The Hidden Resurrection

Happy Easter Season! The mystery has been revealed! The truth of Jesus’ true identity has been revealed, but to whom?

We all seek knowledge. We want to know as much as we can about life, about what is impacting our lives physically, mentally and spiritually. We like to feel blessed, but we do not always feel that way. We struggle with living in mystery, in times of cloudiness and ambiguity when shadows become long.

Here is an excerpt from Henri Nouwen about the resurrection being hidden.

What is most striking about the resurrection story is that the resurrection of Jesus is described as a hidden event. When we speak about the hidden life of Jesus we have to go far beyond his years at Nazareth. The great mystery of Jesus’ life is that all of it has a hidden quality. First of all, his conception and birth, then his many years living in obedience to his parents, then his so-called public life in which he kept asking those he cured not to speak about their healing, then his death outside the walls of Jerusalem between two criminals, and finally also his resurrection. Indeed, the resurrection of Jesus isn’t a glorious victory over his enemy. It is not a proof of his powers. It is not an argument against those who condemned him to death. Jesus did not appear to Annas, Caiaphas, Herod, or Pilate, not even to his doubtful followers Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathaea. There is no gesture of “being right after all.” There is no “I always told you so.” There is not even a smile of satisfaction.

No, the most decisive event in the history of creation is a deeply hidden event. Jesus appears as a stranger. Mary of Magdala sees a stranger in the garden. Cleopas and his friend find themselves walking with a stranger to Emmaus. The disciples see a stranger coming and think it is a ghost, and Peter, Thomas, Nathaniel, John, James and two other disciples hear a stranger calling out to them from the shore of a lake. How much of a stranger Jesus remains is succinctly expressed in that mysterious moment around the charcoal fire when Jesus offers bread and fish to his friends. John the Evangelist writes, “None of the disciples was bold enough to ask, ’Who are you?’ They knew quite well it was the Lord” (John 21:12). Nowhere better than in this sentence is expressed the hiddenness of Jesus’ resurrection. They knew who was giving them bread and fish, but didn’t dare ask who he was. The difference between knowing and not knowing, presence and absence, revealing and hiding, have been transcended in the presence of the risen Lord.

So, relax in the mysterious love, light and life of God revealed to us in Jesus! He is risen!

Rev. Dr. Steve Fitzgerald

May 2025