Why Did Nobody Recognize Jesus After His Resurrection?

[_consiglieri]

Our Sunday school teacher asked this question as regards Mary on the morning of the resurrection, as recorded in John 20.

Nobody raised their hand, so I put mine up tentatively and got promptly called on.

I said it is a strange thing that not only Mary, but nobody in the post-resurrection accounts recognized Jesus, even though they had been with him for a long time.

Mary doesn't recognize Jesus until he says her name.

The two disciples on the road to Emmaus don't recognize Jesus even though they walk a fur piece with him, and not until he breaks bread and vanishes.

The eleven in the upper room don't recognize Jesus when he appears in their midst, and think it is a Ghost. Jesus identifies himself, but doesn't say what we would expect, "Hey, guys, it's me. Look at my face." Instead, he tells them to look at his hands and feet.

And finally, the seven disciples fishing in the Sea of Galilee (John 21) don't recognize Jesus on the shore telling them to throw the net over the right side of the boat until they pull it up with 153 fish tearing the net.

I suggested the most straightforward understanding for why nobody recognized Jesus is because he looked different.

This last suggestion did not go over well . . .

All the Best!

--Consiglieri

[_just me]

HA! I was wondering this, too.

We had one guy in class aske why Jesus still have the wound marks if our bodies are supposed to be perfected at resurrection. He ended up having to answer himself that it is one of those mysteries that we don't need to worry about.

Anyway, I think Jesus looked different because a resurrected body doesn't have any blood. But, it seems like they would have taken note of his pasty, creepy undead look.

Maybe the full head of snow white hair and beard threw them off?

[_consiglieri]

I think there is something about us (and maybe especially Mormons) that links our identity with our appearance, in spite of all the Disney-film messages we are fed.

We seem loathe to even consider the possibility that we might look different in the resurrection.

One of the things that made this easier for me to see is that, in the apocryphal Acts of John (which may have some gnostic underpinnings), John and James both see Jesus on the shore at the same time when he is calling them to follow him; only they both see him in completely different ways.

John sees Jesus as an old man.

James sees Jesus as a young boy.

They get into an interesting discussion over it.

And isn't there something in LDS Doctrine that says God communicates (and maybe even appears) in the manner best calculated to get his message across?


All the Best!

--Consiglieri

[_stemelbow]

Interestingly this was brought up in our GD class this past week, which surprised me a little. I didn't add anything, but it was concluded that we'll all look different to some extent after this life. To what extent we simply don't know. We must, afterall, how else will be in our perfect form as per the Book of Mormon description. No one can rightly be considered in his/her perfect form now, despite all the protestations I receive when I vocalize that about myself.

[_just me]

I think it is likely that Jesus is a Shapeshifter. It makes the most sense.

I believe that in one of the FV accounts Joseph Smith says that Jesus and HF were identical to eachother.
Based on that I know someoe who believes we will all be identical--in the exact image--to God after the resurrection. Well, CK people anyway.

Maybe Jesus didn't look as much like HF in mortal life as he did after resurrected.

I like the Shapeshifter theory best.

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

Hello,

It's because the story is nonsense? Christ Almighty I've listened to 5 year-olds come up with better material than this crap.

V/R
Dr. Cameron

[_Nightlion]

HA! I was wondering this, too.

We had one guy in class aske why Jesus still have the wound marks if our bodies are supposed to be perfected at resurrection. He ended up having to answer himself that it is one of those mysteries that we don't need to worry about.

Anyway, I think Jesus looked different because a resurrected body doesn't have any blood. But, it seems like they would have taken note of his pasty, creepy undead look.

Maybe the full head of snow white hair and beard threw them off?

Cool. See what I mean about being a subjective teacher. I was the first to suggest this oddity of Christ still having the scars if his body was truly resurrected. I wont go into that now.

But the REAL reason people did not recognize Christ was that in mortality his visage was marred. Not like you think. Marred because he was rejected by his own. His own village sought to kill him when he was thirty years old. Give me a break. That's a lot of hate.

Christ is pure love. Imagine how being so fantastically hated by those intimate with you could affect you. He bore our sorrows, was acquainted with grief. They turned away from him as if he was smitten of God. There are certain particulars I will not go into regarding the form of Jesus as to why his neighbors who knew him best rejected him.

After he finished his passions and was out of the world his face came back to him unmarred. This startling difference in his visage is why they failed to see him until clued in.

Read Isaiah 52 and 53 as if they were one chapter.

And I know this because?

Right!

[_consiglieri]

It's because the story is nonsense? Christ Almighty I've listened to 5 year-olds come up with better material than this crap.

I take it you are not a fan of New Testament studies . . .

[_Hoops]

I suggested the most straightforward understanding for why nobody recognized Jesus is because he looked different.

This last suggestion did not go over well . . .

All the Best!

--Consiglieri

I think this is a reasonable suggestion. In addition, add to this the idea that one is not expecting to see dead guys walking around, and it's perfectly reasonable that they did not recognize Jesus.

[_Hoops]

I think it is likely that Jesus is a Shapeshifter. It makes the most sense.

I believe that in one of the FV accounts Joseph Smith says that Jesus and HF were identical to eachother.
Based on that I know someoe who believes we will all be identical--in the exact image--to God after the resurrection. Well, CK people anyway.

Maybe Jesus didn't look as much like HF in mortal life as he did after resurrected.

I like the Shapeshifter theory best.

Not sure how you mean "shapeshifter", but His body certainly wasn't the same "kind" of body that he walked around with.