The Disciples Never Expected the Resurrection | April 19, 2026

Nobody walks to the tomb expecting a new world. In this episode, that’s where we start: with the disciples’ honest assumption that Jesus is gone for good, and with the uncomfortable way that grief trains all of us to think death, defeat, and shame are permanent.

We talk through why the Resurrection of Jesus isn’t just a first-century mystery but a living Catholic claim that reorders how reality works. The irony is sharp: the chief priests are the ones who remember Jesus said He would rise, and their fear turns into a strange kind of witness. From there we sit with the disciples’ puzzlement as they struggle to recognize the risen Lord, including a reflection on the Shroud of Turin and the face cloth detail in John’s Gospel as a way to think about signs, belief, and the gap between “something happened” and “I have met Him.”

The heart of the episode is what Easter does to suffering. Jesus appears in glory, yet His wounds remain, and that changes how we see our own scars.

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Father Don Wolf is a priest of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City. Living Catholic also broadcasts on Oklahoma Catholic Radio several times per week, with new episodes airing every Sunday.