Question: Choose two main themes/insights that you have gained about Our Lord's Resurrection from the Dead and its significance for our lives

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Question: Choose two main themes/insights that you have gained about Our Lord's Resurrection from the Dead and its significance for our lives. Be sure and provide page numbers from the assigned reading and make sure you use the commentary from The Navarre Bible to support what you choose to write and not merely knowledge you may have prior to our course

The reading material is as followed:

 

The crucifixion and death of Jesus

19:17-30 "The place of a skull" or Calvary (from the Aramaic name Golgotha, which means "skull") seems to have got its name from the fact that it was shaped like a skull; it was a disused quarry on the outskirts of Jerusalem. And it is the fourth scene of the passion. St John is the only evangelist who clearly states that Jesus carried his own cross; the other three mention only the help given him by Simon of Cyrene (Mt 27:32; Mk 15:21; Lk 23:26). Jesus carrying his cross to Calvary is something to which no one can be indifferent; it calls for a decision—to be for or against him: "He was going therefore to the place where he was to be crucified, bearing his own Cross. An extraordinary spectacle: to impiety, something to jeer at; to piety, a great mystery. [...] Impiety looks on and laughs at a king bearing, instead of a sceptre, the wood of his punishment; piety looks on and sees the King bearing that cross for himself to be fixed on, a cross which would thereafter shine on the brows of kings; an object of contempt in the eyes of the impious, but something in which hereafter the hearts of the saints should glorify" (St Augustine, In Ioannis Evangelium, 117, 3).

The crucifixion scene summarizes the life and teaching of Jesus. The seamless tunic which the soldiers do not tear (v. 24) symbolizes the unity of the Church, the unity for which Jesus asked the Father during his priestly prayer (see 17:20-26). The presence of the Blessed Virgin and the beloved disciple (vv. 25-27), and the outflow of blood and water from Christ's side (v. 34), recall the wedding at Cana (2:1-11) and symbolize the Church and believers who become members of it through Baptism and the Eucharist. Jesus' thirst (v. 28) brings to mind the episode of his meeting with the Samaritan woman (see 4:7) and the things he said during the feast of Tabernacles (see 7:37), and it shows his deep desire to save all souls. The words he says just before giving up his spirit (v. 30) make it clear that he is truly dying, and they also indicate that he is about to send into the world the Holy Spirit so often promised during his public life (see 14:26; 15:26; 16:7-15). And he also gives his Mother to the disciples (represented by the beloved disciple) to be their Mother (vv. 25-27).

The "title" (v. 19) was the technical term used at the time in Roman law to indicate the crime for which the person had been executed. Usually written on a board prominently displayed, it summarized the official document which was being forwarded to the legal archives in Rome. This explains why, when the chief priests ask Pilate to change the wording of the inscription  p 439 (v. 21), the procurator is adamant in his refusal to do so: the sentence, once handed down, was irrevocable; that is what he means when he says, "What I have written I have written" (v. 22). All the evangelists bear witness to this title, though only St John mentions that it was written in a number of languages. It thus proclaims the universal Kingship of Christ, for it could be read by people from all over the world who had come to celebrate the Passover—and confirms our Lord's words: "You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth" (18:37).

Jesus' words to Mary and the beloved disciple (vv. 25-27) show Jesus' filial love for his Mother. By declaring her to be the Mother of the beloved disciple, he gives her a new role in his work of salvation, at the moment when it reaches its climax. He thereby establishes Mary's spiritual motherhood: "The Blessed Virgin advanced in her pilgrimage of faith, and faithfully persevered in her union with her Son unto the cross, where she stood, in keeping with the divine plan, enduring with her only begotten Son the intensity of his suffering, associating herself with his sacrifice in her mother's heart, and lovingly consenting to the immolation of this victim who was born of her. Finally, she was given by the same Christ Jesus dying on the cross as a mother to his disciple" (Vatican II, Lumen gentium, 58).

All Christians, who are represented in the person of John, are children of Mary. "Entrusting himself to Mary in a filial manner, the Christian, like the Apostle John, 'welcomes' the Mother of Christ 'into his own home' and brings her into everything that makes up his inner life, that is to say, into his human and Christian 'I' " (John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, 45). "John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, brought Mary into his home, into his life. Spiritual writers have seen these words of the Gospel as an invitation to all Christians to bring Mary into their lives. Mary certainly wants us to invoke her, to approach her confidently, to appeal to her as our mother, asking her to 'show that you are our mother' (hymn Ave Maris Stella)" (St Josemaría Escrivá, Christ Is Passing By, 140).

The detail of Jesus' drinking vinegar (vv. 28-30) was also predicted in the Old Testament: "For my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink" (Ps 69:21). This does not mean that the vinegar was given to increase Jesus' suffering: it was customary to offer crucifixion victims water mixed with vinegar to relieve their thirst. In addition to the natural dehydration caused by crucifixion, we see in Jesus' thirst an expression of his burning desire to do his Father's will and to save all souls.

 

Jesus' side is pierced. The burial

19:31-37 On the eve of the Passover the paschal  p 440 lambs were officially sacrificed in the temple. The Law laid down that not a bone of the lamb should be broken (cf. Ex 12:46). The combined mention of the facts that it was to the Preparation day and that the soldiers did not break Jesus' legs (vv. 31-33) points to his being the true Paschal Lamb who takes away the sin of the world.

The blood and water that flow from Jesus' pierced side are figures of Baptism and the Eucharist, of all the sacraments, and of the Church itself. "Here was opened wide the door of life, from which the sacraments of the Church have flowed out, without which there is no entering in unto life which is true life. [...] Here the second Adam with bowed head slept upon the cross, that thence a wife might be formed of him, flowing from his side while he slept. O death, by which the dead come back to life! Is there anything purer than this blood, any wound more healing?" (St Augustine, In Ioannis Evangelium, 120, 2). The Second Vatican Council, for its part, teaches: "The origin and growth of the Church are symbolized by the blood and water which flowed from the open side of the crucified Jesus" (Lumen gentium, 3).

The account of the crucifixion and death of Jesus ends (v. 37) with the quotation from Zechariah 12:10. By citing this text, the evangelist is saying that the salvation won by Christ on the cross is the fulfilment of God's promise of redemption.

 

19:38-42 The fifth and final scene of the passion account is the new, unused tomb. Our Lord's sacrifice begins to bear its first fruit: people who up to this have been afraid now boldly confess themselves disciples of Christ and attend to his burial with exquisite refinement and generosity. Many of the Fathers go into the mystical meaning of the garden that housed the tomb—usually to point out that Christ, who was arrested in a garden (the Garden of Olives) and buried in a garden (the one that the tomb was in), has redeemed us superabundantly from the first sin, which was also committed in a garden, the garden of Eden. They also note that, because no one else had been buried in this tomb, there could be no doubt that it was Jesus and not someone else who rose from the dead. St Augustine observes that "just as in the womb of the Virgin Mary none was conceived before him, none after him, so in this tomb none before him, none was buried after him" (In Ioannis Evangelium, 120, 5).

 

 

 P 441 11. APPEARANCES OF THE RISEN CHRIST

 

20:1-21:25 This last section of the Gospel completes the glorious revelation of Jesus as Messiah and Son of God, whose story John has recounted to bolster the faith of believers. It includes the appearances of the risen Lord to the apostles; Jesus helps them to understand the meaning of the Scriptures in the light of his teaching and miracles (see 20:8-9), and gives them the Holy Spirit and the power to forgive sins (20:22-23). The miraculous catch of fish in the Sea of Tiberias (21:1-14) prefigures the host of peoples that the apostolate of the Church will win for Christ. The next part of chapter 21 is also devoted to the Church; it recounts the commission given to St Peter to be her leader (21:15-19). The Gospel ends with a vouching for the truthfulness of the witness borne by the evangelist, who has seen and heard all the things he has reported (21:24-25).

 

The empty tomb

20:1-10 All four Gospels report the testimony of the holy women and the apostles regarding Christ's glorious resurrection—first the empty tomb and then the appearances of the risen Jesus. St John makes it clear that although Mary Magdalene was the first to go to the tomb, it was the two apostles who were the first to go inside and to see the evidence that Christ had risen (the empty tomb, the linen cloths and the napkin in a place by itself ...). The beloved disciple verifies that Jesus' body is missing; and the state of the tomb, especially the linen cloths "laying there" (flattened, "deflated", fallen), shows that no human hand could have been responsible for what has happened, and that Jesus has not come back to life in the way that Lazarus did. That is why John notes that he "saw" and "believed" (v. 8).

The empty tomb and the other evidence that Peter and John saw were perceptible to the senses: but the Resurrection, even though it had effects that could be proven by experience, requires faith if it is to be truly accepted. As St Thomas Aquinas says, "the individual arguments taken alone are not sufficient proof of Christ's resurrection, but taken together, in a cumulative way, they manifest it perfectly. Particularly important in this regard are the scriptural proofs [cf. especially Lk 24:25-27], the angelic testimony [cf. Lk 24:4-7] and Christ's own post-resurrection word confirmed by miracles" (Summa theologiae, 3, 55, 6 ad 1).

 

 p 442 The appearance to Mary Magdalene

20:11-18 The Gospel shows us that Jesus manifests himself to those who seek him in all sincerity. Mary Magdalene is the model for those who seek Jesus. "What we must try to understand in this episode is the depth of love that burns in the woman's heart, the way she stays close to the tomb even when all the disciples have gone away. In tears, she sought the one who could not be found, and aflame with love, she burned with a pure desire for the one she thought had been taken away forever. She alone saw him then because she had stayed close by to look for him. Perseverance gives good works their power" (St Gregory the Great, Homiliae in Evangelia, 25, 1-2 and 4-5). Here we see Jesus as the Good Shepherd who "calls his own sheep by name" (10:3)—"Mary"—and she does "know his voice" (10:4); she cries, "Rabboni!" Mary, in turn, bears witness to the Resurrection and tells the others that she has seen the Lord. That is why in the Eastern tradition, Mary has been called "isapóstolos", that is, equal to the apostles, and in the Western tradition "apostola apostolorum", apostle of apostles. Jesus, whose glorified human body transcends this material world, must return to the Father. Significantly, the apostles are no longer "servants" or even "friends" (15:15) but "brethren" (v. 17)—an indication that after the death and glorious resurrection of Jesus, those who believe in him receive the gift of divine filiation (cf. 1:12), which makes them sons of God and brothers of Christ.

"Do not hold me" (v. 17). In the original, the verb is in the present imperative, implying that Mary was clinging to our Lord. The negative instruction (reflected in the Latin, "Noli me tangere") means that our Lord is telling Mary to release her hold on him, to let him go, for she will have another chance to see him before his ascension into heaven.

 

 p 443 Jesus' first appearance to the disciples

20:19-23 In the Gospel of St John, the point when the glorified Jesus appears to the disciples and breathes the Holy Spirit onto them is equivalent to Pentecost in St Luke's second book, the Acts of the Apostles. "God's plan of salvation for the world had been fulfilled, but it was God's will that we should participate in the divine nature of the Word, leaving our old way of life behind to enter into a new and holy life. This transformation could be brought about only through the gift of the Holy Spirit" (St Cyril of Alexandria, Commentarium in Ioannem, 10).

The commission that our Lord gives the apostles (vv. 22-23) can be seen as a parallel to that recorded at the end of St Matthew's Gospel (Mt 28:18ff), since it shows the divine origin of the Church's mission and her authority to forgive sins. "The Lord then especially instituted the sacrament of Penance when, after being risen from the dead, he breathed upon his disciples and said: 'Receive the Holy Spirit ...'. The consensus of all the Fathers has always acknowledged that by this action so sublime and words so clear the power of forgiving and retaining sins was given to the Apostles and their lawful successors for reconciling the faithful who have fallen after Baptism" (Council of Trent, De Paenitentia, chap. 1).

 

A second appearance with Thomas present

20:24-31 In this new appearance, eight days later, St Thomas plays a key role; and, just as Mary Magdalene became a model for those who seek Jesus (20:1-11), Thomas exemplifies those who at first doubt both his divinity and his humanity but are later completely converted. The Risen One is the very same person as the Crucified One. Our Lord once again makes it clear that the testimony of those who saw him after the Resurrection is a ground of faith for believers who do not have that personal experience. "Surely you do not think", St Gregory the Great comments, "that it was a pure accident that that chosen disciple was missing; who on his return was told about the appearance and on hearing about it doubted; doubting, so that he might touch and believe by touching? It was not an accident; God arranged that it should happen. His clemency acted in this wonderful way so that through the doubting disciple touching the wounds in his Master's body, our own wounds of incredulity might be healed. [...] And so the disciple, doubting and touching, was changed  p 444 into a witness of the truth and of the Resurrection" (Homiliae in Evangelia, 26, 7).

Verses 30-31 are the first epilogue or conclusion to the Gospel. They sum up the inspired writer's whole purpose in writing his Gospel—to have people believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah announced by the Old Testament prophets, and the Son of God; this belief enables us to share in eternal life even now.

 

21:1-25 This chapter is an addition to the Gospel, written either by the evangelist himself or by one of his disciples (see v. 24). The main theme is the Church; and the communion that exists between the beloved disciple and Peter is plain to see. By recounting the commission given by Jesus to Peter to lead his Church (vv. 15-17), the beloved disciple acknowledges Peter's authority, and implicitly submits his entire testimony, written and oral, to his judgment.