The accounts of Jesus’ appearance cannot be logically dismissed. The empty tomb of Christ alone remains a mystery.
However, the Gospels report that on the day the tomb was found empty, people began to see the risen Christ.
Such apparitions alone might be dismissed as illusions, but the New Testament accounts show that this is highly unlikely.
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The appearance of Jesus to women
The Gospels report that Jesus’ female friends were not only the first to find his tomb empty, but the first to see him alive.
The male disciples of Jesus certainly would not have made up a story about his resurrection from the dead and would not have included women as the first witnesses, because the testimony of women was considered unreliable in that culture. In fact, the first witness to the resurrected Jesus was considered unreliable for reasons other than being a woman.
Mary Magdalene, whom all four Gospels identify as the first person to see Jesus, was delivered from seven demons during Christ’s ministry in Galilee (Luke 2:8). No one would report that he was the first to witness the resurrection—unless it actually happened.
The conclusion seems inevitable: the Gospels report that women were the first to see Jesus raised from the dead, because they were the first to have such an experience. Almost all Bible scholars today, even those who are completely skeptical of the resurrection, believe that women had an experience where they at least thought they saw the resurrected Christ.
The appearance of Jesus to his male disciples
If the accounts of the advent were limited to a small group of women, the story of Christ’s resurrection would go nowhere. According to the accounts of the Gospels and the writings of the Apostle Paul, Jesus appeared to his male disciples either individually or in groups forty days after the first account of his resurrection.
The religious content that Paul expresses at the beginning of the 15th chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians apparently originated from the Jerusalem apostles and was conveyed to him during Paul’s first meeting with them. The list of Christ’s post-resurrection appearances almost certainly came directly from Peter and James and was recorded only a few years after those events took place. This makes his list as reliable as possible.
Description of the appearances of Jesus
Only Luke and John give us details about Jesus’ appearance and behavior, and skeptics almost uniformly dismiss these details as later legends. However, it should be noted that Luke and John provide two completely independent accounts of Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances, and they agree on some important details not found in Matthew or Mark:
After hearing the women’s report, Peter and at least one other apostle ran to the tomb and saw the burial shroud alone, and then Peter went home (Luke 24:12, 24; John 20:3-10).
Jesus’ disciples sometimes did not recognize him immediately (Luke 24:16, 31; John 21:4-7).
Christ could suddenly appear and disappear even in a locked room (Luke 24:31, 36; John 20:19, 26).
Christ greeted the disciples with the words “Peace be with you” (Luke 24:36; John 20:19, 21, 26).
Christ invited his disciples to examine his hands and even touch him (Luke 24:39-40; John 20:20, 27).
Christ ate fish with his disciples (Luke 24:41-43; John 21:9-15).
Today in the article : How Many Times Did Jesus Appear after His Resurrection? We reviewed useful information about the Bible and the way of Jesus. If you wish, you can view other articles of Ali Vahidi about Christianity
