The Resurrection

With excerpts from the books Above the Sun and Images of the Unseen

“Without the shedding of blood,” says Scripture, “there is no forgiveness of sins” (Heb. 9:22). In pouring out His Precious Blood on the Cross in atonement for our sins, Jesus willingly gave His life in exchange for ours. Death, our ancient adversary, was confronted by Life. Life passed through death and transformed it. His touch mortally wounded death, breaking its eternal hold on us. “‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’ ‘O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?’” (1 Cor. 15:55).

Just as Christ’s death is proof of His humanity, His rising is proof of His divinity. His dying is our redemption; His rising, our assurance we too shall rise again. The Resurrection is the foundational truth of the Christian faith. “If Christ has not been raised,” says the Apostle, “then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain” (1 Cor. 15:14).

Christ experienced not merely a resurrection in spirit, but in body. This is why the Empty Tomb is so important (cf. John 20:1 ff.). This is why He retained the wounds in His hands, feet, and side; and invited Saint Thomas to touch them.

Eight days later, his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. The doors were shut, but Jesus came and stood among them, and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side; do not be faithless, but believing." Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe" (John 20:26-29).

Christianity’s first eye-witnesses to the Risen Christ were women, most notably Saint Mary Magdalene. That the initial testimony to the faith’s central truth was entrusted to women is highly significant. Because in ancient Palestine the testimony of women carried little weight it stands to reason that had the Resurrection been a fabrication the story would have been concocted so that Jesus appeared first to men, perhaps to St. Peter or one of the Apostles—to someone, that is, whose testimony carried the most weight instead of the least.

Each of the four Gospels testifies to the Resurrection and it is mentioned throughout the New Testament letters as well. Beyond Scripture, we have the witness of the historical documents known as the writings of the Early Church Fathers, composed in many cases by Christians who had learned from the Apostles directly or from others who had known them. Pope Saint Clement, for example, who knew Saints Peter and Paul, wrote from Rome in about 96 A.D., “The Master is continually proving to us that there will be a future resurrection, of which he has made the Lord Jesus Christ the firstling, by raising him from the dead” (Letter to the Corinthians 24). Even outside of the community of Jesus’ followers we find historical testimony to the Resurrection. Writing around 93 A.D., for instance, the Jewish historian Josephus described Jesus as “a doer of wonderful works” and “the Christ” (Antiquities of the Jews 18:3:3). Going on to document Jesus’ trial and crucifixion under Pontius Pilate, he added, “He appeared to [those that loved him] alive again the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him” (ibid.).

The glory of the Resurrection is richly conveyed by the German Renaissance artist Matthias Grünewald in his Isenheim Altarpiece. The Risen Lord hovers over the Tomb and fallen soldiers, appearing as a sunburst in the night. Encircled by a dazzling aura with His pierced hands outstretched, the Christ appears as the complementary figure to Leonardo’s study of man, the true perfection of man and pledge of his destiny. The elevated Christ in the midst of the circle, moreover, suggests the consecration of the Holy Eucharist at Mass. The Lord’s gesture, the positioning of His hands and feet, resembles the Crucifixion, yet with the Cross removed, demonstrating His victory over sin and death. Likewise, the bodies of the soldiers strewn beneath Him, appearing almost as the same figure tumbling sequentially into the foreground, represents His defeat of the old order.