When Jesus reveals Himself

After Jesus had risen from the the dead and revealed himself to His disciples, they had problems recognising Him at first. How come? They had known Him for years. They knew what He looked like. In Mark 16:12 it says that He revealed Himself for them in another form. It seems like everytime Jesus revealed himself after His resurrection, He revealed Himself in another form. Why did He do this? I think He did it because He wanted His disciples to know Him not by physical appearance, but by WHO HE REALLY IS. In John 21 we can read the story about when the disciples had been fishing all night without getting anything. Jesus shows Himself in the morning about 90 meters from them, but they didn’t recognise Him. He tells them to throw the net on the other side and they get a lot of fish. In other words: He tells them to do something and something great happens when they obey. Sounds familiar? At least this rang the bell with one of the disciples and He figured out that this was Jesus.



References (The Bible I use: Authorized King James Version):

Mark 16:12 Jesus appears in another form for two of the disciples

John 20:14-16 Jesus reveals Himself for Maria Magdalena, who doesn’t recognise Him at first

John 20:19-20 Jesus suddenly appears inside a room, where the disciples are gathered. The disciples realise it is Jesus AFTER He has shown them his hands and his side.

John 21:1-12 The disciples were 200 cubits (about 90 meters) from land, when Jesus appeared on the shore. That is not far in terms of recognising someone you know very well. It was in the morning, so lighting shouldn’t be a problem. He even spoke to them, without them recognising Him. You could say that they really didn’t expect so see Him since He was dead, but this was the third time He appeared to them after He was raised from the dead. In verse 12, after all the disciples had come ashore, we see that none of the disciples durst ask him “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord. But why would this question be an issue at all? I think that if Jesus had appeared in the physical shape they were used to, they wouldn’t even think about asking: “Who are you?”