Unrecorded Signs of the Risen Christ

[PoliSciProf]

At the end of John 20 (The Doubting Thomas account) is the comment Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and through this belief you may have life in His name.
Does the sacred deposit of faith or tradition know what these unrecorded signs are? Are there any documents relevent to this question? I am amazed that given the Resurection that every detail of the risen Christ was not preserved somehow somewhere. Insight into this would be greatly appreciated.

 

[upbeatjonm]

I had always interpreted this to mean signs throughout his whole lifetime, not just the resurrection. It was a way of saying that the words included in the Gospel were not meant to be a complete account of all that Jesus did.

That’s my take on it, anyway.

 

[JimG]

I’m not expert enough to answer that, but I have some thoughts.

First, I think that the people in the apostolic age were simply not so enamored of written documentation as is our present age. There were after all, no books as such. There were scrolls, and writing was a labor intensive and specialized, occupation.

It is mentioned in the scriptures that Jesus appeared to as many as 500 people at one time, after the resurrection. It seems to have been convincing enough to kick start the Church.

Also, there seems to have been an early belief that Jesus was to return very soon. If that was so, it was more urgent to preach than to document.

Any private remembrances of post resurrection appearances likely remained just that. They were not part of apostolic tradition, which was the teaching of the apostles, and not the memories of others.

 

[PoliSciProf]

upbeatjonm, my take is that this passage refers to post-Resurection signs. But, who knows?

JimG, What you say makes sense. Of course, scrolls are unlikely to survive the centuries. Still, perhaps there might be some archeological find akin the Dead Sea Scrolls some day.