April 18, 2022: A BRIEF REFLECTION ON POST-RESURRECTION: APPEARANCE OF CHRIST, PERFORMANCE OF CHRISTIANS
By Celes Amorin Gianan, DD, PhD
Brothers, may I humbly share this reflection with you with an intent to bring us to a deeper understanding of who we really are as believers in the Resurrection of Christ.
Christ, indeed, has resurrected. This has been witnessed and attested by the women who went to the tomb early on the first day of the week. This is a truthful fact and a factual truth narrated in the Gospels account that can not be denied.
His RESURRECTION is both HISTORICAL and HISTORIC.
HISTORICAL, for in deed and in truth, it took place in space and in time as attested and witnessed by those women, particularly, Mary of Magdala. HISTORIC, for it has brought forth GREAT RELEVANCE to believers in times past, in the present time, and in the days to come. Historic, for it has left a powerful mark of Christ’s ADVOCACY and LEGACY in the world through His Church.
APPEARANCE OF CHRIST
When we speak of POST-RESURRECTION, we cannot but speak of the APPEARANCE of Christ, that after Christ had risen from the dead, He APPEARED to His disciples. To have made that APPEARANCE seen and felt by them, Christ showed them His hands and His side, uttered words to have them heard Him speaking, such as, “Peace be with you”, “Receive the Holy Spirit”, “As the Father sent me so I am sending you”, to have them experienced His presence, He uttered words such as “Come, have breakfast”, “Follow me” and further utterances as He continued to make His appearance. Briefly, Christ’s APPEARANCE followed after His RESURRECTION had a PURPOSE.
PERFORMANCE OF CHRISTIANS
Though the account of the POST-RESURRECTION of Christ in the Gospels was written in different styles, with different expressions but unified in intention, we see a point pointing to a POST-RESURRECTION MANDATE to GO AND PROCLAIM THE GOSPEL, FOLLOW JESUS and DO GOOD WORKS in the world. Christ’s APPEARANCE after His Resurrection has given BIRTH and POWER to the PERFORMANCE of CHRISTIANS with a SENSE OF MISSION.
REFLECTION
We could just imagine had Christ not appeared after His resurrection and had not left a FOUNDATIONAL ground for the disciples to believe … where, then, would they go, what would they be doing, how would they find meaning and importance to their existence, to the gathering of themselves … how would they be empowered to do works of service to the people ….
Had Christ not appeared to His disciples after His resurrection, what sort of people would we become, how would we adore and worship God … would there be a sense in BEING a CHURCH and ACTING as a CHURCH?
In these trying and crying times caused by the outbreak and breakthrough of PANDEMIC COVID 19, had Christ not appeared to the women and the disciples after His resurrection, how would peoples throughout the world and in today’s generations address and resolve the calamities and tragedies brought about by this pandemic … how would nations on the surface of the Earth be empowered to do their part to combat and eradicate COVID 19 … would we think churches would come to existence and be seen in the world?
After having thought of the POST-RESURRECTION of Christ and having given this gracious moment to come to terms with the APPEARANCE of Christ after His Resurrection as narrated and recorded in the Gospels and, in our contemporary times, to keep our eyes on our PERFORMANCE as Christians, it is then hoped and looked forward that we as believers would live out the sacred instruction in John 14:12, saying, “Whoever believes in Me will do the works I do and even greater works because I am going to the Father”.
As believers, we should not only look at the APPEARANCE OF CHRIST after His Resurrection, we should also look at our PERFORMANCE as CHRISTIANS inspired by the SPIRIT of the RISEN LORD.
God loves us all. – BpCeles