Category Archives: Resurrection

Resurrection

Resurrection Encounter 1: Mary, Mother of Christ

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Horsham: 2nd April 2026
Christ Appears to Mary, Mother of Christ

If you’ve visited my blog before, you probably know that I describe myself as a contemplative evangelical. I’ve written elsewhere about what that means to me, but put simply, the word ‘evangelical’ simply means that I regard the teachings of Scripture (both Old and New Testament) to be the essential core and basis of my faith. That being the case, you may wonder why I am starting this series on the resurrection with the appearance to Mary, the Mother of Christ. I can’t offer you a bible reference, because this incident doesn’t appear anywhere in Scripture. 

Resurrection

The answer is simple. I have been exploring the ‘contemplative’ side of my faith using (not for the first time) the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius of Loyola, who, in common with the  widely accepted teaching of the Catholic Church, believes that the first appearance of Christ in his resurrection was to Mary, the Mother of Jesus.

Later in this series, we’ll see that there is a similar tradition that Christ appeared to Joseph of Arimathea (the similarity is that again this ‘incident’ is not reported in the Bible). Whilst they are not in Scripture, these are deeply held beliefs within the Catholic and Orthodox traditions, and so I’m exploring the background and why they are regarded as so significant. I found myself sufficiently interested in the teaching to spend some time reading about it.

The Background

Stories of the appearance of Christ to his mother date back to the earliest Church traditions and appear in writings from the 2nd – 4th Centuries. The story reoccurs in earliest writings of both Catholic and Orthodox traditions. It was most strongly supported in the writings of Saint Vincent Ferrer (1350-1419), whose Easter sermons strongly advocate the first appearance to Mary, but are largely based on assumptions about the depth of relationship which should exist between mother and son.

‘If indeed, someone were overseas, and his mother had unnderstood that  he had died, and he nevertheless healthy returned and would visit first other friends, and only last came to his mother, this would not be a good son, nor would he seem to have honoured his mother.’ (St Vincent Ferrer, quoted at www.ewtn.co.uk/article-after-his-resurrection-Jesus-appeared-first-to-mary-his-mother-mary-say-the-saints/)

Other writings point to the merits of Mary’s faith, pointing at moments such as the annunciation (Luke 1:26-38)

Perhaps surprisingly, the strongest modern influence comes from comments by Pope John Paul II who wrote ‘it is legitimate to think that the Mother was probably the first person to whom the risen Jesus appeared.’ (General Audience, Vatican, May 21 1997).

Importance of Mary

Let’s be clear – Mary is one of the most important characters in the Gospels. As protestants, we tend to be a bit reticent to talk about Mary. We rightly admire her readiness to trust God in our advent services, but rarely mention her during the rest of the year. Yet she had a unique position, being there at the very beginning and at the very end of Christ’s life on earth.

Of course, we are uncomfortable because we have been warned against the  ‘worship’ of Mary, mother of Christ, but in reality, in most Catholic traditions at least, Mary is venerated rather than worshipped. I’m not going to go into that too much here, but there is a huge difference.

Whilst I think that, from a protestant perspective, the veneration of Mary sometimes looks like worship, it seems to me that in our rush to distance ourselves from idolotary we can overlook the extraordinary importance of Mary and her role in the birth, life and death of Jesus. 

Scriptural Context

So, before we get carried away with criticism, we need to remember that Scripture is clear that the resurrection period was 40 days long (Acts 1:3). Yet we have very few scriptural records of the appearances of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 15 , the Apostle Paul mentions a time when Christ appeared to more than 500 people at the same time, although this extraordinary incident is not recorded in any of the Gospels (1 Corinthians 15:3-8). The Road to Emmaus is mentioned only in Luke, and the appearance to Thomas is found only in John. So, it is reasonable to question whether the Gospels give us the complete story of the resurrection period?

John reminds us that not everything Jesus ever did is recorded in the Gospels (John 21:25), and it seems to me that this probably applies to his whole time on earth, including the resurrection period. That being the case, it is feasible that Mary did experience the presence of her son in his resurrection, and in human terms it would seem to be unfair if she didn’t. However, as an evangelical, I believe that we need to be constantly careful in our interpretation of Scripture, and particularly mindful of the risks of adding to the story (Deut 4:2; Galatians 1:9).

End Piece
For myself, I believe that we have much to learn from contemplative reflection on the life of Mary, Mother of Christ. From the annunciation, through to her desperate and lonely vigil at the foot of the cross, Mary is a huge (and often overlooked) witness to the whole life of Christ. Yet in common with most biblical character, we know frustratingly little about her. Having said that, if I am to hold to the belief that the Bible is the core of my beliefs, I have to be deeply skeptical of the introduction of any teaching about the life and resurrection of Christ which are not wholly based on Scripture. 

We need to be constantly careful in our interpretation of Scripture, and particularly mindful of the risks of adding to it, either literally of by implication (eg Deut 4:2; Galatians 1:9). In doing so we mislead ourselves and others. This responsibility weighs particularly heavily on those who lead or teach. I have no doubt that Christ appeared in his resurrection many times, and to many different people. It would be particularly special if amongst them was his mother, Mary. The Bible doesn’t say that the resurrected Jesus didn’t meet Mary, but importantly, be in no doubt that it doesn’t say that he did.

‘Every word of God is flawless; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Do not add to his words, or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar.’ Proverbs 30: 5-6.

Richard Jackson: Horsham,West Sussex

Resurrection

The Resurrection Encounters

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Horsham: 30th March 2026
Resurrection Encounters

The story of the resurrection is central to Christian faith. It is at the core of the Gospel. Writing to the Corinthian Church, where there were many voices questioning the resurrection, the Apostle Paul writes, ‘If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile, and you are still in your sins.’ (1 Corinthians 15:17). 

resurrection

In recent posts, we’ve looked at the tomb, the fact that the body of Christ was placed inside, and that in spite of the presence of guards, the tomb was opened during the early hours of Sunday morning. We noticed that the Jewish leaders went to considerable lengths to control the narrative, claiming that the body had been stolen during the night (Matthew 28:12-15), even though this contradicted the witness testimony of the guards. (If the guards story wasn’t correct, why did they abandon their post – which could easily (under Roman law) have led to their own execution).  Now. I’m going to look at the series of reported encounters with the risen Christ. One of the first things we might notice is that there are relatively few of them, which make it all the more important that we understand what each of them tells us about the risen Christ.

Recently, spent some time following the ‘contemplative’ path with St Ignatius of Loyola, In this series of posts, I’ve chosen to follow his pattern of the thirteen appearances, or ‘apparitions’, of Christ as outlined in his guided reflection in Week 4 of his ‘Spiritual Exercises’ (i) on the ‘Resurrection of Christ the Lord’.  

  1. Christ Appears to Mary, Mother of Christ
  2. The Women at the Tomb
  3. Appearance in the Garden
  4. Peter at the Tomb
  5. Road to Emmaus
  6. Appearance to the Disciples, without Thomas
  7. Appearance to Thomas
  8. Breakfast On the Beach
  9. Mount Tabor – The Ascension
  10. 500 witnesses
  11. Appearance to St James
  12. Appearance to St Joseph of Arimathea
  13. Appearance to St Paul (Road to Damascus)

Richard Jackson: Horsham,West Sussex

(i) St Ignatius of Loyola, The Spiritual Exercises, , p69-72, E-Saint Library Edition (2010) 

Resurrection

Who moved the stone?

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Horsham: 27th March 2026

In my last post, we were reflecting on the burial of Jesus in a garden tomb owned by Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the Jewish council, who placed a large stone across the entrance to the tomb. We noticed that the Jewish leaders were in no doubt that the body was still in the grave when the Roman soldiers or temple guard arrived to secure the tomb. 

Around dawn on the Sunday morning Mary Magdalene, some of the other women, and then the disciples, discovered that the stone had been moved and the tomb was now empty.

‘Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.‘ John 20:1

So, our next reflection is, who moved the stone?

The stone has been rolled away
The Sabbath lasted from 6pm on Friday evening until 6pm on Saturday. By that time it was dark, so it seems entirely reasonable that the women waited until dawn on Monday before heading to the tomb to anoint the body for burial. Mark’s Gospel tells us that as they approached they were anxious. ‘They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” ‘(Mark 16:3) As we know, by the time they arrived, the tomb was opened – the stone had been moved. By who? How?

who moved the stone?

The Guards Story
There’s no indication that, when she arrived at the tomb, Mary encountered the guards. In fact, by the time Mary was arriving at the tomb, the guards were in the city, throwing themselves on the mercy of the Jewish leaders. We are left to assume that these soldiers were the source of the story which comes to us in Matthew’s Gospel that in the early morning there had been a violent earthquake, during which an angel appeared and rolled away the stone. Since none of teh other gospels mention the earthquake, it seems likely that whatever happened was localised – confined to the area of the tomb itself. In their terror, the guards were unable to move and became ‘like dead men‘. (Matthew 28:2-4). Whatever happened, these hardened men were sufficiently terrified to abandon their post and admit that they had lost the body.

The Jewish Leaders Version
The Jewish leaders would have been horrified when they heard the story of the guards. Jesus had spoken about his resurrection, and their greatest fear was that stories that he had risen would start circulating. Their solution is crude. Bribe the guards to tell a different story – that the disciples had broken in and stolen the body. We saw in the last post that the leaders broke their own commandments by violating the sabbath. On hearing the story of the guards, we now see them indulging in bribery, deceit and lies to control the narrative

12 When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, 13 telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ 14 If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.’ (Matthew 28: 12-15)

The Women’s Version
We’ve already noted that from Matthews’s version, we can assume that the guards were in the city by the time the women arrived (Matthew 28:11). There is no mention of the story of the guards in the other gospels, which rather affirms that neither the women or the disciples witnessed either the earthquake or the supernatural removal of the stone. It’s probable that they knew nothing about the guards or their story. We have already noted the concerns of the women on the way to the tomb about how they could remove the stone, yet by the time they arrived, the tomb was open and accessible.

Who moved the stone
In our last post we noted that the actions of the teachers of the Jewish leaders tend to support the idea of resurrection which they sought to deny. Now, we notice that the only explanation of the removal of the stone is provided by the guards. Who moved the stone? The guards offer an answer. Their testimony is that the ground shook, and they witnessed the stone being moved by an angel. They were sufficiently frightened to abandon their post (a decision which could have brought them the death penalty) and rush into the city.

End Piece
So, who moved the stone? Let’s assume for one moment that the story of the removal of the stone which is attributed to the guards is correct. This would mean that the first witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus were not the disciples, or the women, but the guards.

Everyone involved in this story, the women, the disciples, the Jewish leaders, and obviously the guards, believed that something extraordinary, something supernatural, had happened. Yet it was the Jewish leaders, in their determination to discredit Jesus, who paid generously for the silence of the guards, and to promote a false narrative, that the body had been stolen. Once more, the actions of the leaders of Israel tend to support the truth of the resurrection.

Richard Jackson: Horsham,West Sussex

 

Resurrection

Securing the Tomb: Matthew 27:62-66

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The Guard at the Tomb

62 The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. 63 “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ 64 So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.”

65 “Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” 66 So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.

Matthew 27:62-66

Horsham: 25th March, 2026

This is the first of my reflections on the resurrection of Jesus. Before looking at the resurrection experiences, I found myself thinking about the burial of Christ. For the resurrection to be true, it’s critical that the body of Jesus was still inside the tomb by the time the grave was secured by the Roman soldiers. I think that this passage gives us confidence that this was the case.

This part of the story appears only in Matthew’s Gospel, but we’re going to see that it fits perfectly in stories of the death and burial of Christ in all the Gospels. As ever, we need to get into the context of the reading. The first three words are really important.  ‘The next day…’.

Let’s look at some context.

Jesus is Dead
Jesus died on Friday at around 3pm in the afternoon (Matthew 27:46) The Jewish day starts and ends not at midnight, but at 6pm. The sabbath starts at 6pm on Friday afternoon, by which time all of the Jewish characters in this story should be at home, observing the sabbath commandments. Lots of things happen between 3pm and 6pm.

At some point, after the first shock of witnessing the brutal death of Christ, after the long period of darkness and the last agonised cry (Matthew 27: 45-50),  after the earthquake, the torn curtain in the Temple, and extraordinary supernatural events (Matthew 27:51-53), Joseph of Arimathea goes to Pilate and asks for the body of Jesus.

Pilate will then have sent someone to check that Jesus was actually dead (Mark 15:44). We know that one of the soldiers pierced the side of Christ (John 19:34). These people knew about death. We should not be in any doubt: Jesus was dead. Pilate released the body. The distance between Golgotha and Pilate’s palace was not great, but nonetheless, this process, carrying of messages backwards and forwards, took some time. In this passage, time matters.

Jesus is Buried
We know from that Joseph goes with Nicodemus to Golgotha and takes possession of the body of Christ. They take Christ to the new tomb and prepared him for burial (John 19: 38-42) before rolling the stone across the mouth of the tomb (Mark 15:46) and heading home in time for the start of the sabbath. At 6pm, the disciples, the women, Joseph and Nicodemus, will be at home, observing the sabbath. Mary Magdalene watched as the tomb was closed (Matthew 27:61), and then herself headed home for the start of the sabbath.

Guarding the Tomb
Whatever we might think of the Jewish leaders, they were not stupid. We’ve already mentioned that Mary watched as a large rock was placed across the entrance. Now I’m speculating (by which I mean that this isn’t reported in the Gospels) when I say that it seems inconceivable that the Jewish leaders did not also have someone standing, watching what was going on. They would want to be in no doubt where the body had been placed, and would surely they  ensure that someone kept watch while they rushed off to Pilate to ask for military guard.

So, back to those first few words of this section. ‘The next day, that is after the day of preparation, the Chief Priests and Pharisees gathered before Pilate.’

Breaking the Sabbath
I want you to notice two things. First, the ‘day after the day of preparation’ can only mean that this happened after 6pm, on the Sabbath. Second, that means that the Jewish leaders were breaking critical rules of their own Law by visiting the gentile Roman Consul after 6pm on the Friday – because it is now the Sabbath. 

‘If they did that,it is clear to see how radically they broke the sabbath law.’  (Wm. Barclay, ‘Gospel of Matthew, Vol 2,  St Andrew Press, p437)

If they were sufficiently desperate to take that risk, it is once again inconceivable that they had not taken the precaution of sending someone to sit in the garden and keep an eye on the tomb.

Pilate authorises the guard, who are deployed to keep watch over the tomb. They return to the garden, with the guards. It could be as late as 7pm or 8pm on the Sabbath. It seems to me that they know that the body is still inside, because they have been watching. With full confidence that the body of Jesus is still within, they seal the tomb (Matthew 27:66).

End Piece
When the body was later found to be missing, the Jewish leaders bribed the soldiers to tell a story that the body had been stolen during the night. Importantly, they never allege that the body was stolen before the guard arrived. Surely this because they knew that the body was still there in the tomb when the guard arrived. They knew that Christ was inside that tomb when they, themselves, placed their seal on the tomb.

It is the Jews themselves who made sure that the tomb was secure. 

In their determination to prove that Jesus would not rise from the dead, the Jewish leaders inadvertently add weight to the supposition that he did.

Unpick this part of the story and we should be in no doubt. Christ was dead. Christ was buried. His body was secure in the grave, sealed and guarded by a squad of Roman soldiers.

‘They had not realised one thing.- that there was not a tomb in th eworld which could imprison the risen Christ. Not all the plans in the world could bind the risenn Lord. Anyone who seeks to put bonds on Jesus Christ is on a hopeless assignment.’ (Wm. Barclay, ‘Gospel of Matthew, Vol 2,  St Andrew Press, p438)

Richard Jackson: Horsham,West Sussex

 

Resurrection

Resurrection: Believe it or not

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Horsham: 24th March 2026
Resurrection: Believe it or not

 

Since completing my journey through Mark’s Gospel, I’ve spent the last couple of months reflecting on the resurrection. My next few posts will be the start of a series of reflections which explore the evidence of the resurrection as we find it in the Gospels and Acts of the Apostles.

We could probably agree that the story of the resurrection of Jesus is central to Christian faith. It is at the core of the Gospel. If you take away the resurrection, you are left with very little. Jesus is reduced to a mere historical figure, a good man who lived, and died 2000 years ago. Without resurrection, Christian faith isn’t just diminished, it falls apart. The Apostle Paul writes, ‘If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile, and you are still in your sins.’ (1 Corinthians 15:17). 

So let’s think about the resurrection. Along the way, we will need to make a choice. The empty tomb. Resurrection? Believe it or not.

Richard Jackson: Horsham,West Sussex