Why Was Jesus So Secretive?

In the 21st chapter of John’s gospel—the reading at Mass this weekend,—Jesus appeared to His disciples at the shore of the Sea of Galilee. We read in verse 14: “This was now the third time Jesus was revealed to his disciples after being raised from the dead.” It was only His third appearance, and there were not going to be many others.

Do you ever wonder why Jesus was so secretive about showing Himself to the world after the Resurrection? If I had been His marketing consultant, I would have scheduled all kinds of events and appearances, just like a presidential candidate during the week before a big primary.

The heart of the Christian faith is the Resurrection of Jesus. As St. Paul wrote in his first epistle to the Corinthians, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile.” The Resurrection is the key. If someone claims to be a Christian but does not believe that Jesus rose from the dead, then he is simply fooling himself. (A lot of folks think they are Christians—and that they’re headed for Heaven—just because they go to church on a regular basis. But as the old saying goes, “Being inside a church does not make you a Christian any more than being inside a garage makes you a Buick.”)

Since true saving faith hinges on belief in the Resurrection (see: Romans 10:9), why didn’t Jesus spend all His time appearing to as many people as possible? After all, every person who saw Him walking and talking after the crucifixion would have been one less person who needed to be convinced by the apostle’s preaching.

It seems that Jesus could have done a better job of getting more post-Resurrection exposure. The gospels indicate that He appeared sporadically to the disciples, such as the visit on the shore of Galilee. And St. Paul mentioned in one of his letters that over 500 people saw Jesus alive—a seemingly sizeable number, but not when compared to the total number of people living in the Roman Empire at the time. Nowadays there are at least 500 people who claim in recent years that they’ve seen Elvis alive.

After His few-and-far-between appearances, Jesus ascended back into Heaven less than six weeks after rising from the tomb. He left it all up to the disciples to convince the world that the Resurrection really happened. If you ask me, that was not a very well-thought out marketing and promotion plan. (Yeah, I know, no one asked me.)

Why didn’t Jesus travel the countryside for at least three years after the Resurrection as He did for three years before the Resurrection? Why didn’t He spend the next 50 years appearing in Greece and Rome and all the other major cultural centers? And now that I think about it, why didn’t He stay on earth for 2,000 years so that I could have seen Him in the flesh? If I had seen Jesus and believed in Him when I was a teenager, it would have spared a lot of people a lot of pain during my “Just say ‘Yes’ to alcohol and drugs” years.

This may come as a shock to many people, but God hardly ever consults with me before making plans—even though I could have come up with dozens of ideas to get Jesus great exposure. He did things His way and, all kidding aside, we trust that He knows best.

I suppose the answer to the “Why didn’t He…?” questions can be found in the words Jesus spoke to Doubting Thomas: “You believe because you have seen Me; blessed are those who have not seen and believe.”

Faith is a lot like love. It’s only genuine when we are free to say yes or no. Only when we have the option NOT to believe will our faith be special when we DO believe.

The letter to the Hebrews explains that “faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Faith contains an element of trust. We have to trust that the Resurrection really occurred even though we were not eye witnesses.

Those of us who believe without seeing, according to Jesus’ words, are blessed. I suppose we’re more blessed than even St. Thomas because he wouldn’t believe until he saw. 

Our belief in the Resurrection, of course, is not blind faith; it is not an illogical leap into Fantasyland. There is a great deal of powerful evidence that the words of Scripture are true. But an element of doubt is still needed so when we offer our faith, hope, trust, and love to God, it is the real thing.

It’s clear Jesus knew what He was doing at all times—including His limited, sporadic appearances after the Resurrection. The Christian faith spread throughout the known world within a few decades and 20 centuries later it is still alive and vibrant for billions of people. 

But still, if I were there, oh what excitement we could’ve generated. First, we book Jesus on “The O’Reilly Factor.” And then we do a series of sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden. And then the Lord appears on “Dancing with the Stars—Messiah Edition.” And then…