09 - The Upper Room

What if the pivotal moment of your faith was born from doubt and disbelief? Picture this: The disciples, huddled in an upper room, fear etched onto their faces as they grappled with the crucifixion of Jesus. Understandably, they were skeptical when the women came bearing news of an empty tomb. In a stunning turn of events, Jesus, in his glorified body, appears among them, passing through locked doors as if they were mere illusions. This bodily resurrection is a crucial aspect of Christian faith, affirming the redemption of all aspects of humanity.

Navigating the complexities of faith and doubt is not a straightforward journey, but it is one that we are all invited to embark on. Take Thomas, for example. His initial disbelief of the resurrection was transformed into unwavering faith when he saw and believed. Echoing his declaration of "my Lord, my God" during the consecration of the Eucharist serves as a profound profession of faith for all believers. The Sabbath, the role of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the transformative events that took place in that upper room weave together to form a sacred tapestry that speaks to the power of faith, the struggle with doubt, and the ultimate belief in God's providence. Join us as we ponder these divine mysteries and find ourselves immersed in the true presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.

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The Significance of Jesus' Resurrection

Speaker 1 0:00

You're listening to the Catholic Accent Podcast . In this podcast we discuss the acts and miracles that Jesus performed that stunned his disciples .

Speaker 2 0:09

Here we are for episode nine . If you don't know us by now , you're never going to know us .

Speaker 1 0:13

This episode we're going to talk about the upper room .

Speaker 2 0:16

Well , we have to remember that right now , jesus has already been crucified , right . The disciples have seen their beloved master and teacher and friend tortured , arrested , scourged and died . So because of that , they're fearful and they're filled with so much fear that they go back to where they celebrated the last supper , in the upper room , and they lock the doors for fear that the same thing is going to happen to them . So you have the disciples up there , you have Mary up there with them , and this is when , following the resurrection of the Lord , that really everything begins to change , because a group of them go to the tomb the women and they go to anoint Jesus's body and when they get there , stones rolled away , there's no body to be found , and that's where this episode's really beginning .

Speaker 3 1:08

They're already afraid what the Jewish leaders , along with the Roman powers , could do to them because they killed Jesus , who they believed to be God . Beyond that , if somebody else had stolen the body because you've got to remember , the disciples of Jesus are not just the twelve apostles , there's a big band of people that have followed Christ . At this point , so say , somebody else went and took the body of Christ out of the tomb and then has taken it . Well , they know if that's exactly what the Romans wanted to guard against , and now that that's happened , they could come persecute the people that they knew followed Jesus directly , which would be them , absolutely All right .

Speaker 2 1:44

And so following now so this piece here about the appearance . This is post resurrection .

Speaker 1 1:51

Before we do that , before we talk about his appearance , let's go back a little bit . Right now it's just the women were credited first , but they don't know why that's important , so the women weren't . The women were witnesses , but back then they were not able to to be credible witnesses right In some sense to the evangelists .

Speaker 3 2:11

why write down that the women had testified this ? Because it wouldn't have been a proof of the time that this was true ? They put it in there because it actually happened , not because they're trying necessarily to just like prove the best exact right .

Speaker 3 2:22

And it becomes the question why would the disciples not just believe the women , right ? These are some of the women that closely followed Jesus , that were with him all the time . They were with the apostles . They knew them , so why didn't they just believe their testimony outright ? One in the historical context in ancient Judaism and this time in the world , women's testimony was not given full weight of force in courtroom or anywhere else , and so that might have been one of the reasons why they also didn't believe that , but a secondary one in our own experience .

Speaker 3 2:50

This is a traumatic event for everybody that's going through this . So whenever people go through trauma , sometimes people see things or talk about things . Maybe that aren't exactly the case or this understanding , and they could have been thinking that there's other explanations to , even as the disciples , those that have heard that Jesus is supposed to raise from the dead , that there's to be a resurrection . They could have started to explain it away in their minds as well . It's just a natural thing . Some other disciples came and stole the body away and are trying to get us in trouble .

Speaker 1 3:21

So the disciples then go with the women to the tomb . They see Jesus .

Speaker 2 3:26

Yeah , we see Peter running then to the tomb . And then they find the empty tomb as well .

Speaker 1 3:32

And then they go back to the upper room to like talk about , to discuss what could have happened Right , exactly , and they still have to protect themselves because , now you have the Jews after them and the Romans after them , and they can't really totally understand yet what's happening .

Speaker 2 3:48

So they go back to the upper room and lock the doors .

Speaker 1 3:52

And then it wasn't until then , when they're , like you know , basically freaking out as I am sure they have the doors locked behind you and then Jesus appears . After what they witnessed happen you know they killed him , so he's appearing now as this figure . How shocking do you think that would have been ?

Speaker 3 4:11

And I think that the important part here too is it's a resurrected body of Christ , not a resuscitated right . Like .

Speaker 1 4:17

Lazarus , right , yeah , it's not Lazarus If we're going back to Lazarus .

Speaker 3 4:20

It's not that they're just seeing Jesus as if , like they saw him before and he just has a couple wound marks or this or that , or he's completely healed , but it's . It's in a new form , in a way that's stunning to them , in a resurrected form , that there's something different there than what was before especially as we see him pass through the locked doors .

Speaker 2 4:38

So they're right , and you know they keep saying locked , locked , locked , because they're saying we didn't open the doors to Jesus . He came into our midst passing through the closed doors . So there's something also transformed in his being and in his body , his resurrected , glorified body .

Speaker 3 4:55

And we should make note too that the church has always spoken about . It's not just some spiritual resurrection , but it's a bodily resurrection .

Speaker 3 5:03

Why ? Because everything that we have in this life is redeemed by God . It's not that he just leaves us the body , apart from the soul , that somehow the soul is good , the spirit's good and the body is bad . That's a wrong , that's a wrong understanding . That's an early thing that was condemned in the church , that rather , the whole , integral part of the human being is good and is to be redeemed . God came to redeem everything , not just some things .

Speaker 1 5:26

So did he knock before he came in .

Speaker 3 5:28

It's hard to say . I don't think so . I think he would have just appeared . He just appeared . Jesus does knock at the door . But yeah .

Speaker 2 5:35

So then , when Jesus comes through those locked doors , the very first thing he says is Peace , be with you . And so that's so important , because what he's doing , he sees the fear in their faces I mean , I'm sure that it was palpable in that room and he's giving them peace , his peace , the peace of God . That can only calm their hearts .

Speaker 3 5:56

And one other thing I had a big thesis I had to write to finish seminary . But I focused a lot on this passage where he says Peace be upon you , peace to you . Now , if you were a best friend of somebody and you were supposed to be loyal to them and all things , and y'all ran away , other than one guy , john , wouldn't you be a little bit afraid of that friend coming back and being like guys , what's going ?

Speaker 2 6:18

on . We're being angry . You left me in my darkest hour and even thinking about maybe like the wrath of God .

Speaker 3 6:23

So it's not just that they're afraid , maybe even of the Jews , but they're a little bit fearful of like we've betrayed the Lord .

Speaker 2 6:28

And what's he going to do to us ? We didn't stand by him in his hour .

Speaker 1 6:30

Yeah .

Speaker 3 6:30

But rather , when Christ comes back , he says peace be upon you . He doesn't hold it and loft it over them as a weapon to hit them over the head with . But there's no grudge . Oh , it's true , so it's not like , like . So they would be afraid , not just because Jesus appeared was resurrected , but like oh he's resurrected and he's come back to you know he could come back on a vengeance . Yeah , to take care of business .

Speaker 1 6:52

So there were some Christians that state the physical resurrection of Jesus is not important , but rather that the disciples believe that Jesus was alive in their hearts . Catholics have always highlighted the physical resurrection of Jesus . Why is this bodily resurrection so important to Catholics ?

Speaker 2 7:09

If the bodily resurrection didn't happen then I don't think either of us would be sitting here , because it all relies on the bodily resurrection of Christ . And we know it's so important because from the very earliest days , the disciples and the apostles allowed themselves to be martyred in belief of the bodily resurrection . Because if we believe that and hold that to be true , and we know that it's factual , that nothing else in the world matters , because at the end of the day our body and soul will be reunited in a glorified manner to be with God forever , and that's the kingdom that the Jews had waited for ages and ages , that's the true kingdom of God , with the new heaven and new earth at the second coming of Christ .

Speaker 3 7:59

And God came to recreate the entirety of the world

Reflections on the Resurrection and Doubt

Speaker 3 8:02

. So one of the interesting parts , of the interesting parts about that is normally the Sabbath was the day that God rested , which was Saturday for the Jewish people . Well , what do we now have as the Sabbath , like in the New Testament ? Sunday It'd really be in that order . It's like the eighth day of creation , which is the restoration of all that went wrong . And so Christ tries to bring forth recreation of everything Again . He doesn't just leave the created order , the physical world , untouched and just leave it to rot away , but rather to bringing it to its fulfillment , which is in the resurrection , the bodily , physical resurrection .

Speaker 2 8:36

And the beauty of Christ's bodily resurrection is also that he maintains His wounds , so like we as humanity were a wounded people right by sin , by issues that happen in our lives . And Christ also redeems our woundedness and he holds on to those wounds in His hands and feet and His side , because that's where he enters into humanity is through our sinfulness and through our woundedness .

Speaker 3 9:01

One way that I would like people to think about even this passage that we're talking about in the upper room and Christ bringing peace , is within the liturgy . Go in the mass after we say the Our Father together , there's a prayer that the priest will say before we offer each other the sign of peace . He says , looking now at , literally , jesus present on the altar . Lord Jesus Christ , who said to your apostles peace I leave you , my peace I give you . Look not upon our sins but on the faith of your church . That is exactly what Christ , coming to the apostles , would say to them peace I leave you , my peace I give you . I'm not looking upon your sins , of your betrayal of me , of your weakness , but rather I'm trusting in your faith going forward , that you , as the church , will bring this great sacrament of salvation , the good news , to others .

Speaker 1 9:51

So you're telling us that you know , when Jesus came back and talked to his disciples , it wasn't formalis or , you know , revenge or anything .

Speaker 3 9:59

Which is revenge is what that like in many ways the ancient cultures . It's all about revenge . If you do unto me , I do unto you . Think about that law , right , the ? We call that homerabi's code .

Speaker 3 10:11

You know , if you plug , my eye to for a trick and so Christ comes to say that's not the way forward . Love your enemies . Forgive and reconciliation is the way in which we move forward . Remember in the Our Father too , my brothers and sisters , that it says what Forgive us our trespasses , as we forgive those who trespass against us . We ask for the forgiveness of God only if we're willing to forgive , because he has forgiven us first , even in the midst of our great sins and the ways in which that we've betrayed him .

Speaker 1 10:42

When Jesus comes back and is in that upper room with his disciples that he , just you know , appeared through the locked door . One of the first encounters I have in my notes is that he breathes on them and says receive the Holy Spirit . So what's the connection between breath and spirit in this gospel passage ?

Speaker 2 11:05

Yeah . So if we look at all of Scripture , we see breath as that great the wind sweeps over the waters in Genesis .

Speaker 3 11:15

It's a recreation right . Life comes from that . So what does God wish to give to us ?

Speaker 2 11:23

To impart us his divine life and God breathes into Adam , he breathes into him , and even today in our liturgy we were talking about Holy Thursday in the last episode and one of the other liturgies on Holy Thursday morning at the chrysm Mass , where Bishop consecrates and blesses the oils for the year . During the consecration of sacred chrysm , he breathes into the oil . It's a sign of God's life being imparted into the earthly reality . And so now we have God , in the person of Jesus Christ , breathing on his apostles , and he's giving them authority and he's giving them new life .

Speaker 1 12:02

So what do you think is going on during this week following the resurrection in the upper room ?

Speaker 3 12:07

I think debate amongst what went on .

Speaker 1 12:10

Debate again . Debate amongst who ?

Speaker 3 12:12

Amongst the apostles , amongst the other disciples .

Speaker 1 12:15

Absolutely .

Speaker 3 12:16

What is actually going on ? What happened ? Maybe a lot of regret , Obviously . I think that that would be there , that we should have stayed by his side and not ran away .

Speaker 2 12:24

If they could believe the women .

Speaker 3 12:26

I would like to think as well , too , that the Apostle John is able to give a lot of the details of everything right , because he's directly present right there . Where's the Blessed Virgin Mary at this point ? Well , we would think that she's with the apostles . She would probably be one that's pretty wise , as we understand it , maybe start to explain everything , and so they're probably formulating a plan going forward and in the midst of them formulating that plan and what they're all going to do , that's when Jesus breaks into it . And I think we understand that in our own lives , which every time we make a plan and we have every angle we think covered , the Lord shows us a different way . He comes in from a different angle .

Speaker 2 12:59

He comes through a locked door and then he shows us the way forward , or a locked heart . But then we also have to remember that not all the disciples , not all the apostles were in the upper room .

Speaker 1 13:09

Yeah , Thomas wasn't there .

Speaker 2 13:10

Yeah , poor guy , he gets a bad rap . But Thomas really does show , I think , where each of us find ourselves very often in just the simple doubt of did this happen ? And he had to be so jealous ? Right , everyone's telling him they just saw the Lord , that he's back from the dead , that he was in their midst and he's like why did leave ? I had you know what was he doing , you know where was it . Why wouldn't he be there ?

Speaker 1 13:38

So we don't know where he was . Doesn't say .

Speaker 3 13:42

No , we just wasn't there , so we just have to speculate .

Speaker 2 13:44

And they were so excited to tell him , like imagine , you know , I think growing up , like you know , you're planning on going to your friend's house and you get there a little bit late they're like cracking up and you're like what's the joke ?

Speaker 1 13:55

Oh , you had to be there , yeah .

Speaker 2 13:57

And now he's missed out on all of this . And so you can see he's almost like throwing a tantrum . I can just see him like sitting down being angry like fine , I don't believe you until I put my hand in his side and touch his wounds and see him myself .

Speaker 3 14:12

And I think it's easy to doubt . We can live in a world of speculation and doubt and never really accept anything . How do you really know , mm ? Hmm , you know , I've even heard people say well , how do you really know that ? Abraham ?

Speaker 1 14:22

Lincoln was alive ?

Speaker 3 14:23

Were you there , like we have these records of him , how do you know Jesus was alive , that he actually walked this earth and so forth ? We have accounts of that , certainly , but at some point , multiple people in different places .

Speaker 1 14:32

There's really really good evidence to believe that .

Speaker 3 14:34

But you could always enter into that . Well , how could I really really know ? Couldn't it just been a conspiracy and all these other things and so forth ? It wasn't the body just stolen , right ? And I think radical doubt is a way that we can't live . You can't doubt everything around you and still enter into meaningful relationships . There's always a given , a take , like I can't doubt that we're friends here , you know , around this table I could always doubt , like , well , maybe they're just really treating me nice and you're putting on a show for me .

Speaker 1 14:59

He's on to us yeah

Faith, Doubt, and Belief in God

Speaker 1 15:01

.

Speaker 3 15:01

He figured it out . It's a conspiracy , but in most relationships we have to have that element of trust that's part of our faith , that we trust that God's providence sees us through and that we trust that what's been written down is actually true and has been handed to us for our good and is inspired by the Holy Spirit , so it can't be an untruth .

Speaker 3 15:19

But Thomas shows us the opposite side of that of doubting . But then , thankfully , the Lord in his providence shows Thomas directly right , comes to him , put your hand in my side and then even eats in front of them .

Speaker 1 15:31

When does he do that ?

Speaker 3 15:32

The next this is later A week later .

Speaker 2 15:34

He's back next Sunday , and then Thomas sees him and just in all says my Lord , my God , and I think for a lot of our listeners and viewers .

Speaker 1 15:44

This is why he's called doubting Thomas .

Speaker 2 15:46

Well , yeah , but but really , at the end we see his redemption . See , the doubt is the beginning and at the end he's truly believing and he sees Christ . He says that great profession of faith my Lord , my God . And a lot of our listeners and viewers have that great devotion , the highest practice , that at the moment of the consecration and the elevation of the host and at the moment of the consecration and elevation of the chalice , they'll say to themselves my Lord and my God , it's a profession of faith and believing in the true presence in the Eucharist .

Speaker 1 16:18

Thanks for listening to the Catholic Accent Podcast . Don't forget to follow , like and subscribe to our show .