Ressurection Appearances and Luke 20

[Jcnava15]

I was reading a few online back and forths between a Christian and a few skeptics. There was one objection which stuck out to me, which at first seemed to hold some sway. It was this; “Why didn’t the ressurected Jesus appear to the Pharisees (who put him to death)?”.

The context for this objection was that if the resurrection of Jesus was supposed to convince everybody that he was who he said he was, then why didn’t he appear to those who put him to death; the Pharisees.

This question bothered me, but as with anything, I turned to my most powerful resource for helping me find answers; God. I prayed that he would answer this question for me. As I was praying, in my mind, I heard “Luke 20” repeating. So I pulled out my Bible, and read Luke 20, and lo and behold there was my answer.

So why didn’t Jesus appear to the Pharisees after he resurrected if he wanted to prove he was the messiah?

In Luke 20 Jesus is confronted by Pharisees about his authority to do the things he is doing. Instead of answering them, he exposes their hypocrisy by asking them where John the Baptist got his authority, from Heaven or men.

If they answer from Heaven, than they could rely on Johns testimony of Jesus to know that Jesus had authority. If they answered from men, then the people would discredit the Pharisees because the people accepted John as a prophet. Since they answered that they didn’t know, then that showed that their interest was not truth, but power.

Then after that, and this is where the answer to why the risen Jesus didn’t appear to the Pharisees who killed him is answered directly, Jesus gives the parable of the tenants.

You should read this parable for yourself, but basically A vineyard owner leaves some tenants to take care of his vineyard, after sometime he sends a servant to the tenants to collect from his vineyard.

The tenants beat him, and throw him out, and the servant returns empty handed to the Owner. This happens 3 times, till the owner decides to send his own Son so that the tenants could recognize him and obey him.

The Tenants kill the Son and cast him out of the vineyard. The parable ends by saying that the owner will come and kill the tenants, and give his vineyard to others.

How does this answer why the risen Jesus didnt appear to the Pharisees instead of just his followers if he wanted to prove to everybody he was the messiah?

The owner (God), was taking away the vineyard from the tenants (Pharisees) and giving it to others. Jesus plan was never to convince all unbelievers in his time that he was the messiah, but only those that chose to follow him, or would follow him (later in Acts we learn that some Jewish Christians were former Pharisees). So he only appeared to his followers. Appearing to the Pharisees who put him to death was against his plan to take the authority away from them as described in the parable.

If he made followers out of the tenants who killed him, then how could he take the vineyard away from them? It is his followers who are the new owners of the vineyard.

So this particular objection is inherently flawed because it presumes an invalid assertion; that Jesus wanted to convert even those who put him to death. It was the new owners of the vineyard who he wanted to convert, his followers.

 

[po18guy]

It also relates to the parable of Lazarus and the rich man (Luke 16:19-31). The suffering rich man asked for Father Abraham to send Lazarus to warn the rich man’s brothers, so that they could avoid the same fate. Abraham said "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe, if one rise again from the dead’ (Luke 16:31). The rich man’s brothers lacked faith.

Jesus berated those in John 6:26, as they followed Him due to His feeding of them. They followed for purely physical reasons. They were not seeking even a sign, but rather, full stomachs. These were the same who fled from Him when He told them they would have no life in them unless they ate His Flesh and drink His Blood. They lacked faith.

As well, He told Nathanael, whom He knew was to be a believer “you shall see signs greater than these” (John 1:50). So, such supernatural signs are reserved for those with faith. The Pharisees lacked faith.

Tie this in also with the Centurion (Luke 7:1-10), who was not worthy that Jesus even come under his roof. Jesus was astonished at the man’s faith, but also consider that the Centurion also said “For I am also a man under authority. And I say to one man ‘go’, and he goes; to another ‘come’, and he comes; to my slave ‘do this’, and he does it” What Jesus was marvelling about was not only the man’s faith, his humility (“I am not worthy”), but also the fact that the Centurion recognized that Jesus was under authority. The Centurion knew that Jesus had the authority to do these signs and had faith that they would be done - and they were. He had faith.