1. To Mary Magdalene, as Consoler, Jn 20:14ff
2. To other women, as Object of Worship, Mt 28:8ff
3. To Peter, as the Friend who never forsakes, Lk 24:34; 1 Cor 15:5
4. To the Emmaus disciples, as the Sympathetic Instructor, Lk 24:13ff
5. To The Ten, as the Restorer of Joy, Lk 24:36; Jn 20:19
6. To Thomas (with the disciples), as Confirmer of Faith, Jn 20:26
7. To the seven on the seashore, as the Compassionate One, Jn 21:1ff
8. …
The claim that Jesus rose from the dead seems incredible. People have tried both to deny and to defy death, but only Christ has claimed to conquer it, Jn 11:25f. The very first Christians were confident of this, Acts 2:23f; 3:13-15; 4:2; 5:30-32. See also 1 Cor 15:3-8. John Stott has written about the relevance of the resurrection in the following terms:-
The semantic question of what the resurrection means was brought into prominence in the 1980s by David Jenkins. …
Vv1-11, esp. v4 – ‘He was raised on the third day.’
Think back over the events surrounding the execution of Jesus. Pilate released a common criminal, and had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified. The soldiers swarmed around him, stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him. Then they made a crown out of thorns and put it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and laughed at him, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” …
