‘Of course. It’s natural. But you have a great part to play still; when the records of this time and of Jesus’s life are written, your account will be of enormous value. You will be able to determine how these events are remembered right up until the ending of the world. You will-’
‘Stop, stop. Enough. I want to hear no more for now. I am very tired and unhappy. I shall come back here on the morning after the sabbath, and do whatever I have to do.’
Mary from Magdala at the Tomb
After the crucifixion Peter, John, James and the other disciples had gathered in a house not far from Joseph’s garden, where they sat like men bereft of their senses, stunned and silent. The execution of Jesus had come upon them like a thunderbolt out of a blue sky; of all things, they had not expected that. It was no less a shock than if the foundations of the earth had shifted under their feet.
As for the women who had gathered at the foot of the cross and helped Joseph take down the body, they had wept and prayed until they could weep no more. Mary the mother of Jesus had seen him into the grave, and soon she would return to Nazareth. The woman from Magdala, who was also called Mary, was going to remain in Jerusalem for a little while.
Very early on the morning after the sabbath, Mary the Magdalene went to the garden where the tomb was, taking some spices in case any more were needed to preserve the body. It was still dark. After the burial she had seen Joseph and Nicodemus roll the stone into place over the tomb, and she was surprised to see, in the half-light, the stone rolled back and the tomb yawning open. She wondered if she had come to the right grave, and she looked inside fearfully.
There she saw the linen cloth wrapped up and empty, but no body.
She ran out and hurried to the house where the disciples were staying, and said to Peter and John, ‘The master’s tomb is empty! I’ve just been there, and the stone is rolled back, and the body is gone!’
She told them everything she had seen. A woman’s testimony being of little value, Peter and John hastened to the garden to see for themselves. John ran faster and got to the grave first, and looked inside to see the linen cloth lying empty; and then Peter pushed past him and went inside, and found the cloth just as Mary had described, with the cloth that had wrapped Jesus’s head not lying with the rest, but apart by itself.
John said, ‘Have the Romans taken him away?’
‘Why would they do that?’ said Peter. ‘Pilate released his body. They wouldn’t be interested.’
‘What else can have happened?’
‘He might not have been dead when they took him down. Only fainted, like. Then he might have woken up… ’
‘But how could he have rolled the stone away from inside? His legs were broken. He couldn’t move.’
They could make no sense of it at all. They left the tomb and hurried back to tell the other disciples.
Mary the Magdalene, who had remained outside, was weeping. But then through her tears she saw a man close by, and took him for the gardener.
‘Why are you weeping?’ he said.
‘They’ve taken my master’s body away, and I don’t know where he is. Sir, if you know where they’ve taken him, please tell me, I beg you, and I’ll bring him back here and look after him properly.’
Then the man said, ‘Mary.’
She was startled, and she looked at him more closely. It was still not quite light, and her eyes were sore, but surely this was Jesus, alive.
‘Master!’ she cried, and then moved to embrace him.
But Christ stepped back and said, ‘No, don’t touch me now. I shan’t be here for long. Go to the disciples and tell them what you’ve seen. Tell them I shall ascend soon and go to my father, to God. To my God and your God.’
Mary ran and told the disciples what she had seen, and what Christ had said to her.
‘It was him!’ she told them. ‘Truly! Jesus was alive, and he spoke to me!’
They were half-sceptical, but Peter and John were more ready than the others to believe her.
‘She told us how the cloth was laid out in the tomb, and we went and we saw it, just as she said. If she says he’s alive – well, that would explain it! It would explain everything!’
They passed that day in a state of half-hopeful wonderment. They went again and again to the garden where the tomb was, but saw no more there.
The Road to Emmaus
Later that day some of the disciples set out to go to a village called Emmaus, about two hours’ walk away from Jerusalem, to tell the news to some friends who lived there. Christ’s informant had set off back to Galilee, and was not among them. As they walked along the road they fell into conversation with a man who was travelling the same way. This too was Christ.
‘You seem agitated,’ said the traveller. ‘What were you all discussing with such passion?’
‘You haven’t heard what happened in Jerusalem?’ said a disciple called Cleopas.
‘No. Tell me.’
‘You must be the only man in Judea not to have heard about it. We’re friends of Jesus of Nazareth, the great prophet, the great teacher. He angered the priests in the temple, and they handed him over to the Romans, and they crucified him. And he was buried. That was three days ago. And then this morning we heard he’d been seen alive!’
Their talk was only of that. They didn’t look closely at Christ, because they were too excited and bewildered still; but by the time they came to the village night had fallen, and they invited him to stay and eat with them.
He accepted the invitation, and went into the house of their friend, where he was made welcome. When they were sitting down to eat, the disciple Cleopas, who was sitting directly opposite him, stopped what he was saying, took hold of the lamp and raised it close to Christ’s face.
‘Master?’ he said.
In the flickering lamplight the others stared in amazement. Truly, this man looked so like Jesus, and yet he was not the same; but surely death would change him, so he was bound to be a little different; and yet the resemblance was so close. They were struck almost dumb.
But one man called Thomas said, ‘If you’re really Jesus, show us the marks in your hands and your feet.’
Christ’s hands were unmarked, of course. They could all see them as he held the bread. But before he could speak, another man intervened and said:
‘If the master’s risen from the dead, of course all his wounds would be healed! We’ve seen him walk – we know his broken legs are mended. He’d be made perfect again, so his other scars are gone as well. Who can doubt that?’
‘But his legs weren’t broken!’ said another. ‘I heard it from one of the women! He died when a soldier stuck a spear into his side!’
‘I never heard that,’ said another. ‘I heard they broke his legs first of all, before they did the other two. They always break their legs… ’
And they turned to Christ, full of doubt and confusion.
Christ said, ‘Those who see no evidence, and still have faith, are the blessed ones. I am the word of God. I existed before time. I was in the beginning with God, and soon I shall go back to him, but I came down into time and into life so that you should see the light and the truth, and testify to them. I shall leave you a sign, and here it is: just as the bread has to be broken before you can eat it, and the wine has to be poured before you can drink, so I had to die in one life before I rose again in another. Remember me as often as you eat and drink. Now I must return to my father, who is in heaven.’
They all wanted to touch him, but he stood back and blessed them all, and then he left.
After that, Christ took care to keep out of the way. He watched from a distance as the disciples, fired by the
