Three Appearances on the Day of the Resurrection

S. Mark xvi. 9–14

If there is difficulty in weaving out of the fourfold record of the trial of our Blessed Lord a consistent whole, it is largely increased, when we attempt to harmonise the different narratives of His Risen Life. The hardness of this latter task arises in the main out of the evidently fragmentary character of this portion of His Sacred History. Ten 1 or more manifestations of our Lord are described, each Evangelist mentioning at least three, but no two Evangelists precisely the same xxiv. 36-49; S. John xx. 19, 20. three. Each fragment has, so to speak, a virtue peculiarly its own, yet altogether combine in impressing us with one truth. It is that Christ rose, not merely to prove that He had conquered death, but to teach men the possibilities of a higher life. Lazarus and the daughter of Jairus, and the widow’s son, had risen to continue their former existence, and to die again. Jesus rose to live in His Risen Body a glorified life, and to die no more; and herein He has given us an earnest and pledge, not only that we shall rise again, but that we shall be “changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

S. Mark has done little more than leave the briefest allusions to four of the Appearances during the forty days. It can hardly be doubted that he was guided to make his selection for the purpose of bringing into prominence the truth upon which we spoke at the close of the last chapter. Not once only, but three times he dwells upon the reluctance of the disciples to believe the tidings of the Resurrection.

When S. Peter and S. John found that Mary’s fears were realised, they “went away again to their own home;” but she remained behind, struggling with an inconsolable grief, and unable to tear herself from the spot. And to her, first of all His followers, Jesus manifested Himself in His Risen Form. S. Mark gives no details of the scene; for “S. John alone was capable of recording them in their incomparably beautiful conciseness and depth.”

“She turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing Him to be the gardener, saith unto Him, Sir, if thou have borne 7. To Seven Disciples by the Sea of Galilee. S. John xx. 1-23.

8. To the Eleven in the presence of 500 brethren. S. Matt, xxviii.

16-20; S. Mark xvi. 15-18; Acts i. 3; 1 Cor. xv. 6.

9. To S. James, the Lord’s brother. 1 Cor. xv. 7.

10. The final appearance preceding the Ascension. S. Luke xxiv. 50, 51; Acts i. 9; 1 Cor. xv. 7. Some harmonists have divided the eighth into two separate appearances. Probably our Lord appeared at other times, of which there is no record; e.g. it is hard to believe that He did not show Himself unto His Mother.

Him hence, tell me where thou hast laid Him, and I will take Him away.”

She did not recognise Him, for she was absorbed in her grief, and had no hope of the Resurrection, no thoughts but of death. “Jesus saith unto her, Mary;” and the familiar tones touched a chord of sympathy, and brought back the associations of the past. Then turning at once to satisfy herself that it was really true, she gathered the whole force of her newfound joy and conviction into the exclamation, “Rabboni,” my Master!

“She has no loftier title for Him than that which past experience had made precious; she assumes that the return to the old life exhausts the sum of her Master’s victory over death;” and when she would have clung to Him, He pointed her to the fact that, till He had ascended, she would not be able to enjoy that uninterrupted intercourse and closeness of union for which she longed. That could only be felt through the Presence of the Comforter, which depended on His return to the Father. Meanwhile He had a message to send to His brethren, and she should be the bearer of it: “Say unto them, I ascend unto My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.” What a shock of disappointment she must have felt, when they gave no credence to her word!

The second manifestation of which S. Mark speaks is that to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. One was Cleopas, the other is unnamed. They started that first Easter afternoon to go to a village a few miles distant; their hearts were filled with sadness, for they in common with so many of our Lord’s disciples had experienced a dreadful disaster. They had been living in expectation that Jesus had come to restore the fallen glories of their nation, and make the name and place of Jewry once more a power in the world. But the scene on Golgotha shattered all their hopes. They had seen their expected Deliverer expire on the Cross. All the promises of the past were to them now but as idle tales; the report of the women who had been early at the sepulchre; the vision of angels telling that He was alive, all failed to give them comfort. And as they walked, and talked of what had happened, lo! “Jesus Himself drew near, and went with them; but their eyes were holden that they should not know Him.”

Their sadness was the power of attraction. It is the echo of His first question to Mary, “Why weepest thou?” That was the sympathetic chord which drew “the Man of Sorrows” in both cases to their side.

And how did He comfort them? Just as He comforts His sorrowful servants now; by solving all their perplexities from the promises and predictions of Holy Scripture, and then by the fullest manifestation of Himself in “the Breaking of Bread.”

He began with the books of Moses and the prophets, and “expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” As He unrolled the long scroll of prophecy, and quoted passage after passage, which foreshadowed His Cross and Passion, and the after-exaltation at the right hand of God, these doubting souls were built up in the great truth, that all had happened by the determinate counsel of God, and for the salvation of the world. It is no wonder that their hearts burned within them while He talked by the way; or that, like the Patriarch wrestling until daybreak with one whom he might not know, they refused to let Him go, until they had received His blessing. And He went in to tarry with them, and “He took the bread, and blessed, and brake, and gave to them,” — it is precisely the same language in which His action at the Institution of the Blessed Sacrament is described, — “and their eyes were opened, and they knew Him.”

As soon as He had vanished from their sight, they arose and returned to Jerusalem, eager to make known their glad experience; and they found “the Eleven” assembled for their evening meal in the Paschal Chamber. They were received with the joyful announcement that “the Lord had risen” and that one of their own number had actually seen Him. But how imperfect as yet was their grasp of the nature of the Risen Life; for no sooner did the two disciples tell what had befallen them on the road to Emmaus, than their old incredulity revived, and they refused to believe their report.

It was while they were speaking that Jesus Himself appeared in the midst, and “upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart.” The doors of the chambers had been firmly barred, for they feared that the Sanhedrim might arrest them for the abduction of the Lord’s Body; but no material barrier could stay His entrance, and He suddenly stood amongst them. They thought it was a spirit from the other world, and were filled with fear.

Then followed His patient resolution of all their doubts: the exhibition of His wounds; the palpable apprehension of His flesh and bones; the participation of food before their eyes; and then “the day breaks and the shadows flee away.”

If, as we are taught, Christ’s Risen and Glorified Body is a type of that which each one of us will put on when “this mortal shall be clothed with immortality,” it enables us to look forward with assurance to the preservation of our identity, and to recognition and reunion in the future life. “When He shall appear we shall be like Him.” “We shall be also in the likeness of His Resurrection.” We shall be changed, but yet the same. Nothing will be left in the grave, but all will be transfigured, “that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious Body, according to the working whereby He is able to subdue all things unto Himself.”

Note: The best accredited order of the appearances is as follows: — 1. To Mary Magdalene alone. S. Mark xvi. 9; S. John xx. 14-17. 2. To the Women, i.e. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary. S. Matt. xxviii. 9, 10. 3. To Simon. S. Luke xxiv. 34; 1 Cor. xv. 5. 4. To the Two Disciples going to Emmaus. S. Mark xvi. 12; S. Luke xxiv. 13-32.

Note: The reader is referred to one of Dr. Westcott’s most interesting and suggestive books, in which the characteristic features of each is drawn out, “The Revelation of the Risen Lord.”

Note: The interpretation given by the Evangelist excludes the idea that “Rabboni” expressed “my Divine Master,” as has been suggested, cf. Westcott i?i loco. In the best MSS. it is,” and said unto Him, in the Hebrew tongue, Rabboni.” The termination i, which usually signifies “my,” had probably lost its significance, as the Evangelist does not notice it.

Note: It is more than “touch” in the original, cf. Col. i. 20, where its distinction from dtyydvw is thus expressed — “don’t handle a<prj, don’t taste, don’t even touch diyrjs,” cf. Lightfoot in loco.

Note: The identification of this place is truly a vexata qucestio, cf. Smith, Bib. Diet. M It has been conjectured that it was S. Luke, but upon no sufficient authority.

Note: S. Paul calls them “the Twelve.” In both cases number is not signified so much as their official character.

Note: Possibly their changed feelings arose from an inability to understand the almost simultaneous appearance to the two disciples and to S. Peter, when so far distant from each other.