Article by Monsignor Paglia for “Avvenire” on Feb. 11.
The experience of Jesus showing up with a body very different from the one they had known shocked the apostles. But it has the power to impart the turning point of conversion to their (and our) lives
If we talk about the “resurrection of the flesh,” we can only do so from the “Risen One,” the heart of the Christian faith. Without it, there would be no Christianity. Paul's testimony is the first source for this tradition. He states that he received it from the other apostles: «For to you I have transmitted first of all what I also received, namely, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures and was buried and that he rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas and then to the Twelve» (1 Cor. 15:3-5). He then also gives the list of other appearances: «Afterwards he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still living, while some are dead. He also appeared to James and then to all the apostles» (1Cor 15:6-8).
Mind you. Jesus was not resurrected to mortal life, like Lazarus. He had risen to “eternal” life, the life of God, the life in which the redemption and fulfillment of all true love is accomplished. It is from there that the risen Jesus presents himself to his own, it is from that threshold that he speaks to us, meets us, makes himself present even today. From there he attracts us. The accounts of the encounters of the “forty days” thus take on the meaning and value of true models of initiation into an affective relationship with the risen Jesus. The bewilderment of the first disciples is more than understandable. All their senses were involved and distorted. They would have known an impostor and a dream, but they were unprepared for what was happening with the Risen One. Sensibility for a life that was no longer mortal and no longer vulnerable lacked experience. The forty days served this purpose: Jesus had risen with a body that, while no longer physical, organic, like the earthly one - which explains why they do not immediately recognize him or even why he disappeared twice in the cenacle «behind closed doors» (Cf. Jn. 20:19, 26) - was nonetheless a real body, not a pure spirit. How else could he have grasped food and firewood?
If we allow ourselves to be attracted - humbly but not uncritically - by the concordant testimony of the New Testament authors, we cannot imagine Jesus“ resurrected existence - and, consequently, ours either - as if life in God did not include some ”corporeality.« Luke's account of the appearance of the risen Jesus to the disciples in the Upper Room is striking: ”'Look at my hands and my feet: it is indeed me! - says Jesus to the unbelieving disciples - Touch me and see; a ghost (pneuma, literally “spirit”) does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” Saying this, he showed them his hands and feet» (Lk 24:39-40). It is crystal clear that the “Risen One” is not “pure spirit.” He certainly sees, hears, touches, speaks. In all senses there emerges the power of the affective, agapic dimension that enables one to recognize the risen Jesus. It is the women - perhaps not surprisingly - who understand first. And to them Jesus entrusts the responsibility of proclaiming him to others.
Luke relates that some of the women who had followed Jesus from Galilee to Jerusalem, early in the morning of the day after the Sabbath, «went to the tomb, taking with them the aromatics they had prepared. They found that the stone had been removed from the tomb, and as they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus» (Luke 24:1-3). But they were looking for him in the wrong place: the Living One was no longer in the place of the dead: «Why do you seek among the dead the one who is alive?» (Lk 24:5) was the rebuke of the two “in blazing apparel.” And they added what they should have known: «He is not here, He is risen» (Greekhungerliterally «was awakened - by God»). And they refresh their memory: «Remember how he spoke to you when he was still in Galilee and said, “It is necessary for the Son of Man to be delivered into the hands of sinners, to be crucified, and to rise again on the third day”» (Luke 24:6-7; 9:22).
The account of the Risen One's encounter with Mary of Magdala is moving. She, disconsolate at not finding him, stands by the tomb weeping for the dead Jesus. And she does not notice that he stands beside her, resurrected. Only by turning back can she perceive the presence of the Risen One («Having said this, she turned back and saw [theorei] Jesus, standing, but he did not know that it was Jesus,» (Jn. 20:14). The verbtheóreiteis the one used by Jesus in his promise to the disciples, «the world will not see me [theorei] more but you will see me [theoreite],» Jn 14:19). Although Mary sees the resurrected Christ before her, she does not recognize him. She is so conditioned by the idea of death as deliveryTo the irrevocable dissolution of all ties, which he fails to recognizeHis beloved Master alive forever. Jesus takes the initiative by asking her two questions: why is she crying, and who is she looking for (Jn 20:15)? Is Mary looking for a dead body or a living person? If she is looking for the living she cannot find him in the place of death. Then Jesus, the shepherd who «calls his sheep by name» (Jn 10:3), turns to the disciple and calls her, «Mary!» Finally she turns, recognizes him, and tells him in Hebrew:Rabbuni! (”Master!”)» (cf.Jn. 20:16).
The turning away, of Mary, indicates not only a physical but a spiritual attitude; it is a sign of the conversion necessary and indispensable for the encounter with the “resurrected.” When Mary stops looking to the past, she perceives the reality of the present; when she no longer seeks the dead, she finds the living. Mary would like to embrace the Master, not so much to have proof of his real presence, like the apostle Thomas (cf. Jn. 20:25), but as an outburst of moved gratitude for the unexpected gift of the encounter that reopens faith and affections to life. The intimacy of the word and the physicality of the contact are essential parts of the feminine tonality of love affection that confirms reality. Jesus does not shy away from the request for confirmation («Lord, if you have taken him away tell me where you have placed him, and I will go and get him,» Jn. 20:15b), but he sets a limit to his desire for possession, which still has to make room for the fulfillment of the mystery and its sharing («Do not hold me back, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, my God and your God’ (Jn. 20:17).
The apostle Paul tells us decisively that Jesus by his resurrection defeated death, the “supreme enemy,” forever and opened to the hope of resurrection for all. If Jesus had not been resurrected, history after Christ would have been completely different. That is why the apostle Paul continued to defend without ifs and buts the resurrection of Jesus and the consequent resurrection of the disciples of all times. His preaching remains steadfast: «Now if it is preached that Christ is raised from the dead, how is it that some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, neither is Christ raised; and if Christ is not raised, vain therefore is our preaching, and vain also is your faith» (1 Cor. 15:12-14).
