Jesus and the Church (The Catholic Faith Series) by United States Conference Of Catholic Bishops (usccb)

Author:United States Conference Of Catholic Bishops (usccb) [Bishops, United States Conference Of Catholic]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)
Published: 2013-01-18T05:00:00+00:00

A. THE HISTORICITY OF THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST

In what sense is the Resurrection of Christ a historical event?

It is not so in the sense that anyone could have witnessed it directly, photographing it at the moment it took place. “O truly blessed night,” we sing in the Exsultet of the Easter Vigil, “which alone deserved to know the time and the hour when Christ rose from the realm of the dead! ...

“No one was an eyewitness to Christ’s Resurrection and no evangelist describes it. No one can say how it came about physically. Still less was its innermost essence, his passing over to another life, perceptible to the senses” (CCC, no. 647).

Nonetheless, the Resurrection of Christ is a historical event in the sense that it really took place in history and had historically attested signs and testimonies.

At the same time, it is also a mysterious event, which transcends and exceeds history itself, in that it is a mystery of faith, and as such, it requires faith, a gift from God, by virtue of which one can exclaim with St. Thomas before the Risen Christ: “My Lord and my God!” (Jn 20:28).

Therefore, the Resurrection of Christ “is not a theory, but a historical reality revealed by the man Jesus Christ by means of his ‘Passover’ ... It is neither a myth nor a dream, it is not a vision or a utopia, it is not a fairy tale, but it is a singular and unrepeatable event” (Pope Benedict XVI, Urbi et Orbi message, 2009).

St. Paul says that Christ “was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures” (1 Cor 15:4). “Many exegetes see the words: ‘he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures’ as an important reference to what we read in Psalm 16[15] in which the Psalmist proclaims: ‘Because you will not abandon my soul to the nether world, nor will you suffer your faithful one to undergo corruption’ (ibid., v. 10). This is one of the texts of the Old Testament, cited frequently in early Christianity to prove Jesus’ messianic character. Since according to the Jewish interpretation corruption began after the third day, the words of Scripture are fulfilled in Jesus who rose on the third day, that is, before corruption began” (Pope Benedict XVI, General audience, April 15, 2009).

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