1 Corinthians 15:16-17
Jesus Resurrection
16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.
John 20:19-31
Jesus Appears to His Disciples
19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews,Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
Jesus Appears to Thomas
24 Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.”
26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
30 Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may[a] believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
Acts 9:1-16
Jesus Appears to Paul
1Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest 2and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"
5"Who are you, Lord?" Saul asked.
"I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," he replied. 6"Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do."
7 The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. 8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9 For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.
10 In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!”
“Yes, Lord,” he answered.
11 The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying.12 In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”
13 “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. 14 And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”
15 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
John 14:6
I AM Truth
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
The most important fact in the history of mankind is the resurrection of Jesus...Jesus changed everything, and His resurrection literally changed the world...The resurrection endures today, and the resurrection story remains with us two thousand years later...St. Paul puts this very clearly for us: for if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either...And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins...And I agree with St. Paul what is life, and the purpose of life without a resurrected Jesus?...With Him we have faith and hope...He is our Savior...
Jesus coming back after His death shows us the Glory of God...When His followers first seen Him after His death they were confused, trying to figure out in their heads what was going on, and did not really recognize Him...I think without the resurrection of Jesus the disciples would have never turned from their weak and mild manners and mood after the death of their Teacher...Saul would have never became Paul, and would have remained a staunch Pharisee...Saul may have been able to snuff out the few remaining followers of Christ by his force and zeal as a strict Pharisee, and there would be no Christian religion today -had Jesus not stopped him on the road to Damascus (after His death)...I think without the resurrection of Jesus, we may not even have a Christian religion...And as Paul puts it, what would our faith be like -would it be just futile?...
Jesus' talking to His disciples after His death, and His talk with Saul on the road to Damascus makes "all the difference in the world"...In fact, if Jesus did not return after His death His disciples may have only been a small group of men lacking the courage to go forward and spread the teachings of their Great Teacher...If Saul had not been thrown to the ground (by Jesus) on the road to Damascus, the Gentiles may have never got to know about Jesus and what He stood for and taught...His resurrection stands out in human history...These early apostles would have never gotten bold and died for Jesus like many of them did, without His resurrection...
The resurrection story endures today, because Truth endures...Jesus stood up two thousand years ago, and said I AM Truth...Truth is Truth, and will be Truth forever...