?he first disciple whom the Lord wished to see after His Resurrection His former denier Peter (Mark 16:7), Out of love, He wanted as soon as possible to remove Peter’s guilt and to make Peter feel comfortable with Him. And Peter, knowing the forgiveness of Christ, went to the so called “Small Galilee” (an area in Jerusalem where the Galileans stayed during the feasts), and there he met Christ (Luke 24:11–12). He confessed to Christ that he loved Him: “Yes, Lord, You know that I love You” (John 21:17), he would later say to Him. The news spread among the circle of the disciples, and that evening they were saying: “The Lord has truly risen and has appeared to Simon” (Luke 24:34).
When the Christians in Corinth began to doubt the Resurrection, Paul, in order to convince them, presented as evidence the appearances of Christ after His Resurrection: “He appeared to Peter, then to the Twelve. After that, He appeared to more than five hundred people at once (most likely at His Ascension, Matthew 28:16). Some of these five hundred have died, but most are still living. Then He appeared to James, and later to all the apostles” (1 Corinthians 15:5–7). This was the strongest proof of Christ’s Resurrection from the dead.
It is noteworthy that after His Resurrection, Christ remained on earth for forty days for the sake of His disciples. For many days they saw Him risen, spoke with Him, and ate with Him (Acts 1:3; John 21:12–13). If Christ had immediately ascended into heaven right after His Resurrection, without His disciples seeing Him and being “filled” with His presence, perhaps they would not have believed in His Resurrection wholeheartedly. And how would they have gone out into the world to preach His Resurrection?
But now they declared: “We have seen Him with our eyes and touched Him with our hands” (1 John 1:1). With this experience, they went out into the world and preached Christ. And we also believe their testimony. After all, whom should we believe—those who saw Him risen, or those who did not?
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