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Did Jesus Appear to His Mother After His Resurrection?

Question:

Did Jesus appear to his mother Mary before Mary Magdalene after the resurrection? If yes, is it biblical?

Answer:

There is nothing in Scripture that says Jesus appeared to his mother after his resurrection.

Not everything that occurred is recorded in Scripture (Jn. 21:25), therefore just because it is not recorded does not mean it did not happen.  Pious belief has long held that Jesus must have appeared to his mother. The popular belief why it was not recorded in Scripture is that the other appearances of Jesus were written and publicized as proof of the risen Christ whereas his appearance to his mother was a private and personal appearance out of love.

Pious belief has also noted the absence of Jesus’ mother on Easter morning. Why did she not go to the tomb? Why was Jesus already missing? When news of Jesus’ resurrection spread amongst his followers why did Jesus’ mother not follow them to the tomb? Pious belief has reasoned that Jesus must have appeared to his mother immediately following his resurrection.

Indeed, it is legitimate to think that the Mother was probably the first person to whom the risen Jesus appeared. Could not Mary’s absence from the group of women who went to the tomb at dawn (cf. Mk 16:1; Mt 28:1) indicate that she had already met Jesus?

(St. Pope John Paul II, General Audience, 21 May 1997)

The Church has never officially taught whether Jesus appeared to his mother first or at all.

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