The Humanity of the Disciples
Julián Carrón - It is comforting to see the humanity of the disciples. They are afraid like us, they are worried, they have doubts so that we can feel represented, and this makes their witness all the more impressive. The Gospels do not need to hide the humanity of the disciples; on the contrary, they put it before everyone so that it becomes part of the revelation: their humanity helps to reveal the true nature of Christ's victory. Jesus is surprised at their labor, especially after he had already appeared to them and they had recognized him: "Truly the Lord is risen and has appeared to Simon!" Nevertheless, he asked them: "Why then are you troubled and doubting in your hearts? At the same time, he reassures them without reproach: "Look at my hands and my feet: it is indeed I! Touch me and look at me; a spirit has no flesh and bones, as you see that I have. Saying this, he showed them his hands and feet.
Jesus assures them that the one they see is really Him, the One they know, the One they have spent so much time with, the One they have seen face passion and death on the cross. The one they see alive is their friend, the one they laid in the tomb. The Risen One is precisely the Crucified One: "Look at my hands and my feet: it is I!" It was He who now stood before them. The identity between the Crucified One and the Risen One is decisive. If He were someone else or a spirit, everything would collapse, but "a spirit has no flesh and bones, as you see that I have! Touch me and see". And he confirms this by showing them "his hands and feet", the palpable trace that the crucifixion left in him, which makes it easier for them to recognize him.
Jesus does not respond to fear, confusion, and doubt with explanations, encouragement, or speeches. None of these attempts would be able to comfort them. Fear, anxiety, and doubt can only be truly challenged by a presence. We see it in ourselves: fear is not conquered by reason. The fear of a child can only be conquered by the presence of the mother; only her presence calms and pacifies it. No other method could conquer the fear, anxiety, the doubts of the disciples than the living presence of Jesus, of the One whom the disciples had laid in the tomb and now had before them.
The truth of what the witnesses say is seen even more impressively in the joy that fills the disciples. Think of the mourners, all of them affected by the loss of their loved one: nothing could replace the absence of him. In the face of this absence, no words or initiative can fill the void. Only those who have felt that emptiness can understand what transforms grief into joy: the mere presence of the newly found loved one. No other activity, memory, or nostalgia can fill the hole within us when we miss someone truly dear.
Therefore, the joy that overcame the disciples would be inexplicable if he were only a ghost or another person than the one they knew and loved. The formulas that the Gospel uses to help us understand what they were experiencing even show their embarrassment: "For joy they did not yet believe, and they were filled with astonishment."
It is paradoxical that they felt joy before they even believed, that they were filled with amazement before they even recognized it! We can understand this very well: how many times has it happened to us that first we are amazed and only later we realize that we are amazed! Something unexpected happens that first fills us with joy and amazement, and then we realize it. The best record of this is the testimony of the disciples on the road to Emmaus: "Were not our hearts burning within us while he was speaking to us on the road" (Lk 24:32). The passion of their hearts had preceded their recognition of Jesus. They realized it only when they recognized him.
All these details, however small, show the reliability of their testimony, even before He surprised them with another initiative: "Have you here anything to eat? They offered Him a piece of fried fish; He took it and ate it before them". All that is recounted in these testimonies would not be possible if it were not true that their anxious, troubled, doubtful lives encountered the living presence of the One to whom they had been bound for years and who was now opening their eyes to help them understand. "These are the words I spoke to you while I was still with you: everything that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures".
The space that the Gospels give to the journey taken by the Apostles to reach the certainty of faith in the Risen One, so that they might become witnesses, finds its justification in the words of St. Paul to the believers in Corinth, among whom were some who denied the Resurrection: "If Christ is not risen," says St. Paul, "your faith is in vain, and you are still in your sins. Christian faith, then, stands or falls, it is an alternative that depends only on the historicity of the Resurrection.
This text collects some of the homilies delivered by Julián Carrón during the Easter season of 2024 published by paginasdigital.es.
The different sections do not correspond to the liturgy's chronology but to thematic groupings. The author has not revised the text. Download.
