When I awoke, it was now hard upon the third hour of the day, and the sun
from behind Mount Olivet was shining brightly down upon the city. All
things below were full of beauty and glory, nor would a stranger have
known that the stain of innocent blood was upon the place; so fair shone
all the city rejoicing in the Sabbath sun. When I looked thereon, the
memory of my dream vanished, even as the mists which I saw rolling upward
from the side of the mountain and vanishing into the pure air. My misery
returned upon me again; and I felt once more alone and without God in the
world. But I resolved to go up straightway to Bethany, if perchance I
might there find the apostles in the house of Mary and Martha. When I was
come thither, I found them all, save Judas; and I entered in and sat with
them in silence; and for a long time we neither prayed nor spake together,
nor so much as lamented aloud; but there we sat speechless and
comfortless; for the hand of the Lord was heavy upon us.
At the last spake certain of the women, saying that they had brought
spices, such as are used in the embalming of bodies, and that they
purposed to go early on the morrow for to embalm the body of Jesus. Then I
asked where he was buried; and they told me, “in a garden of Joseph of
Arimathea, nigh unto the place of crucifixion.” After that, I asked
whether any had stood near, and in view of the cross while he was
suffering; for I had been thrust away by the crowd. Then John the son of
Zebedee answered and said that he had been nigh, and that Jesus had borne
all the anguish with a marvellous constancy. He told me also of certain
other words which Jesus had spoken while he was on the cross, and that a
soldier, after his death, had wounded his side with a spear; but when I
asked him whether he had heard Jesus speak also those words which I had
myself heard, namely that God had forsaken him, then John said nothing,
but only moved his head as if to say that it was so; and the rest also
were silent, for we feared to think on those words.
After we had all thus sat silent for a while, one of the women began to
speak again and to say that all things had happened according to the words
of Jesus; for he had said that he should be slain; and he had blessed
Mary, in that she had anointed his body for the burial. Then another of
the women began to bring to our mind how Jesus had long ago prophesied
that the time should come when we should desire to see one of the days of
the Son of man, and should not find it. And another spake how, at another
time, when we were in the country round about Hermon, he had prophesied
that he should be slain; therefore, said she, he was a true prophet. But
Thomas made mention of the saying of Hosea, whereof Jesus had oftentimes
been used to speak, “Come and let us return unto the Lord, for he hath
torn and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After
two days will he revive us; in the third day he will raise us up, and we
shall live in his sight.” Then said Thomas, “A part of the sayings of
Jesus hath indeed come to pass”; and he added no more. But all we that
were in that chamber sitting together, knew what Thomas had in his mind to
say (for it was in our minds also), namely, that the rest of the words of
Jesus were not to be fulfilled. So again we sat silent; for indeed our
souls were wholly given up to meditating on those words of Jesus, “after
two days he will revive us”; and each knew that the others were meditating
on the same; yet durst none of us say so much as a word, nor so much as
confess to himself that the words could import anything now; for about
that matter we feared even to hope.
But by degrees our tongues were loosed, and we began to speak more freely
concerning the goodness of Jesus, how exceeding gentle he was at all times
to the young and simple, and to the poor and oppressed; how full of peace
and cheerfulness; how thoughtful for others, how forgetful of himself.
Then we spake of his marvellous power in the forgiving of sins, and in the
healing of diseases, and in the casting out of unclean spirits. And one
said that with all these faculties he joined a marvellous grace of modesty
and humility, so that no child could carry himself with less of pride or
ostentation. “Yea,” said another, “and yet withal, though he were never so
simple and humble, he ever spake of himself, none the less, as the haven
and refuge for men, saying such words as these unto us, ‘Come unto me, and
I will give you rest,’ and again, ‘Take my yoke upon you:’ moreover he
bade us take his voice as our Law in the stead of the Law of Moses,
saying, ‘It was said to them of old, do this, but I say unto you, do
that.’ Therefore are we of all men most miserable in that, having received
from God the very source of light and life, now we are deprived thereof.”
Then Peter said, “Yea, verily we have none else to whom we can go, for
Jesus alone hath the words of eternal life; and without him we have no
life.” But said another, “If God be good, how could it be that He should
have forsaken Jesus, so that he cried aloud, ‘My God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me?’” Then Nathanael spake and said (the very thought that
was in my heart also) that perchance Jesus used those words, desiring
briefly to pour forth all the trouble and all the trust of his heart; for,
said he, “These words are as it were the title of the psalm, and the psalm
beginneth with trouble, but it endeth with trust.” To this the rest agreed
that it might be so; but we all felt within ourselves that this was small
comfort: for we needed not only to think that it might be so, but to know
that it was so.
Then one said that the Kingdom of God and the Redemption of Sion were now
as far off as ever. But Mary of Magdala said with great vehemency, “that
she mourned not for the Redemption of Sion, but because the breath of life
was taken out of the world, for without Jesus there was no more truth nor
righteousness. He trusted in God, would not God deliver him? Was he not
the Son of the living God? If, therefore, the Father live, how can the Son
be dead?” She added yet other words still more passionate, as if God were
no God unless Jesus were restored to life. We chid her, and would have
stayed her speech: for, though she did indeed express the very feelings of
our hearts, yet were we afraid to see them put into plain words, and
besides, we dreaded the pain of new hopes. For to hope that we should look
again on Jesus, and afterwards to fail of that hope, had been to have had
Jesus snatched from us a second time.
By this time the sun had set, and the women began to make ready the spices
for the embalming. But I (because it had been reported to certain of the
disciples that the chief priests purposed to set a guard round the tomb)
determined to go down that I might see whether the tomb were beset with
guards or no, and whether the women could have easy access to it. I easily
found the place in the light of the moon, and it was even as the women had
said; for the garden of Joseph lay not more than three stones’ cast from
the place where Jesus had been crucified. So I stood for a while looking
on the stone, which was at the mouth of the tomb, and no man else was in
the garden. But while I stood near the tomb, very nigh unto the mouth
thereof, I heard a sound on my right hand; and when I turned round,
behold, a light; and the lights grew many as I looked, and I perceived
that there were torches approaching. So I went back some distance, and
still the torches came nearer; and the men were, as it seemed to me,
servants of the chief priests, but I discerned also the face of Hezekiah
the Scribe; and they all stood round the tomb, and I also stood and
watched them from afar off, to see what they would do. But I could not
remain; for they sent out watchers on all sides calling to one another in
a circle, like unto men keeping sentinel, for to spy whether any one were
near. Then I fled perforce and in haste; and though I fled straightway,
yet could I not contrive but the watchers perceived me and chased after me
and went near to take me. But I escaped out of their hands, and went up to
Bethany to bear word unto the women. And when the women heard these things
they were sore distressed. Howbeit they resolved that in any case they
would go forth to the tomb very early on the morrow.
But before we lay down to rest that night, we spake again of Jesus, and
concerning all that he had said and done; and we continued our discourse
late into the night, and were loth to break off; for while we discoursed
together of former times, we seemed to have Jesus again in the midst of
us. But at the end, when we were now ceasing, the Spirit of the Lord fell
upon Mary of Magdala, and she lifted up her voice and sang as the Lord
moved her, and the words were even from the psalm whereof we had been but
now speaking, while discoursing concerning the forsaking of Jesus by God.
Now the song describeth the suffering of the Messiah. Therefore when she
came in her singing to these words, “They pierced my hands and my feet; I
may tell all my bones; they stand staring and looking upon me. They part
my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture”: then we wept,
remembering the sufferings of Jesus. But when she sang the next words,
“But be not thou far from me, O Lord. Thou art my succour, haste thee to
help me. Deliver my soul from the sword, my darling also from the power of
the dog. Save me from the lion’s mouth: Thou hast heard me from among the
horns of the unicorns. I will declare thy name unto my brethren; in the
midst of the congregation will I praise thee. For he hath not despised,
nor abhorred the low estate of the poor; he hath not hid his face from
him; but when he called unto him he heard him”: then we wept no longer,
but we marvelled while we looked on her, and while we hearkened to the
words of her singing: for she sang as one taught of God, so that we durst
not stay her; yet we thought in our hearts, “Notwithstanding when Jesus
called unto Him, He heard him not.” And when we thought on this we
besought her that she would cease.
Howbeit she ceased not, but began to sing yet another psalm, a part of the
great Hallel; even the very words that Jesus himself had sung to us on the
night before he suffered. And the other women joined with her, and they
sang so that the sound thereof pierced to our very souls. Then could we
endure it no longer, but covered our faces with our hands. But they
continued singing, “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of
the Lord. The Lord hath chastened and corrected me, but he hath not given
me over unto death. Thou art my God, and I will thank thee; thou art my
God, and I will praise thee.”
Now while they were singing, I had closed mine eyes; and lo, there rose up
before me a vision of the upper room where we had supped together with
Jesus on the night that he was betrayed: and I seemed to see the face of
Jesus himself; yea, though I was not asleep nor in a trance, yet did I see
Jesus himself sitting again as if at meat with us. Therefore was I loth to
open mine eyes; for I feared that, when I opened them, I should no longer
see what I saw. But when the women had made an end of singing, then opened
I mine eyes, half expecting that it might prove no vision, and that Jesus
would be sitting before me in the midst of us. But I saw nothing; nor were
the women any longer with us, for they were gone forth into another
chamber to finish their preparations for the embalming. For they desired
to visit the sepulchre very early in the morning, and it was by this time
the third watch of the night. About the space of an hour, I remained in
the chamber with the rest: then I heard the footsteps of the women as they
passed forth from the house. I tried to sleep, but could not; for ever in
my mind was present the thought of Jesus in the tomb, waiting the approach
of the women to embalm him. So my heart went forth with the women upon
their errand, and I reckoned over the time and said ever and anon, “Now
they are come down from the mountain; by this time they are nigh to
Golgotha; now they are in the garden; now they are at the tomb.” Then I
saw before mine eyes the women embracing the dead limbs of our Master.
“And now,” said I, “the stone is rolled away and they have entered in:
they weep, but he answereth not, neither heareth; his eyes move not nor
make any answer to their eyes; they clasp his hands, but his hands clasp
not theirs again.”
When I thought on these things I arose in sore extremity nigh unto
despair, and went up to the house‐top. Above the mountains of Moab, to the
east, there was a faint token of dawn. I thought of the coming day, and I
loathed it; for without Jesus the light seemed unto me as darkness.
Moreover when I strove to pray, Satan tempted me very sorely, so that I
could not pray: for I said, “Behold I am without Jesus: but God without
Jesus is to me as no God.” Then fell I flat upon my face and wrestled with
Satan in prayer, and I besought the Lord again and again that He would
give Jesus back to us, yea, though it were but to look on him for one
moment, that we might be assured that all was well with him. How long I
prayed I know not, but it seemed to me many hours; and sometimes I stood
in my praying and watched the dawn growing brighter; and even as the dawn
grew, my fears and doubts grew with it; but at other times I lay prostrate
and shut out the light. So at last the sky began to brighten towards
sunrise; and still I was crying unto the Lord from the depths, according
as it is written, “I wait for the Lord; my soul doth wait, and in his word
do I hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the
morning, more, I say, than they that watch for the morning.”
Now while I lay grovelling in the very deepest of the depths, beseeching
the Lord to destroy me if I might not have peace, behold, a sound as of
many feet below, without the house, and then a knocking, exceeding loud;
and one asked from within, “Who is there?” And the answer came piercing
the air, “HE IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN! JESUS IS RISEN FROM THE DEAD!” Now at
first I thought that the voice was the voice of an angel; but when I
considered, and heard how answer was made, and the door forthwith opened,
and a sound as of feet entering, then straightway I knew that it was the
voice of one of the women come back from the sepulchre. Immediately,
therefore, going down, I found all the household stirring, and the women
returned, and all the disciples gathered together, and standing round the
women, questioning them, and listening to their words.
Then the women told us how they had gone down to Golgotha, even to the
tomb; and when Mary of Magdala was now nigh, even at the mouth of the tomb
(for she walked somewhat before the rest), behold, the great stone at the
mouth of the tomb was rolled away. Then she called aloud for despair, and
her companions hasted to her; but when they were now come to her, as she
was even now adventuring to enter into the tomb, of a sudden Mary cried
out again, saying, “Behold, an angel of the Lord!” And lo, there appeared
to them (even to all the women and not to Mary only) an angel clothed in
white; and they all heard a voice which said, “He is not here, but is
risen.” And, said Mary Magdalene, the voice added that we were to return
to Galilee, and there we should see him; but another of the women said
that the voice seemed to her also to speak of Galilee, but she heard not
those other words which Mary heard.(12) Also some of the women had seen
two angels, but others only one. But as concerning this at least, all the
women were agreed, namely, that they had seen a vision of angels, and that
they had heard a voice which cried out, “He is not here, he is risen.”
Now when we had spent much time in questioning and hearing the women, I
desired to go down forthwith to the sepulchre, for to see it with mine own
eyes: but the women stayed me, and said, “It were better to wait; for
Peter and John are already gone down.” So I waited, but in sore trouble of
mind; for at one time I believed, but at another time I doubted. For as
concerning the tomb, it came into my mind that it was like enough that the
servants of the chief priests (whom I had seen in the garden during the
night) might haply have broken open the tomb and stolen away the body; but
then on the other side there was the vision of the angels and the voice;
and besides, it was being borne in upon my mind, and upon the minds of
most of us, that Jesus must indeed arise from the dead, for thus should
both the words of the prophets be fulfilled, and his own words also; but
otherwise they could not be fulfilled. So I waited till John and Peter
should return.
But while I was still waiting and marvelling that they tarried so long,
there came in certain of the disciples; these were not Galileans, but
abode in Jerusalem, and they asked us whether we had seen aught that
night. We said “No.” Then said one of them to us, “Last night, in
returning from beholding that which came to pass at Golgotha, about two
hours after sunset, Miriam, my sister’s daughter, saw her father (who hath
now been buried these six weeks) risen from the grave and standing wrapped
in the grave‐clothes near her bed; moreover two other women of mine
acquaintance saw the bodies of their little children, fresh and blooming
as if they were verily alive; and another, a certain young man named
Mattathias (but he is not known to me), is said to have seen his brother,
who hath been buried more than a year, standing as if alive, so that he
even approached him and called him by name. And other wonderful sights
have appeared to very many.” And his companions confirmed all his words,
saying, “The like also we ourselves have heard.”
While we marvelled at their words, the two disciples, Peter and John, came
into the chamber. But they had seen nothing; only the stone rolled away,
even as the women had said, and the tomb void of the body. Then one of the
disciples brought again to our minds how that Jesus, even before his
death, had bidden us go into Galilee, saying that he would there manifest
himself unto us; and when we questioned Mary of Magdala, she constantly
affirmed that the voice of the angels was to the same effect. Therefore I
resolved that I would set forth that very day to go to Capernaum. For a
hope was now waxing strong within me that I should after all see Jesus
again. So I set out without delay, with certain other of the disciples;
howbeit the greater part would stay in Jerusalem yet a few days.