4 questions surrounding the resurrection of Jesus

What happened this Sunday in the year 30?

The Resurrection is not documented as a historical event: the four gospels are testimonies of faith. They are also discordant! The oldest of them, that of Mark (chap. 16), tells that on the Sunday after the death of Jesus, women came to the tomb with spices to embalm the body of the Crucified. The stone of the tomb, very large, was rolled away. A young man dressed in white – an angel – stands there. To the terrified women, he announces the resurrection of Jesus and sends them to bring a message to his disciples and to Peter: “He goes before you to Galilee. There you will see him, as he told you. » Is this really what happened? The question is legitimate, because the various accounts of the discovery of the empty tomb, like those of the apparitions, do not agree. For example: the Gospel of John (read p.82) features the only Mary Magdalene among the women, and adds a visit by Peter and the beloved disciple to the tomb, absent from the other stories. Only Matthew (chap. 28) depicts guards in front of the tomb. He alone still writes that many dead people came out of their tombs at the time of Jesus’ resurrection. Luke (chap. 24) takes great care to describe the Risen One eating fish, etc.

The variety, the sometimes audacity, of these stories, expresses an interesting reality: those who benefited from the apparitions struggle to account for them. Because it’s unheard of! Also each evangelist reports these testimonies in his own way. But Christians have another written testimony. The apostle Paul, about twenty years after the death of Jesus, and several decades before the gospels were written, said in sobriety (1 Cor 15, 3-8): “He was resurrected on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, he appeared to Peter, then to the Twelve; then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at once – most of them are still alive… And last but not least, he even appeared to the runt that I am. » One thing is certain: witnesses assure that Jesus, who was dead, came to them, that they saw him, that he joined them personally, intimately. In short, he is alive, more than ever.

Is the Resurrection of Christ the heart of the Christian faith?

The resurrection of Jesus is the foundation of the Christian faith. It reveals the son of Mary as the eternal Son of God, through whom salvation is offered to humanity. It will even bring about a renewal of the entire Creation, assures Saint Paul. The Apostle is very direct with the Corinthians: “If Christ is not resurrected, your faith is worthless, you are still in the grip of your sins. » This means: if Christ is not resurrected, nothing has changed for you, you are not liberated. Because the Gospel is not a code of good conduct that would be more refined, or more effective than the law of Moses. No, the Gospel is the announcement of the death and resurrection of Jesus.

The Easter event manifests God’s love for all Man. He who believes is called to a new life. And he has the means: he receives the Spirit of God, free of charge. His resurrection has already begun. Doubting the Resurrection: this is part of the act of believing. Better yet, it’s a good sign!

Does the body resuscitate with the soul?

Let us not expect to understand the Resurrection. One of the two creeds recited at mass has believers say: “I believe in the resurrection of the flesh. » This expression launches the imagination towards representations often rejected today. Because the word “flesh”, for us, designates what surrounds our bones! But this is not the meaning that the biblical authors gave to this word. In the Jewish mentality, “the flesh” designates the entire human being, intelligence and psychology included, as a fragile being, exposed to sin. This flesh does not resurrect: “Flesh and blood do not inherit the Kingdom of God!” », affirms Paul, categorically (1 Cor 15:50). He knows what a corpse is and never speaks of “resurrection of the flesh”, quite simply. However, the Pharisee that he was before being illuminated by the Resurrected One on the road to Damascus firmly believes in the resurrection of the body. But how to explain?

In the young community of Corinth, in Greece, we ask ourselves: how are the dead resurrected? The question is insane, retorts the apostle! We don’t know! But he still sketches an image to approach the mystery: just as a grain of wheat is sown in the field, it dies, and a plant comes from it, so death and resurrection can make the same person pass from the state of a “physical body” to that of a “spiritual body” (1 Cor, 15). We could also think of the astonishing transformation of the caterpillar into a butterfly. The image is used today by catechists. It expresses the continuity between two different bodily forms.

Saint Paul also speaks of the human being as “spirit, soul and body”. “The body is the house of the soul, as the soul is the house of the spirit”, explains the philosopher Saint Justin after him, in the 2nd century. This distinction allows us to conceive of death as a violent state where the soul separates from the body. The body corrupts, while the spirit can be united with God, awaiting the resurrection of the body.

May the Resurrection change our lives?

The Resurrection causes an upheaval that is both extremely intimate among people and collective. For them, faith opens reality to its invisible dimension. This is how we can summarize the palpable emotion in the New Testament. A crack appears in the world order, located in Jerusalem in the year 30. The shock wave spreads quickly, from witness to witness. The gospels pose a question to the reader: “What would your attitude have been when these events took place? » However, they highlight the doubts of both sides: this is part of the act of believing! Father Jean-Pierre Longeat, Benedictine, abbot emeritus of Ligugé, writes: “If we place faith between doubt and certainty, we are mistaken. Faith is a gift from God, a circulation in the relationship with God, received. It’s an experience. »

Believers know well this alternation of bright moments and dark periods, where faith is experienced in the dryness of sensations, or even loses all meaning. But the reception of the Risen One, invisible, also involves the stubborn putting into practice of his word. If the resurrection of Jesus is not an event that historians can grasp, the consequences of the disciples’ faith leave a trace. The first disciples change their lives. An astonishing energy propels them far from their native Galilee. Throughout Christian history, numerous men and women embody the adventure of faith in the resurrection. Their brand? They carry out work of reconciliation, like the one in whom they believe. “It is by the love you have for one another that they will know that you are my disciples,” says Jesus (Jn 13:35).