Monday, December 14, 2015
Youcat commented through CCC – Question n. 105.
(Youcat
answer - repeated) The disciples, who before had lost all hope, came to believe
in Jesus’ Resurrection because they saw him in a different way after his death,
spoke with him, and experienced him as being alive.
A deepening through CCC
(CCC 643)
Given all these testimonies, Christ's Resurrection cannot be interpreted as
something outside the physical order, and it is impossible not to acknowledge
it as an historical fact. It is clear from the facts that the disciples' faith
was drastically put to the test by their master's Passion and death on the
cross, which he had foretold (Cf. Lk 22:31-32). The shock provoked by the
Passion was so great that at least some of the disciples did not at once
believe in the news of the Resurrection. Far from showing us a community seized
by a mystical exaltation, the Gospels present us with disciples demoralized
("looking sad" Lk 24:17; cf. Jn 20:19) and frightened. For they had
not believed the holy women returning from the tomb and had regarded their
words as an "idle tale" (Lk 24:11; cf. Mk 16:11, 13). When Jesus
reveals himself to the Eleven on Easter evening, "he upbraided them for
their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who
saw him after he had risen" (Mk 16:14).
Reflecting and meditating
(Youcat comment)
The Easter events that
took place in Jerusalem in the year 30 are not a made-up story. Following the
death of Jesus and the defeat of their whole cause, the disciples fled (“We had
hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel”, Lk 24:21) or else barricaded
themselves behind locked doors. Only their encounter with the risen Christ
freed them from their aralysis and filled them with an enthusiastic faith in
Jesus Christ, the Lord of life and death.
(CCC Comment)
(CCC 644)
Even when faced with the reality of the risen Jesus the disciples are still
doubtful, so impossible did the thing seem: they thought they were seeing a
ghost. "In their joy they were still disbelieving and still
wondering" (Lk 24:38-41). Thomas will also experience the test of doubt
and St. Matthew relates that during the risen Lord's last appearance in Galilee
"some doubted" (Cf. Jn 20:24-27; Mt 28:17). Therefore the hypothesis
that the Resurrection was produced by the apostles' faith (or credulity) will
not hold up. On the contrary their faith in the Resurrection was born, under
the action of divine grace, from their direct experience of the reality of the
risen Jesus.
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