“HAVEN’T I SEEN JESUS, OUR LORD?” (1 Cor 9:1)

Di che è mancanza questa mancanza,
cuore,
che ad un tratto ne sei pieno?
…
Viene… da oltre te.

M. Luzi

Paul is not only the first author of New Testament texts; he is also the earliest witness to have left us a written account of his own experience of the Risen One. When he addresses the Corinthians, he speaks not only of Jesus’ appearance to Cephas, then to the Twelve, and to more than 500 brothers, but also to himself. And to highlight the extraordinary nature of his conversion—he who had been a fierce persecutor—he writes that the Lord appeared to him “as to one born out of due time” (cf. 1 Cor 15:8). He repeatedly uses the term “appeared,” that is, literally, “made himself seen.” But note that this vision was above all an inner one—that is, a clear and compelling awareness of the Lord Jesus manifested within him, radically transforming his existence. As is well known, the passage in 1 Cor 15:3–5 is the Church’s oldest creed. The apostle writes: “I passed on to you, first of all, what I myself received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, was buried, and was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas and then to the Twelve.” The pair of verbs—to pass on and to receive—in use in the rabbinic schools of the time, alludes to a tradition to be passed on without variation (cf. 1 Cor 11:23). The Gospel of the resurrection proclaimed by Paul was therefore received. This is a first, very important point. Let us now consider the verbs used. The first: “Christ died.” The aorist tense in Greek highlights a fact that has taken place and is known to all. “He was buried.” Here, too, the verb is in the aorist tense. The symbol of the tomb highlights the fact that Jesus truly died. “He has risen.” The verb in this case is in the passive voice and indicates God’s action, who is not named out of respect. It is God, therefore, who raises the Son. Furthermore, the verb is in the perfect tense to emphasize how a past event endures in the present. Christ is alive, yesterday, today, and always. “He appeared,” finally, does not mean that he was seen but that he made himself seen, as we have already noted. The initiative always comes from the Risen One. Faith in the resurrection did not, therefore, arise spontaneously in the disciples but sprang from a revelation. Paul, whose experience is recounted in the Acts of the Apostles no fewer than three times (9:1–18; 22:5–16; 26:9–18), further emphasizes that confirmation of the authenticity of his encounter with the Risen One was also provided by the Church (Ananias). Thus, it is the Church that confirms faith; it is the Church that guarantees the truth of an experience of the Lord. There is also another aspect that is perhaps not often emphasized. After Damascus, the apostle withdrew to the Arabian desert for about three years (Gal 1:17). There, he reflected deeply on what had happened and prepared himself for his future mission. The event of the Resurrection thus calls for a process of gradual assimilation in the prayerful silence of one’s heart.

Commentary by d. Sandro Carotta, osb
Abbazia di Praglia (Italia)