The appearances

Even when the Apostles found that the tomb was empty, they didn’t realise what had happened.  That was why, when Jesus appeared to them that evening in the Upper Room in Jerusalem, they were terrified and thought it was a ghost.  Then, as they recognised Jesus, their fear turned into joy (Luke 24:37, 41; John 20:19,20).  He saw them again on the following Sunday in the same place, and then met them in Galilee by the Lakeside, early one morning.

The 11 Apostles were not the only people to see the Risen Jesus.  Mary Magdalene and the disciples on the road to Emmaus saw him.  And after Jesus had ascended into Heaven St Peter recognised the need to find a twelfth Apostle to replace Judas and that person was chosen from a group of Jesus’ followers who were witnesses to the Resurrection (Acts 1: 15-26).  And St Paul, writing to the Christians in Corinth, taught them about the appearances of Jesus after his Resurrection and how he “…appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died” (NRSV, 1 Corinthians 15:6).

The enemies of the Christian Faith have been hard put to it to explain all this away.  They have said that the disciples saw things that were not there at all.  But this will not do.  It is just possible that one highly-strung person who wants to see something may work himself up into such a state that that he thinks he actually does see it, even though there is nothing there.  But practical people do not suddenly see and touch and speak to someone who is not there, and that, not once, but several times.  And not only did the Apostles all see him together, but the whole thing took them by surprise.  As they sat in the Upper Room, with the door securely bolted, they were expecting a visit, not from Jesus, but from the police.  And when Jesus did appear, they did not immediately recognise him.