( CNN ) -- As Easter comes into view , the thoughts of billions of Christians turn to Jerusalem , to a sacred weekend that includes the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus . Of course , people regard these events with various degrees of literalness . But Easter retains its power . It is , in fact , the essential Christian celebration , as the Gospels focus hugely on this part of the Jesus story . They describe in slow motion his entry into Jerusalem and the final week leading up to the crucifixion on Good Friday , the uncertain stillness of Holy Saturday , when the world seems to have slipped into total darkness , then the joy of the Resurrection itself , with a sense that boundaries have been broken -- most aggressively , the membrane between life and death . Questions arise , of course . Did Jesus really rise from the dead ? What would that look like ? Many Christians imagine some literal wakening from the dead and refuse to accept the slightest hint that the Resurrection might be regarded as symbolic without denigrating it . Indeed , if you read the Gospel narratives closely , it 's not easy to say what actually happened . All four of them skip the actual Resurrection . That is , we never see Jesus waken . The first inkling of change comes when a few women close to him visit the tomb . Accounts differ on who turned up at the tomb that morning : Mary Magdalene , a close friend of Jesus , alone or with Mary , his mother , and with Salome ( who is either Mary 's sister or the mother of apostles James and John ) . In John 's Gospel , Mary Magdalene visits the tomb alone . To her amazement , she finds the stone rolled away . In panic , she runs to tell Peter and another ( unnamed ) disciple , who rush to the tomb and find it empty . They appear to think someone has stolen the body . Meanwhile , Mary Magdalene sits outside the tomb by herself , crying softly . After a while , she walks back into the crypt , where she sees two angels in white . They speak to her , and then a mysterious figure appears at her side to ask her why she 's crying . She thinks he 's the gardener , then she recognizes the voice if not the face when he calls her by name . She cries : `` Rabboni ! '' -- in Aramaic , `` teacher . '' The post-Resurrection appearances of Jesus vary wildly . For the most part , those who meet him fail to recognize him , as in the story of the Road to Emmaus , where Jesus appears beside two of his followers . They do n't recognize him , which suggests that he has not reappeared in a familiar form . Even when he joins them for dinner , they do n't know who sits beside them . Only when he prays over the bread before eating do they recognize him , and he immediately disappears -- poof . Even his closest disciples do n't know Jesus when they see him , as in John 's Gospel , where he appears by the Sea of Galilee to Peter , Thomas , Nathanael and two other disciples . It takes quite a while for Peter , alone among them , to recognize this mysterious figure on the shore who advises them where to catch the fish . A kind of summary of Jesus ' post-Resurrection appearances will be found in Paul 's first letter to the Corinthians ( 15:5-8 ) : . `` He appeared to Cephas [ Peter ] , and then to the Twelve . Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers at one time , most of whom remain alive now , though some have fallen asleep . Then he showed himself to James , then to all the apostles . Finally , he appeared to me . '' This letter of Paul is one of the earliest examples of Christian literature , written perhaps 20 years after Jesus died , and it gives us some sense of what stories people were telling about him . The last appearance , alas , hardly counts for much , as it occurs on the Road to Damascus , where Paul hears a voice from the Lord , which says : `` I am Jesus whom you persecute . '' ( Acts 9:5 ) When Paul opens his eyes , however , he sees nothing . These accounts of what happened after Easter suggest that a lot of different rumors circulated about the Resurrection , and the four Gospels reflect these divergent stories . And the characteristics of Jesus ' resurrected body shift a good deal . In one case , Jesus asks Thomas , the famous doubter , to touch the wound in his side , proving that he 's really there . Elsewhere , Jesus passes through locked doors like a ghost -- an unsettling image . In Luke 's Gospel , he astonishes his disciples by eating `` a piece of broiled fish '' as well as swallowing honey . For the most part , his appearances retain a dreamlike quality , suggesting that Jesus did n't want anyone to assume that whatever happened to him occurred in ordinary time and space . He did not , like Lazarus , simply get up and walk from the burial crypt and resume life on the street . This is the Resurrection , not the Great Resuscitation . But Christian thinking is Resurrection thinking . It 's about rebirth or reawakening in many forms , about spiritual and moral transformation . And this is the really good news of Easter .
Jay Parini : Easter is Christians ' most powerful day . People vary on how literal resurrection is . The Gospel writings about this are unclear on what happened . They skip that part , he says . He says in post-Resurrection accounts Jesus appears , but he is not recognizable . Parini : Differing accounts suggest much was rumor . But Easter rebirth message endures .