The Easter stories are interesting. They are so strange, and yet they have become so tamed we don't see the strangeness of them. Throughout the rest of the gospels, the narratives are littered with references to the Hebrew bible - prophecy fulfilled by Jesus or events in his life.
Sometimes as with the entrance of John the Baptist, it is misquoted. The first sentence is from Malachi 3:1, and not (as the rest) Isaiah 40:3.
"It began as the prophet Isaiah had written: "God said, 'I will send my messenger ahead of you to open the way for you.' Someone is shouting in the desert, 'Get the road ready for the Lord; make a straight path for him to travel!' " (Mar 1:2-3)"
But it is there and again and again we see this commentary, references to prophecy fulfilled.
Sometimes as with the entrance of John the Baptist, it is misquoted. The first sentence is from Malachi 3:1, and not (as the rest) Isaiah 40:3.
"It began as the prophet Isaiah had written: "God said, 'I will send my messenger ahead of you to open the way for you.' Someone is shouting in the desert, 'Get the road ready for the Lord; make a straight path for him to travel!' " (Mar 1:2-3)"
But it is there and again and again we see this commentary, references to prophecy fulfilled.
Yet when we get to the resurrection narratives, this is all gone. It does not appear. There are no references back. An absence of something is often harder to spot than a presence, and I must acknowledge that it was N.T. Wright who pointed this out.
It is almost as if a pattern has gone on, the play has worked out, but the final act is something unprecedented. No one can fit it into an established narrative.
The significance of this is seen most significantly, I think, in John's Gospel. John structures his gospel into "signs", stories of significance in understanding Jesus.
The Gospel of John highlights seven signs performed by Jesus, each revealing His divine nature and mission. These signs are:
1 Turning water into wine at Cana (John 2:1–11).
2 Healing the royal official's son (John 4:46–54).
3 Healing the paralytic at Bethesda (John 5:1–15).
4 Feeding the 5,000 (John 6:5–14).
5 Walking on water (John 6:16–24).
6 Healing the man born blind (John 9:1–7).
7 Raising Lazarus from the dead (John 11:1–45)
But these signs are bookended, with the revised creation narrative (which looks back to Genesis) and the resurrection stories. I think it is no coincidence this is structured this way, and that we see for the resurrection stories is what happens on the eighth day. It is as if the writer is saying, now there is an extra day beyond the days of the week, something completely new - a dawn of the first day of a new creation. But this is not "according to the prophets", it is new.
And this is how the resurrection stories are seen. There is this strangeness of something new, unprecedented, and outside the normal look back to prophecy. This is something unexpected. Jesus is seen, but not recognised. Time and again in the stories this is told.
Now there are lots of vision stories, anecdotes, in which someone dead is seen again albeit briefly. This happened with J.B. Philips who recalls seeing C.S. Lewis suddenly and briefly, sitting opposite him, after Lewis had died. One common feature is recognition, and that is the strangeness here that there is often no immediate recognition until something - a word spoken, an action (breaking bread), makes that moment arrive.
The BBC series "The Passion" was the only one to try to do this. Most films have the same actor as the risen Christ (if they show that at all), but the BBC series actually had a different actor take the role of Jesus for some of the scenes. It is not perfect, but it did try to portray this strangeness.
John's gospel also has Mary Magdalene, alone weeping, encountering Jesus in the garden - surely again an echo of the Garden of Eden. Here is another garden, a very different garden, and here is a witness who would not have been deemed credible. A woman, and women had no status as witnesses in Jewish society at that time. This is the best witness that can be offered, and again it breaks through the normal order of things.
So how are we to understand these stories. They are glimpses which call forth a future which breaks into and redeems the present, but which has this strangeness to it, because we have lifted the veil of ignorance just a bit, and our eyes, as the disciples, struggle to make sense of this strange new world which we can see, for our eyes are not used to this vision.
And if you're quick enough to rise
You'll catch the fleeting glimpse of someone's fading shadow
Out on the new horizon
You may see the floating motion of a distant pair of wings
And if the sleep has left your ears
You might hear footsteps running through an open meadow
Don't be concerned, it will not harm you
It's only me pursuing something I'm not sure of
Across my dreams with nets of wonder
I chase the bright elusive butterfly of love
It is almost as if a pattern has gone on, the play has worked out, but the final act is something unprecedented. No one can fit it into an established narrative.
The significance of this is seen most significantly, I think, in John's Gospel. John structures his gospel into "signs", stories of significance in understanding Jesus.
The Gospel of John highlights seven signs performed by Jesus, each revealing His divine nature and mission. These signs are:
1 Turning water into wine at Cana (John 2:1–11).
2 Healing the royal official's son (John 4:46–54).
3 Healing the paralytic at Bethesda (John 5:1–15).
4 Feeding the 5,000 (John 6:5–14).
5 Walking on water (John 6:16–24).
6 Healing the man born blind (John 9:1–7).
7 Raising Lazarus from the dead (John 11:1–45)
But these signs are bookended, with the revised creation narrative (which looks back to Genesis) and the resurrection stories. I think it is no coincidence this is structured this way, and that we see for the resurrection stories is what happens on the eighth day. It is as if the writer is saying, now there is an extra day beyond the days of the week, something completely new - a dawn of the first day of a new creation. But this is not "according to the prophets", it is new.
And this is how the resurrection stories are seen. There is this strangeness of something new, unprecedented, and outside the normal look back to prophecy. This is something unexpected. Jesus is seen, but not recognised. Time and again in the stories this is told.
Now there are lots of vision stories, anecdotes, in which someone dead is seen again albeit briefly. This happened with J.B. Philips who recalls seeing C.S. Lewis suddenly and briefly, sitting opposite him, after Lewis had died. One common feature is recognition, and that is the strangeness here that there is often no immediate recognition until something - a word spoken, an action (breaking bread), makes that moment arrive.
The BBC series "The Passion" was the only one to try to do this. Most films have the same actor as the risen Christ (if they show that at all), but the BBC series actually had a different actor take the role of Jesus for some of the scenes. It is not perfect, but it did try to portray this strangeness.
John's gospel also has Mary Magdalene, alone weeping, encountering Jesus in the garden - surely again an echo of the Garden of Eden. Here is another garden, a very different garden, and here is a witness who would not have been deemed credible. A woman, and women had no status as witnesses in Jewish society at that time. This is the best witness that can be offered, and again it breaks through the normal order of things.
So how are we to understand these stories. They are glimpses which call forth a future which breaks into and redeems the present, but which has this strangeness to it, because we have lifted the veil of ignorance just a bit, and our eyes, as the disciples, struggle to make sense of this strange new world which we can see, for our eyes are not used to this vision.
And if you're quick enough to rise
You'll catch the fleeting glimpse of someone's fading shadow
Out on the new horizon
You may see the floating motion of a distant pair of wings
And if the sleep has left your ears
You might hear footsteps running through an open meadow
Don't be concerned, it will not harm you
It's only me pursuing something I'm not sure of
Across my dreams with nets of wonder
I chase the bright elusive butterfly of love
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