For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead” (Jn 20:9). We should not be amazed at the Apostles’ lack of understanding, nor should we fault them. A similar thing could be said of us: we do not yet understand the Scripture that He is risen from the dead.
Certainly, we profess that “on the third day He rose again, in fulfillment of the Scriptures.” But we do not yet understand it as deeply as we should.
Our understanding can begin by seeing the Resurrection as a proof and a promise: the proof of all that Jesus has said and done, and the promise of what He will do.
First, Our Lord Himself established the Resurrection as a test case. Recall that when He threw the moneychangers out of the Temple, the scribes and Pharisees asked, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” (Jn 2:18) Somewhat of an odd response, and probably not what your priest would say if you tore up his church. But Our Lord knew the reasonableness of their demand: His bold claims (such as having authority over the Temple) demanded some testimony. He set the Resurrection as the proof they requested. Speaking of the temple of His body, He said, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” (Jn 2:19) From that point on the legitimacy of His words and work hinged on His Resurrection.
Without the Resurrection, His teachings — “Blessed are the poor in spirit … Blessed are the peacemakers … If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me … He who loses hislife for my sake will find it…Love one another as I have loved you” — would have no power or meaning. Similarly, His claims to divinity — “Before Abraham was, I am … The Father and I are one” — seem laughable. But He is risen. Because He lives, His words cannot remain a dead letter. His Resurrection proves that His teachings have absolute authority and are the only way to eternal life.
The Resurrection makes a promise for the future as well. He is risen indeed — truly risen in His body, the same body that hung upon the Cross. As if that were not enough, we say also that we will rise — truly rise in our bodies, the same bodies we now have. We profess every Sunday that “we look for the resurrection of the dead.” He rose not for His own sake, but for ours, so that we may rise.
Already in the fifth century St. Augustine observed, “On no point does the Christian faith encounter more opposition than on the resurrection of the body.” Indeed, the world may permit us our belief in His resurrection as a curious opinion about a man 2,000 years ago. But the belief in our own resurrection strikes the world as absurd. Yet this is precisely what we believe, and it completes the lesson of Lent and Easter: as we share in His suffering and death, so we hope to share in His Resurrection. In fact, the only reason we share in His suffering and death is in order to share in His Resurrection.
We do not yet understand the scripture that He is risen from the dead. But the Lord has given us our entire lives to deepen our understanding. In this regard St. Paul, towards the end of his life, expressed a desire that we should make our own: “That I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that if possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead” (Phil 3:10-11).
Fr. Scalia is parochial vicar of St. Patrick Parish in Chancellorsville, Virgina.
(This article courtesy of the Arlington Catholic Herald.)
