The Risen Jesus

Just as Jesus had said, that though one dies, one will live, and will never die, he rose again three days after his death on the cross. The Roman soldiers trembled with fear, but the elders paid them to spread the rumor that the disciples had stolen the body. Even so, Jesus appeared first to the women, Mary Magdalene among them.

The women and the disciples had plainly heard him say that he would rise again, yet they could not believe until they saw it with their own eyes. Thomas, too, declared that he would not believe unless he could touch him with his own hands. People are like this: they insist on seeing before they will believe, and, forgetting the word they have heard, they pour all their effort into what can be seen.

Yet God’s word has never once changed. As he had promised, Jesus met his disciples in Galilee, gave them the Holy Spirit and commanded them to preach the gospel to the whole world. The risen Jesus is alive even now and will come again; so it falls to the faithful not to doubt, but to entrust their lives to him and to live out the word they have heard.