Pastor’s Page
April 19, 2009
From Despair to Joy - Meeting the Risen Christ

We know how the followers of Jesus abandoned and denied him after his arrest in the garden of Gethsemane. Peter's denial while Jesus was on trial before the Sanhedrin, is notorious because he had primacy of place among the disciples. But they all fled into the darkness. Their rabbi Jesus was not fulfilling their hopes for him. This Messiah was not a warrior king who would march a new Israel into battle against the Roman empire. Instead, he would be the suffering servant foretold by the prophet Isaiah "he was silent and opened not his mouth". His summary trial before the Temple priests led by Caiaphas,
with the charge of blasphemy leveled against him, and his consequent appearance before the Roman procurator, Pilate, with his decision to execute Jesus, were events far too frightening and consequential for the disciples of Jesus to respond courageously. Matthew, Mark and Luke (the Synoptics) record only women present at the cross of Jesus. (For symbolic reasons, John's gospel written at the end of the first century, presents the mother of Jesus and the beloved disciple at the foot of the cross.) ("Son,
behold your mother.")

An event unexpected and startling took place after the crucifixion of Jesus that transformed them from cowards to bold witnesses of a risen Messiah. The tomb where he had been lain was discovered empty. Women were the first ones to witness this. They had been on their way to anoint his body. Instead, angels tell them that the crucified one has been raised up. The Gospels offer varying accounts with details that differ about the subsequent appearances of the risen Jesus. St. Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians 15.3- 8, writes of the tradition: "For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. Then he appeared to more than 500 brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though
some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me."

Peace and Love, Father Bruce