Jesus of Nazareth: What He Wanted, Who He Was

I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. (15:3-5)

Probably the ancient creed ended here, but Paul adds the following, on the basis of a good knowledge of the first period after Easter:

Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. (15:6-8)

The second text that speaks of an initial appearance to Peter is Luke 24:34. The context here is that the two disciples who had encountered the Risen One on the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus have returned immediately to the capital. There they have found the Eleven and a larger group of Jesus’ followers gathered together, and the group says to them, “The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon.” It is odd that Luke does not describe the appearance to Simon Peter but simply inserts a formulaic reference to it in a single sentence. What he is really telling about is the appearance to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, not the much more important appearance to Peter. How can we explain that? By no means can we say that he had no narrative of an appearance to Peter available to him. The matter is much more simply explained: the tradition that related the appearance to Peter was so clearly located in Galilee that Luke, who concentrates all appearances in Jerusalem or its neighborhood, simply could not include it at this point. A story that took place at the lake, with boats and a fisherman pursuing his task, was one that Luke with the best will in the world could not shift to the city of Jerusalem. It is true that John 21:1-14 does not tell of an appearance to Peter alone, but the text does clearly reflect the possible milieu of such a story.

So we can with good reason suppose that Peter, who had fled to Galilee with the rest of the inner group of disciples, experienced an appearance of the Risen One there. It banished all doubts and made Peter one of the first Easter witnesses. Apparently the high regard for Peter and his leading role in the early church rested, among other things, on that appearance, which was then followed by further appearance phenomena, including some in Jerusalem.

But before turning to the progress of events, I need first to offer some reflections on the structure of the Easter appearances.

The Structure of the Easter Experience

There is a current position that exercises a certain fascination because it makes things easier for people today. It could be described this way: After the death of Jesus there were no visions or appearances; Jesus’ disciples came to their Easter faith through “experience” that, as regards its psychic structure, was wholly within the framework of religious experiences as they are commonly understood. There was nothing unusual or ecstatic about it. The disciples mourned, but in their sorrow the death of Jesus opened itself to them in a new way. They entered into a “disclosure situation.”⁵ Suddenly they knew that Jesus had not remained in death but was exalted to the right hand of God. God had justified him, contrary to the sentence of his judges in the Sanhedrin. They experienced the nearness of Jesus in their hearts and the grace of his forgiveness. They turned again to the Jesus they had abandoned. Then these “disclosure experiences,” in which, of course, things drawn from Scripture played a role, were secondarily fitted into the existing narrative model of “appearances.” Originally the Easter experiences had nothing visionary or ecstatic about them.