abraham (Gen 22,18); so Mary is given a priority for the Seed of them both. Thirdly, that 'the [Kingly] sceptre shall not depart from Judah ... until the Conciliator shall come, gathering the people' (Gen 49,10), and here the slain and risen King addresses the Apostles to whom the gathering of all peoples is entrusted.

Fourthly, the princes of neighbouring people of Moab had asked a pagan seer, Baalam, to curse the Israelites, but the inspiration of God compelled him to say 'I shall see him, but not now: ... there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab' (Num 24,17). Fifthly, 'I will raise up a Prophet from among their brethren and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command Him', which is in Deuteronomy (18,18).

This gave the possibility of relating the Law to the highest Wisdom: not just to the Torah existing 'from the beginning' as the Rabbis taught, but a timeless, spiritually uttered Word of God such as he was now giving, to be given by John in his Prologue, and by Matthew in his Sermon on the Mount. Amen.

---

© The English Province of the Order of Preachers 2012 |

Good Shepherd Sunday

WDTPRS: 4th Sunday of Easter: Our humility and the might of the Shepherd

Posted on 28 April 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf   

For this 4th Sunday of Easter, Good Shepherd Sunday, we have a little gem for a Collect in the Ordinary Form.

Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, deduc nos ad societatem caelestium gaudiorum, ut eo perveniat humilitas gregis, quo processit fortitudo pastoris.

Note the nice eo…quo construction and the rhythmic endings of clauses which makes the prayer so singable.  There is synchesis in the last part, a parallelism of grammatical forms “ut A-B-C-D, A-B-C-D”.  The prayer’s structure resembles the orderly procession the vocabulary invokes.

Procedo is “to come forth” as well as “to advance, proceed to.”  It comes also to mean, “to result as a benefit for” someone or something.  Think of English “proceeds”, as in money raised for a cause.  “Procession” (apart from the liturgical meaning) is a theological term describing how the Persons of the Trinity relate to each other. A societas is “a fellowship, association, union, community”, that is, a group united for some common purpose.  I’ll render it as “communion”, which gets to the relationship we will have in heaven and, in anticipation, as members of Holy Church.

There is a nice contrast in humilitas and fortitudo.  They seem to be opposites.  True to the ancient Roman spirit, humilitas has the negative connotation of “lowness”, in the sense of being base or abject.  On the other hand, fortitudo means “strength” and even “the manliness shown in enduring or undertaking hardship, bravery, courage.” In the 8th century Gelasian Sacramentary, whence comes today’s prayer, that fortitudo was originally celsitudo (“loftiness of carriage”, also a title like “Highness”). Fortitudo could poetically refer to Christ’s moral strength and endurance in His Passion and death.  Moreover, Our Lord chooses the weak and makes them strong with His strength, Hisfortitudo (cf 1 Corinthians 1:26-28).  Weakness and strength are not to be measured by worldly successes.

LITERAL RENDERING:
Almighty eternal God, lead us unto the communion of heavenly joys, so that the humility of the flock may attain that place to which the might of the shepherd has advanced.

OBSOLETE ICEL (1973):
Almighty and ever-living God, give us new strength from the courage of Christ our shepherd, and lead us to join the saints in heaven.

CURRENT ICEL (2012):
Almighty ever-living God, lead us to a share in the joys of heaven, so that the humble flock may reach where the brave Shepherd has gone before.

Translators occasionally turn an abstract idea that sounds like a possession (a trope calledsynecdoche), as in “the humility of the flock” or “the might of the shepherd”, into a characteristic of the possessor, as in “the humble flock” or “the mighty shepherd”.  I think we lose something beautiful in that exchange.  You decide.

In our Collect is the image of Christ as shepherd. In mighty resolve He precedes us, the humble flock. He leads us back to that from which He first proceeded, communion with the Father and the Spirit.  In the Greek Neo-Platonic philosophy that informed early Christian thought we often find the paradigm of going forth (proodos, or Latin exitus), a turning around, and returning back (epistrophe,reditus).  It seems to me that this common ancient pattern is echoed in today’s ancient prayer.

This Collect also reminds me of mosaics in the apses of Christian basilicas. Mosaics are assembled from tiny bits of colored stone, tesserae, into beautiful spiritual works with many symbols.  Up close, individual tesserae are unremarkable, often flawed.  Once a great artist gathers and arranges them according to a plan, they proceed to dazzle and amaze.  Holy Church is rather like a mosaic: just as one tessera makes the others more beautiful, we small individual Catholics, with different vocations, in diverse places, and even distant eras in history, play important roles in a larger societas.

The mosaics in apses of ancient and Romanesque churches often depict Christ dressed in glorious imperial trappings.  Apostles and saints, His celestial court, stand on either side bracketed in turn by Bethlehem or the earthly and heavenly Jerusalem.  Beneath the feet of Christ, mighty Shepherd King, are lines of courtly sheep, hooves elegantly raised as they process into a green safe place where water flows, symbolizing the river Jordan and our baptism.

The Second Person of the Trinity, the Son, proceeded from the Father from all eternity. He proceeded into this world in a mighty gesture of self-emptying in order to save us from our sins, turn us away from sin and death, and open for us the way to salvation.

In His first coming, Christ came in humility to take up our fallen societas, our humilitas, His grex, into an indestructible societas with His divinity. In His second coming, clothed in His own fortitudoHe will shepherd us into a new societas in heaven.

If you are a sheep who has strayed, come back now to His fold, Holy Catholic Church.

On Christian Perfection by Saint Gregory of Nyssa - Pope Benedict XVI

The Reading of Night Office Second Nocturn gave me deaf ears. At the same time, the Holy Spirit prompted it worth hearing - as here!

THIRD WEEK OF EASTER    Saturday   Year 11   

First Reading

From the Acts of the Apostles (11:19-30) Acts 11:20-21; 4:33     

Second Reading

From On Christian Perfection
by Saint Gregory of Nyssa (Jaeger 8, 174-177)

Gregory regards spiritual growth as a continual conformation to the crucified and risen Christ He lists the names given to Christ in Scripture and says that each of them must have its reflection in those who are called Christians.

No one has known Christ better than Paul, nor surpassed him in the example he gave of what anyone should be who bears Christ's name. So perfectly did he mirror his Master that he became his very image. He was transformed into his model and it seemed to be no longer Paul who lived and spoke, but Christ himself living in Paul His words Since you seek a proof that it is Christ who speaks in me, and It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me, show his keen awareness of this grace.

Paul teaches us the meaning of Christ's name when he calls him the power and wisdom of God. our peace, the unapproachable light in which God dwells, our sanctification and redemption, our great high priest, our paschal sacrifice, our expiation; when he declares him to be the reflection of God's glory, the perfect likeness of his nature, the creator of all ages, our spiritual food and drink, the rock and the water, the foundation of our faith, the cornerstone, the image of the invisible God He shows what Christ's name means when he says that he is the mighty God. the 'head of his body the Church. the firstborn of the new creation. the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep, the firstbom from the dead, the eldest of many brothers and sisters, and when he tells us that Christ is the mediator between God and the human race, the only-begotten Son crowned with glory and honor, the Lord of glory, the beginning of all things, the king of justice and of peace, the king of the whole universe, the ruler of a realm that has no boundaries.

Paul calls Christ by many other titles too numerous to mention Their cumulative force when taken together gives some conception of what the name "Christ" really means, and shows us his inexpressible majesty in so far as our minds can comprehend it Since by the goodness of God we who are called Christians have been granted the honor of sharing this name, the greatest, the highest, the most sublime of all names, each of the titles that explains its meaning should have its reflection in us: if we are not to be false to this name we must bear witness to it by our lives.

GREGORY OF NYSSA (c.330-395), the younger brother of Basil the Great, chose a secular career and married. Reluctantly, however, in 371, he received episcopal ordination and became bishop of Nyssa, an unimportant town in Basil's metropolitan district of Caesarea. Gregory was the greatest speculative theologian of the three Cappadocian Fathers, and the first after Origen to attempt a systematic presentation of the Christian faith. Gifted spiritually as well as intellectually, he has been called "the father of Christian mysticism." His spiritual interpre­tation of Scripture shows the influence of Origen.

_______________________________________________________

St. Gregory of Nyssa

Pope Benedict XVI

This great fourth-century Cappadocian Father teaches that we rise to God through prayer in purity of heart, and also through our love of neighbourOn Wednesday, 5 September [2007], in St. Peter's Square, the Holy Father continued his Commentary on St Gregory of Nyssa, one of the great fourth-century Cappadocian Fathers. The following is a translation of the Pope's Catechesis, delivered in Italian. Dear Brothers and Sisters, I present to you certain aspects of the teaching of St. Gregory of Nyssa, of whom we spoke last Wednesday. First of all, Gregory of Nyssa had a very lofty concept of human dignity. Man's goal, the holy Bishop said, is to liken himself to God, and he reaches this goal first of all through the love, knowledge and practice of the virtues, "bright beams that shine from the divine nature" (De Beatitudinibus 6: PG 44, 1272c), in a perpetual movement of adherence to the good like a corridor outstretched before oneself.

Saint Raphael, Cistercian, canonized October 11, 2009

	Thursday, 26 April 2012 St Raphael Arnáiz Barón, monk (1911-1938) April 26, St. Rafael Arnáiz Barón. by Gerelyn Hollingsworth, NCR, Apr. 26, 2010.    Today is the feast of St. Rafael Arnáiz Barón, [3] a Spanish Trappist who died of diabetes in 1938. (The web site, that of his monastery, San Isidro de Dueñas at Palencia, is in Spanish, but easily read. Note the photograph of Rafael holding a cigarette in the "Madrid y Toledo" section.) Rafael was born in Burgos, Spain, on April 9, 1911, to Rafael Arnáiz Sanchez de la Campa and Mercedes Barón Torres. He was the first of their four children. The family moved to Ovieto [4] in 1922. Rafael and his brothers attended a Jesuit school, and Rafael, an artist, took painting lessons on the side. In 1930, he received a degree from the University of Ovieto and began graduate school in architecture at Madrid. He spent vacations with his uncle and aunt, the Duke and Duchess of Maqueda in Ávila. With their encouragement, he visited the Trappist monastery for the first time in September, 1930. "When, on going into the church to greet the Lord, I saw the monks singing in choir, saw that altar with that statue of the Virgin, saw the reverence the monks had in church, and, above all, when I heard the Salve . . . dear Uncle Poldy, God alone knows what I felt . . . I did not know how to pray." --God Alone: A Spiritual Biography of Blessed Rafael Arnaiz Baron, [5] by Gonzalo Maria Fernandez, OCSO, Cistercian Publications, 2007. In 1932, Rafael continued his studies in Madrid, and during that year he made the Spiritual Exercises at San Isidro. He was called to active duty in the military in 1933. He served from January through July. In Madrid, "Rafael did not always find it easy to keep his behavior blameless; he really did have to exert himself to live up to his Christian principles". --God Alone. Search term: Vallaure. In November, 1933, Rafael wrote to the abbot of San Isidro, asking to be admitted to the novitiate. He was accepted, and in January, 1934, he entered the Trappist monastery. After four joyful months, he got sick. He was diagnosed with diabetes, and he left the monastery. After a year and a half, Rafael returned to the monastery, this time as an oblate. His diabetes made it impossible for him to follow the routine of the monastery, so he lived in the infirmary, taking insulin, eating the food prescribed by his doctor. In July, 1936, the Spanish Civil War reached the monastery, and Rafael was drafted. He and more than thirty other monks left the monastery. Rafael, because of his diabetes, was declared unfit for military service. He went home. "Once again he was dressed in civvies, smoked and socialized with people in the outside world, far from his La Trappe". --God Alone In December, 1936, he returned to the monastery. The solitude in the infirmary was hard on him. His brother, who entered the Carthusians, had once asked Rafael why he didn't become a Carthusian instead of a Trappist. "I need to see faces," Rafael had replied. Now, he saw few faces. And his diabetes worsened. The infirmarian was at the battlefront, and it was impossible for the community to take care of Brother Rafael. In February, 1937, he had to leave again. He returned in December, knowing he would not live much longer. In February, 1938, the abbot told him "that on Easter Sunday he would give him the monastic cowl and black scapular proper to professed monks". "Such bestowal of the cowl on a mere oblate had no precedent in the history of the monastery of San Isidro". "His father arrived at the monastery on Easter Thursday morning, April 21, for a visit. Rafael, dressed like a proper monk in white cowl and black scapular, met him. Never had his father seen him with better color in his cheeks, with such a sparkle in his eyes." Rafael said, "Here you have a Brother with a lot of cloth. I do not know what to do with the sleeves." His father left, and the next day Rafael went to bed with a high fever. On Monday, April 25, he received Extreme Unction. On Tuesday morning, April 26, "his agony began". While the community prayed for him, "Rafael suffered a strong convulsion that for a few moments very much distorted his face. Then it returned to its normal appearance, and with quiet peacefulness and a smile on his lips, as if enjoying a pleasant dream, he breathed his last." He was twenty-seven years old. St. Rafael Arnáiz Barón was canonized [6] in October, 2009, by Pope Benedict XVI. Copyright © The National Catholic Reporter Publishing Company SAINT RAPHAEL ARNÁIZ BARÓN Monk (1911-1938)         Raphael Arnáiz Barón was born in Burgos (Spain) April 9, 1911, into a prominent, deeply Christian family. He was baptised and confirmed in Burgos and began his schooling at the Jesuit college in the same city where, in 1919, he was admitted to first Communion.         It was at this time that he had his first experience of illness: persistent fevers due to colibacillosis forced him to interrupt his studies. To mark his recovery, which he attributed to a special intervention of the Virgin Mary, his father took him to Zaragoza and consecrated him to the Virgin of Pilar. This experience, which took place in the late summer of 1921, profoundly marked Raphael.         When the family moved to Oviedo, he continued his secondary schooling with the Jesuits there, obtaining a diploma in science. He then enrolled in the School of Architecture in Madrid, where he succeeded in balancing his studies with a life of fervent piety.         Possessing a brilliant and eclectic mind, Raphael also stood out because of his deep sense of friendship and his fine features. Blessed with a happy and jovial nature he was also athletic, had a gift for drawing and painting as well a love for music and the theatre. But as he matured, his spiritual experience of the Christian life deepened.         Although the study of architecture required a great deal of hard work and discipline, at that time he began the practice of making a long daily visit to the Blessed Sacrament in the Chapel of "Caballero de Gracia". He even joined the Nocturnal Adoration Association, and faithfully took his turn before the Blessed Sacrament.         In this way his heart became well disposed to listening, and he perceived an invitation from God to lead the contemplative life.         Raphael had already been in contact with the Trappist monastery of San Isidro de Dueñas, and he felt strongly drawn to this place, responding to his deepest desires. In December of 1933 he suddenly broke off his professional studies and on January 16, 1934 entered the monastery of San Isidro.         After the first months of the noviciate and his first Lent, which he lived with great enthusiasm, embracing all the austerities of Trappist life, God mysteriously chose to test him with a sudden and painful infirmity: a serious form of diabetes mellitus which forced him to leave the monastery immediately and return to his family in order to receive the proper care.         Barely recovered, he returned to the monastery, but his illness forced him to leave the monastery for treatment again and again. But whenever he was absent he wanted to return, responding faithfully and generously to what he understood to be a call from God.         Sanctified by his joyful and heroic fidelity to his vocation, in his loving acceptance of the Divine will and the mystery of the Cross, in his impassioned search for the Face of God, fascinated by his contemplation of the Absolute, in his tender and filial devotion to the Virgin Mary-"the Lady", as he liked to call her-his life came to an end on April 26, 1938. He was barely 27 years old. He was buried in the monastery cemetery, and later in the Abbey church.         The fame of his sanctity rapidly spread beyond the walls of the monastery. The example of his life together with his many spiritual writings continue to spread and greatly profit those who get to know him. He has been described as one of the great mystics of the twentieth century.         On August 19, 1989, the Holy Father John Paul II, on World Youth Day at Santiago de Compostella, proposed him as a model for young people today, and beatified him on September 27, 1992.         Pope Benedict XVI canonized him on October 11, 2009 and presented him as a friend and intercessor for all the faithful, especially for the young. - Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Chronology of Resurrection Appearances

Dear William,
Delighted!
You have regaled me with the amazing uncovering of the Chronology of Resurrection Appearances.
I will love to follow your footprints falling into a more and more search light, albeit the midnight burning light. 

Thank you.

Yours ..

Donald

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: William . . .
To: Donald.. . .
Sent: Tuesday, 24 April 2012, 20:27
Subject: PS. Resurrection appearances - query

PS.

Father Donald,

I have been over my pencil notes made from 'The Gospel Story', and confirmed my puzzlement.

The Knox-Cox narrative gives no mention to Matthew 28:9-10 where Jesus greets 'the other women'. I would expect to find mention on page 410.

Hence, doubting my own research, I concentrated my efforts in presenting the other syntheses.

I still doubt my discovery... William. 

 - - -

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: William ...
To: Donald ...
Sent: Monday, 23 April 2012, 16:58
Subject: Re: Chronology of Resurrection Appearances

Dear Father Donald,

 

My 'homework' has aborbed me! The chronology is given varied interpretations!

 

Before I relate my 'homework', I would first give you a link to a Blog article which gives a brilliant synthesis: it lists 12 appearances in specific order: 

A Chronological Sequence of the Resurrection Appearances (http://blog.adw.org/2010/04/resurrection-sequences/) By: Msgr. Charles Pope

This Blog post is a follow-up from yesterday’s blog. When we encounter the resurrection accounts in the New Testament we face a challenge in putting all the pieces together in a way that the sequence of the events flow in logical order.

 

My research is humble by comparison, and is rather a presentation of the work of others. My own pencil notes from my copies of the Knox 'Harmony' and Knox-Cox 'The Gospel Story' (my favourite narrative, combining as it does all Gospel accounts in one text) were put to one side when I came upon the following two resources on the internet, for in truth, I was becoming undecided: I needed expert advice from a NT scholar to determine the sequence of certain of the appearances.  

 

 

Catholic Online (http://www.catholic.org/clife/lent/appearances.php ) 

This site provides a list of appearances (which I have numbered and summarised below):

 

Post-Resurrection Appearances of Jesus Christ

1.To Mary Magdalene in the garden in the Garden in Jerusalem

Mark 16:9-11 When he had risen, early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene

John 20:11-18 But Mary stayed outside the tomb weeping… Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to him in Hebrew,

2.To the other women who had gathered in the holy city of Jerusalem

Matthew 28:9-10 Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him.

3.To two disciples walking along the road to Emmaus

Mark 16:12-13 After this he appeared in another form to two of them walking along on their way to the country.

Luke 24:13-35 Emmaus… Jesus himself drew near and walked with them, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.

4.To the Apostle Peter in Jerusalem

Luke 24:34 "The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!"

1 Corinthians 15:3 - 5 he was raised on the third day... he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve.

5.To the ten disciples who had gathered in the Upper Room of the holy city of Jerusalem

Luke 24:36-53 While they were still speaking about this, he stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you."

John 20:19-25 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked… Jesus came and stood in their midst

6.To the eleven disciples who had gathered in the Upper Room of Jerusalem

Mark 16:14 ...but later, as the eleven were at table, he appeared to them and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart

John 20:26-31 Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came and stood in their midst

7.To the seven disciples who had returned to their fishing on the Sea of Galilee

John 21:1-25 After this, Jesus revealed himself again to his disciples at the Sea of Tiberias.

8.To the eleven disciples on a mountain in Galilee

Matthew 28:16-20 The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain… Jesus approached and said to them, "All power…”

Mark 16:15-20 He said to them, "Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.

9.To more than 500 at a place not disclosed in Paul's Letter

1 Corinthians 15:6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at once

10.To James

1 Corinthians 15:7 After that he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.

11.To His Disciples as He Ascended to Heaven on the Mount of Olives

Luke 24:44-53 He said to them, "These are my words…” Then he led them (out) as far as Bethany…and was taken up to heaven

Acts 1: 1 - 14  When he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight

12.To the Apostle Paul "Out of the ordinary course" on the Road to Damascus

Acts 9:1-19 "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" … "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting

Acts 22:3- 21'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?'… And he said to me, 'I am Jesus the Nazorean whom you are persecuting.'

1 Corinthians 9:1 Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?

Abide in Christ (http://www.abideinchrist.com/)
This site provides an academic-style chart of events (which I have numbered):

 

THE RESURRECTION APPEARANCES OF JESUS

	Event	Time	Scriptures	Activities
	Visit of the women to the tomb of Jesus	Golgotha & Bethany, our late Saturday afternoon and early evening (A.D. 30 (or 29)	Mk. 16:1; Matt. 28:1	They watch the tomb late on Sabbath (our Sat. afternoon; purchase the spices after the Sabbath ends at 6 PM
	Earthquake, rolling away of the stone	Before sunrise on the Sunday after the death of Christ	Matt. 28:2-4	Great earthquake in Jerusalem, angel of the Lord rolled away the stone, Roman soldiers became as dead men
	Visit of the women to the tomb	Golgotha, early Sunday morning about sunrise	Mk. 16:2-8; Matt. 28:5-8; Lk. 24:1-8; Jn. 20:1	Women visit the tomb of Jesus. Angels announce that Jesus has risen.
	Mary Magdalene and women report to the apostles	Early in the morning	Lk. 24:9-12; Jn. 20:2-10	The women report the happenings at the tomb of Jesus to the apostles, John and Peter run to the tomb and make observations
1	Appearance of Jesus to Mary Magdalene	Jerusalem on Sunday	Mk. 16:9-11; Jn. 20:11-18	Five appearances are given as occurring on the day of Jesus’ resurrection, (1) to Mary Magdalene; (2) to the other women; (3) the two going to Emmaus; (4) to Simon Peter; (5) the ten apostles. Five are given subsequently during the forty days.
2	Appearance of Jesus to the other women	Jerusalem on Sunday	Matt. 28:9-10	The women worship the resurrected Jesus.
	Guards report to Jewish authorities	Probably Sunday morning	Matt. 28:11-15	Soldiers were paid to keep quiet and lie about Jesus’ body.
3	Appearance to two on road to Emmaus	Sunday afternoon	Mk. 16:12, 13; Lk. 24:13-32	Jesus reveals Himself to two disciples walking along the road. They recognize Him as He breaks bread and blesses it.
4	Appearance to Simon Peter	Jerusalem, Sunday evening	Lk. 24:33-35; I Cor. 15:5	Two disciples give their report and hear of Jesus appearance to Simon.
5	Appearance to disciples without Thomas	Jerusalem, Sunday evening	Mk. 16:14; Lk. 24:36-43; Jn. 20:19-25	Jesus appears to all of the disciples except Thomas in the upper room.
1 [6]	Appearance to Thomas and the disciples	Jerusalem, Sunday night a week later	Jn. 20:26-31; I Cor. 15:5	Jesus appears to Thomas who then worships Jesus.
2 [7]	Appearance to the seven disciples at the Sea of Galilee	Some time after the resurrection day and before the ascension at the Sea of Galilee	John 21	Miraculous catch of fish
3 [8]	Appearance to over 500 in Galilee	Mountain side in Galilee	Mk. 16:15-18; Matt. 28:16-20; I Cor. 15:6	Over 500 see Jesus and worship Him. Jesus gives His commission to His followers.
4 [9]	Appearance to James, the brother of Jesus		I Cor. 15:7
5 10]	Appearance to disciples with another commission	Jerusalem	Lk. 24:44-49; Acts 1:3-8	Jesus teaches them He is the fulfillment of O. T. prophecies and another commission.
[11]	Last appearance and the Ascension	On Olivet between Jerusalem and Bethany	Mk. 16:19-20; Lk. 24:50-53; Acts 1:9-12	Jesus blessed those who were gathered and was taken up and a cloud received Him out of their sight.

 

It has been fascinating research, causing me to consider the appearances of Our Risen Lord more deeply than I have ever done. I suppose as we listen to the Gospel stories read across several days, and thus received by us perhaps a little disjointedly, we do not sense the extraordinary degree of revelation that occurred as Our Lord prepared the disciples for the climax of the Ascension, and then Pentecost!

 

I value the 'homework' you set me - enormously!

 

Thank you!

 

With my love in Our Risen Lord,

William