Bodily Resurrection: Surprised Witnesses and Jesus' Compassionate Response

“Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” Jn. 10:27. Consider the context and import of these words.

Roman authorities had nailed Jesus to a cross and then raised it vertically, probably causing his gradual asphyxiation. This excruciating technique for executions often triggered terror among the ruled. Scattering, many of Jesus’ closest disciples hid in a locked room for their protection. Jn. 19:16-18, 31-33, 20:19.

But then events confounded his disciples’ expectations. When some of them, women, came to his tomb to embalm his body, they found the tomb-sealing stone rolled away (and so they imagined that someone had moved Jesus’ body). Mk. 16:1-3; Jn. 20:1-2. Later that morning, one of them (from Magdala, a fishing town on the Sea of Galilee) saw a man nearby that she initially thought was the area’s gardener. But when the man called this Mary by name, she recognized him – and so became the first of more than 500 witnesses of his resurrection. Jn. 20:10-20; 1 Cor. 15:6. Yet initially, the Eleven (his closest living disciples after the death of his betrayer Judas) “stubborn[ly] refus[ed] to believe those who had seen him after he had risen.” Mk. 16:14. The Eleven doubted Jesus’ resurrection even though he had predicted it to them. Matt. 17:22-23; Mk. 10:32-34. On hearing news about recent sightings of Jesus, one of them, Thomas, said, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” Jn. 20:24-25.

People then and now share this skepticism based on their experience. As the Eleven thought they knew, persons put to death on Roman crosses stayed dead. Likewise, moderns have observed the persistence of death, whatever its cause.

How did Jesus respond to such skepticism concerning his resurrection? By offering evidence and assurance. To the cowering disciples in the locked room on resurrection day, Jesus appeared and repeatedly said, “Peace be with you.” Jn. 20:19-21. To Thomas, absent from this encounter, Jesus appeared a week later and offered not just sight and sound, but (as quoted atop this article) the intimate fingering of his wounds. A few years later, when Jesus’ disciples were being prosecuted for their faith, see Ac. 8:1, 9:1-2, 22:2-5, 19-21; Gal. 1:13-14, Jesus appeared to the prosecutor (then known as Saul of Tarsus and later Paul) in a blinding light, provided for restoration of Saul’s sight, personally instructed him, and promised to rescue him. Ac. 9:3-6, 15-19, 22:12-21, 26:15-18; Gal. 1:12, 15-17. These texts do not suggest that Jesus was annoyed with his skeptical disciples or even at zealous persecutor Saul. Instead, Jesus’ tone likely was loving and patient, grasping just how incredible reports of resurrection and the associated transformation of worldview must seem to human creatures of limited understanding. For example, when he appeared to Saul, Jesus expressed sympathy for the persecutor’s dilemma by observing “It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” Ac. 26:14. Despite their initial doubts, the Eleven and Paul were so convinced of Jesus’ bodily resurrection that they spent much of the remainder of their lives offering their testimony about it, often at great personal cost. See Ac. 1:21-21-11, 2:24, 32. Why? Because belief in Jesus’ bodily resurrection is a principle “of first importance” in Christian faith. 1 Cor. 15:3-4, 14.

In short, testimony by Jesus’ early disciples about his physically resurrected body is persuasive based on their personal observations, which overcame  their initial skepticism, and on their dogged commitment to serving as witnesses of it. In this season, recall not only the raising of Jesus' body in triumph over death, but also his gentleness in urging its recognition, and in his promise, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Jn. 20:29.

-Lloyd