Whether It Was Fitting That the Disciples Should See Him Rise Again?
Objection 1: It would seem fitting that the disciples should have
seen Him rise again, because it was their office to bear witness to
the Resurrection, according to Acts 4:33: "With great power did the
apostles give testimony to the Resurrection of Jesus Christ our
Lord." But the surest witness of all is an eye-witness. Therefore it
would have been fitting for them to see the very Resurrection of
Christ.
Obj. 2: Further, in order to have the certainty of faith the
disciples saw Christ ascend into heaven, according to Acts 1:9:
"While they looked on, He was raised up." But it was also necessary
for them to have faith in the Resurrection. Therefore it seems that
Christ ought to have risen in sight of the disciples.
Obj. 3: Further, the raising of Lazarus was a sign of Christ's coming
Resurrection. But the Lord raised up Lazarus in sight of the
disciples. Consequently, it seems that Christ ought to have risen in
sight of the disciples.
_On the contrary,_ It is written (Mk. 16:9): The Lord "rising early
the first day of the week, appeared first to Mary Magdalen." Now Mary
Magdalen did not see Him rise; but, while searching for Him in the
sepulchre, she heard from the angel: "He is risen, He is not here."
Therefore no one saw Him rise again.
_I answer that,_ As the Apostle says (Rom. 13:1): "Those things that
are of God, are well ordered [Vulg.: 'Those that are, are ordained of
God]." Now the divinely established order is this, that things above
men's ken are revealed to them by angels, as Dionysius says (Coel.
Hier. iv). But Christ on rising did not return to the familiar manner
of life, but to a kind of immortal and God-like condition, according
to Rom. 6:10: "For in that He liveth, He liveth unto God." And
therefore it was fitting for Christ's Resurrection not to be
witnessed by men directly, but to be proclaimed to them by angels.
Accordingly, Hilary (Comment. Matth. cap. ult.) says: "An angel is
therefore the first herald of the Resurrection, that it might be
declared out of obedience to the Father's will."
Reply Obj. 1: The apostles were able to testify to the Resurrection
even by sight, because from the testimony of their own eyes they saw
Christ alive, whom they had known to be dead. But just as man comes
from the hearing of faith to the beatific vision, so did men come to
the sight of the risen Christ through the message already received
from angels.
Reply Obj. 2: Christ's Ascension as to its term wherefrom, was not
above men's common knowledge, but only as to its term whereunto.
Consequently, the disciples were able to behold Christ's Ascension as
to the term wherefrom, that is, according as He was uplifted from the
earth; but they did not behold Him as to the term whereunto, because
they did not see how He was received into heaven. But Christ's
Resurrection transcended common knowledge as to the term wherefrom,
according as His soul returned from hell and His body from the closed
sepulchre; and likewise as to the term whereunto, according as He
attained to the life of glory. Consequently, the Resurrection ought
not to be accomplished so as to be seen by man.
Reply Obj. 3: Lazarus was raised so that he returned to the same life
as before, which life is not beyond man's common ken. Consequently,
there is no parity.
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