ACC ~ John 20 v19a

AN EVENING MORE BY GRIEF THAN BY TIME

PETER CHRYSOLOGUS: It was evening more by grief than by time. It was evening for minds darkened by the somber cloud of grief and sadness because although the report of the resurrection had given the slight glimmer of twilight, nevertheless the Lord had not yet shone through with his light in all its brilliance. SERMON 84.2. [1]

[1] FC 110:49.

JESUS DOES NOT DELAY

CHRYSOSTOM: It was likely that when the disciples heard these things from Mary they would either not believe the woman—or if they did believe her, they would be sad that he had not considered them worthy of such a vision even though he promised to meet them in Galilee. Since this was so, he did not let a single day pass so that they might not dwell on this and become distracted. Rather, he brought them to a state of longing by their knowledge that he was risen and by what they heard from the woman. And when they were thirsting to see him and were greatly afraid (which especially made their yearning greater), he then, when it was evening, presented himself before them. And he did so in a very marvelous way. And why did he appear in the “evening”? Because that was probably when they would be especially fearful. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 86.2. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:324-25**.

DOORS AND HEARTS ARE LOCKED

PETER CHRYSOLOGUS: The extent of their terror and the disquiet caused by such an atrocity had simultaneously locked the house and the hearts of the disciples [1] and had so completely prevented light from having any access that for their senses, overwhelmed more and more by grief, the murkiness of night increased and became more pervasive. No darkness of night can be compared with the gloom of grief and fear because they are incapable of being tempered by any light of either consolation or counsel. SERMON 84.2. [2]

[1] See also his Sermon 81.2.

[2] FC 110:49-50.

THE STATE OF OUR RESURRECTED BODIES

AUGUSTINE: But since you have repeatedly asked me what I thought about the resurrection of bodies and the future functions of the members in that incorruptibility and immortality, listen briefly to what could with the Lord’s help be further discussed. We must hold most firmly that point on which the statement of the holy Scripture is truthful and clear, namely, that these visible and earthly bodies that are now called natural [1] will be spiritual in the resurrection of the faithful and righteous. But I do not know how the character of a spiritual body, unknown as it is to us, can be either comprehended or taught. Certainly there will be no corruption in them, and for this reason they will not then need this corruptible food that they now need. They will, nonetheless, be able to take and really consume such food, not out of need. Otherwise, the Lord would not have taken food after his resurrection. And he offered us an example of bodily resurrection so that the apostle says of him, “If the dead will not rise, neither has Christ risen.” [2] When he appeared with all the members of his body and used their functions, he also displayed the places of his wounds. [3] I have always taken these as scars, not as actual wounds, and saw them as the result of his power, not of some necessity. He revealed the ease of this power, especially when he either showed himself in another form or appeared as his real self to the disciples gathered in the house when the doors were closed. LETTER 95.7. [4]

[1] Animalia, cf. 1 Cor 15:44.

[2] 1 Cor 15:16.

[3] See Lk 24:15-43; Mk 16:12-14.

[4] WSA 2 1:419**.

INCORRUPTIBLE BUT TOUCHABLE. GREGORY THE GREAT: The Lord’s body that made its entrance to the disciples through closed doors was the same as that which issued before the eyes of people from the Virgin’s closed womb at his birth. Is it surprising if he who was now going to live forever made his entrance through closed doors after his resurrection, who on his coming in order to die made his appearance from the unopened womb of a virgin? But because the faith of those who beheld it wavered concerning the body they could see, he showed them at once his hands and his side, offering them the body that he brought in through the closed doors to touch. By this action he revealed two wonderful, and according to human reason quite contradictory, things. He showed them that after his resurrection his body was both incorruptible and yet could be touched. … By showing us that it is incorruptible, he would urge us on toward our reward, and by offering it as touchable he would dispose us toward faith. He manifested himself as both incorruptible and touchable to show us that his body after his resurrection was of the same nature as ours but of a different sort of glory. FORTY GOSPEL HOMILIES 26. [1]

[1] CS 123:201.

RESURRECTION WAS ONE MORE MIRACLE

CAESARIUS OF ARLES: You ask me and say, If he entered through closed doors, where is the bulk of his body? And I reply, If he walked on the sea, where was the weight of his body? But he [walked on the sea] as the Lord. Did he, then, because he arose, cease to be the Lord? What about the fact that he also made Peter walk upon the sea? [1] What divinity could do in the one, faith fulfilled in the other. Christ was able to do it, and Peter could because Christ willed it. Therefore, when you begin to examine the reasonableness of miracles by your human senses, fear that you may lose your faith. Do you not know that nothing is impossible for God? So when anyone tells you, If he entered through closed doors there was no body, answer him on the contrary, No, if he was touched there was body, and if he ate there was a body. The one thing he did by a miracle, the other by nature. SERMON 175.2. [2]

[1] Mt 14:29.

[2] FC 47:434*. See also Jerome Letter 108.24 and Against Jovinianus 1.36.

JESUS IS TRULY GOD

GREGORY OF NYSSA: He did not remain in death’s power. The wounds that his body had received from the iron of the nails and spear offered no impediment to his rising again. After his resurrection he showed himself whenever he wanted to his disciples. When he wished to be present with them, he was in their midst without being seen, needing no entrance through open doors. … All of these occurrences, and whatever other similar facts we know about his life, require no further argument to show that they are signs of deity and of a sublime and supreme power. THE GREAT CATECHISM 32. [1]

[1] NPNF 2 5:500.

DEATH’S POWER BANISHED FROM THE BODY

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: By his unexpected entry through closed doors Christ proved once more that by nature he was God and also that he was none other than the one who had lived among them. By showing his wounded side and the marks of the nails, he convinced us beyond a doubt that he had raised the temple of his body, the very body that had hung on the cross. He restored that body that he had worn, destroying death’s power over all flesh, for as God, he was life itself. Why would he need to show them his hands and side if, as some perversely think, he did not rise again bodily? And if the goal was not to have the disciples think about him in this way, why not appear in another form and, disdaining any likeness of the flesh, conjure up other thoughts in their minds? But he obviously thought it was that important to convince them of the resurrection of his body that, even when events would have seemed to call for him to change the mode of his body into some more ineffable and surpassing majesty, he nonetheless resolved in his providence to appear once more as he had been in the past [i.e., in the flesh] so that they might realize he was wearing no other form than the one in which he had suffered crucifixion. Our eyes could not have endured the glory of his holy body, if he had chosen to reveal it to his disciples before he ascended to the Father. Anyone who reflects on the transfiguration will easily infer this is the case. … since, it says, they could not endure the sight but fell on their faces. [1] COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 12.1. [2]

[1] Mt 17:6.

[2] LF 48:667-68**.

Jn