Vigils Reading – Easter Friday

WITNESSES OF

THE RESURRECTION

From a sermon by St John Henry Newman

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It might have been expected that, on our Savior’s rising again from the

dead, He would have shown Himself to very great numbers of people, and

especially to those who crucified Him; whereas we know from history that, far

from this being the case, He showed Himself only to chosen witnesses, chiefly

His immediate followers… This seems at first sight strange. We are apt to fancy

the resurrection of Christ as some striking visible display of His glory, such as

God showed from time to time to the Israelites in Moses’ day; and considering it

in the light of a public triumph, we are led to imagine the confusion and terror

which would have overwhelmed His murderers had He presented Himself alive

before them. Now, to reason in this way is to conceive Christ’s kingdom of this

world, which it is not; and to suppose that then Christ came to judge the world,

whereas that judgment will not be till the last day, when in very deed those

wicked men shall “look on Him whom they have pierced“.

After His resurrection, Jesus said to His disciples, “Go, convert all

nations“. This was His special charge. If, then, there are grounds for thinking

that, by showing Himself to a few rather than to many, He was more surely

advancing this great object, the propagation of the Gospel, this is sufficient

reason for our Lord’s having so ordained. Now consider what would have been

the probable effect of a public exhibition of His resurrection. Let us suppose that

our Savior had shown Himself as openly as before He suffered: preaching in the

Temple and in the streets of the city; traversing the land with His Apostles, and

with multitudes following to see the miracles which He did. What would have

been the effect of this? Of course, what it had already been. His former miracles

had not effectively moved the body of the people; and, doubtless, this miracle

too would have left them as it found them, or worse than before. They might

have been more startled at the time; but why should this amazement last?

When the man taken with a palsy was suddenly restored at His word, the

multitude were all amazed and glorified God, and were filled with fear saying, “

We have seen strange things this day.” What could they have said and felt more

than this, when “one rose from the dead“? In truth, this is the way of most

people in all ages, to be influenced by sudden fears, sudden contrition, sudden

earnestness, sudden resolves, which disappear just as suddenly. Nothing is

accomplished effectively through untrained human nature; and such is always

the condition of the multitude. Unstable as water, it cannot excel. One day it

cried Hosanna; the next, Crucify Him.

And, had our Lord appeared to them after they had crucified Him, of

course they would have shouted Hosanna once more; yet when He had

ascended out of sight, then again they would have persecuted His followers…

Surely so it would have been; the chief priests would not have been moved at all;

and the populace, even though they had been moved at the time, would not have

been moved in a lasting way, nor in a practical way, so as to proclaim to the

world what they had heard and seen, as to preach the gospel. The very reason

why Christ showed Himself at all was in order to raise up witnesses to His

resurrection, ministers of His word, founders of His Church; and how in the

nature of things could a populace ever become such?