ARREST, TRIAL, AND CRUCIFIXION.
Anguish of Jesus.――His Prayers in the Garden.――The Arrest.――Peter’s
Recklessness.――Flight of the Apostles.――Jesus led to Annas;
to Caiaphas.――Jesus affirms that he is the Messiah.――Frivolous
Accusations.――Peter denies his Lord.――Jesus is conducted to
Pilate.――The Examination.――Scourging the Innocent.――Insults and
Mockery.――Rage of the Chief Priests and Scribes.――Embarrassment
of Pilate.――He surrenders Jesus to his Enemies.――The Crucifixion.
――The Resurrection.――Repeated Appearance to his Disciples.
JESUS having finished this prayer, the little band descended into the
Valley of Jehoshaphat, a deep and dark ravine, and, crossing the Brook
Kedron, entered the Garden of Gethsemane, a secluded spot, which Christ
often visited for retirement and prayer. Here Jesus seems to have been
overwhelmed in contemplating the mysterious sufferings he was about
to experience. The language used by the inspired writers indicates
the highest possible degree of mental agony. He “began to be sore
amazed and very heavy.” These words, in the original, express the most
excruciating anguish,――a torture which threatens to separate soul from
body, and which utterly overwhelms the sufferer. As though he could not
bear to be alone in that dreadful hour, he took with him Peter, James,
and John, and withdrew from the rest of the apostles, for a little
distance, into the silence and midnight gloom of the garden. He then
said to his three companions,――
“My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. Tarry ye here, and
watch with me.”
He then withdrew a little farther――“about a stone’s cast”――from them,
and fell upon his face, on the ground, and prayed, saying,――
“O my Father! if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.
Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.”
In answer to his prayer, an angel appeared unto him from heaven,
strengthening him. And yet, notwithstanding the support thus furnished,
the anguish of this dreadful hour in which he was about to bear the
mysterious burden of the world’s atonement was so terrible, that,
“being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat was as it
were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”[67]
After this scene of anguish and prayer, which probably occupied an hour,
he returned to his three disciples, and found them asleep. He gently
reproached them, saying to Peter, “Could ye not watch with me one hour?
Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is
willing; but the flesh is weak.”
Again he retired the second time, and the same scene of inexpressible
and unimaginable mental suffering was re-enacted. Jesus recoiled not
from the physical pain of the cross; never were buffeting, scourging,
crucifixion, borne more meekly, more uncomplainingly: but this agony
seems to have surpassed all mortal comprehension. It is recorded,――
“He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father!
if this cup may not pass away except I drink it, thy will be done.”
Returning, he found his friends once more asleep. It was late in the
night; and, worn out with anxiety and exhaustion, we are told that
“their eyes were heavy.” It is evident that Jesus, engaged in his
agonizing prayer, had been for some time absent from them. He did not
reproach them, and they had no excuse to offer.
“And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time,
saying the same words.” Then, returning, and finding them still asleep,
he said, perhaps a little reproachfully,――
“Sleep on now, and take your rest. Behold, the hour is at hand, and the
Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going.
Behold, he is at hand that doth betray me.”
While he was speaking these words, the light of torches was seen
approaching. Judas knew well where to find Jesus; for he had often
accompanied him to this retreat. He took with him a band of Roman
soldiers, and officers of the Sanhedrim, “with lanterns, torches, and
weapons.” As it was night, and Jesus, in the shades of the garden, was
accompanied by his twelve disciples, there was danger that he might
escape, and in the morning rally the people to his rescue. Also, in
the darkness, it would be difficult for the soldiers to discriminate
persons so as to know which of them to arrest. Judas, therefore, gave
them a sign, saying,――
“Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he. Take him, and hold him fast.”
The kiss was then the ordinary mode of salutation, like shaking of
hands now. Judas, followed by the band, approached his well-known Lord,
and said, “Hail, Master; and kissed him.” Jesus calmly replied,――
“Friend, wherefore art thou come? Betrayest thou the Son of man with a
kiss?”
Advancing towards the soldiers, he said to them, “Whom seek ye?”
They said, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus replied, “I am he.” There was
something in his address and bearing which so overawed them, that for
a moment they were powerless; and “they went backward, and fell to the
ground.”
“Then asked he them again, Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of
Nazareth. Jesus answered, I have told you that I am he. If, therefore,
ye seek me, let these go their way.”
Judas slunk away into the darkness, and the soldiers seized Jesus. The
impetuous Peter “drew a sword,” probably snatching it from one of the
soldiers, and “smote a servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear.”
Jesus reproved him, saying,――
“Put up again thy sword into his place; for all they that take the
sword shall perish with the sword. Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray
to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions
of angels? But how, then, shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus
it must be?”
Turning to the wounded servant, he said to him, “Suffer ye thus far;”
and, touching his ear, he healed him. Then, addressing the soldiers, he
said,――
“Are ye come out as against a thief, with swords and staves, to take
me? I was daily with you in the temple, and ye took me not; but the
scriptures must be fulfilled. This is your hour and the power of
darkness.”
It seems incomprehensible, that, under these circumstances, the
apostles could have been so terror-stricken, as, with one accord, to
have abandoned Jesus, and fled; but they all did it,――the valiant Peter
with the rest. Jesus, thus utterly forsaken, was left alone with his
enemies.
The soldiers bound Jesus, and conducted him back into the city, and
led him to the house of Annas. He had formerly been high priest. His
son-in-law Caiaphas now occupied that office. Annas was a man of great
influence, and it was important to obtain his sanction in the lawless
enterprise in which the Jewish rulers were now engaged. It seems that
Annas was not disposed to incur the responsibility of these deeds of
violence; and Jesus was led to the house of Caiaphas. Of the dispersed
apostles, two of them (Peter, and probably John) followed the guard at
a distance, furtively creeping beneath the shadows of the trees and the
houses. Though it was still night, a meeting of the Sanhedrim, but an
illegal one, had been convened in the palace of Caiaphas. Twenty-three
members constituted a court. Caiaphas presided. Jesus was led into the
hall before them for a preliminary examination.
By this time there was probably some considerable tumult, and the
gradual gathering of a crowd. Peter and the other apostle cautiously
approached the palace, and obtained admission to watch the proceedings,
without making themselves known as the followers of Jesus. Peter sat
with the servants, who had gathered around the fire which had been
kindled in the great hall.
The high priest inquired of Jesus respecting the number of his
followers, and the sentiments he had inculcated. Jesus replied,――
“I spake openly to the world. I ever taught in the synagogue and in the
temple, whither the Jews always resort. In secret have I said nothing.
Why askest thou me? Ask them which heard me: behold, they know what I
said.”
This reply, though perfectly respectful, so exasperated one of the
attending officers, that he struck Jesus in the face with the palm of
his hand. To this Jesus meekly replied, “If I have spoken evil, bear
witness of the evil; but if well, why smitest thou me?”
False witnesses had been bribed to testify against Jesus; but they
contradicted each other, and could bring forward no charge against him
worthy of serious consideration. At last they brought forth the silly
accusation, “We heard him say, I am able to destroy the temple of God,
and to build it in three days.”
Jesus did not condescend any reply to such frivolous charges, but
maintained perfect silence. Caiaphas said to him, “Answerest thou
nothing? What is it which these witness against thee?” Still Jesus was
silent. The charges brought against him were sufficiently preposterous,
without any defence on his part. Caiaphas was not a little perplexed,
and in his perplexity said,――
“I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the
Christ, the Son of God.”
Jesus replied, “I am; and hereafter ye shall see the Son of man sitting
on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.”
Caiaphas affected to be shocked. He rent his clothes, saying, “What
need we any further witnesses? Ye have heard the blasphemy. What think
ye? And they all condemned him to be guilty of death.”
While this cruel farce was being enacted, Peter sat warming himself by
the fire, not far from Jesus, conversing occasionally with the servants.
One of the maid-servants looked upon him, and said, “Thou also wast
with Jesus of Nazareth.” Peter replied, “Woman, I know him not.” Soon
after, a man-servant reiterated the charge, saying, “Thou art also
of them.” Peter again replied, “Man, I am not.” About an hour after,
several who stood by said, “Surely thou art one of them; for thou art
a Galilean, and thy speech bewrayeth thee. But he began to curse and to
swear, saying, I know not this man of whom ye speak.”
Just at that moment, the clear crowing of a cock was heard once and
again. Jesus, who had overheard all this conversation, turned round,
and simply looked at Peter. That sad and sorrowing glance pierced
like a two-edged sword. The prophetic words of Jesus rang in his ears:
“Before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice.” The wretched
man “went out and wept bitterly.”
A scene of awful insult and suffering now ensued, such as perhaps never
before or since has been witnessed in a nominal court of justice. They
spat in his face; they beat him with their clinched fists and with the
palms of their hands; they mocked him, saying, “Prophesy unto us, thou
Christ, Who is he that smote thee?” Even the servants joined in the
general outrage of derision and violence.
The morning had now dawned. The chief priests and elders took counsel
how they might put Jesus to death. This could not be done without the
consent of the Roman governor. They therefore bound him again, and led
him to Pontius Pilate, a cruel despot, who was then Roman governor of
Judæa. Early as it was, quite a crowd followed as Jesus was led from
the hall of Caiaphas to the judgment-seat of Pilate.
In the mean time, the miserable Judas Iscariot, overwhelmed with
remorse, threw away his thirty pieces of silver, and went and hanged
himself. Pilate met the Jews with their victim as they approached the
judgment-hall, and inquired, “What accusation bring ye against this
man?” They replied, “If he were not a malefactor, we would not have
delivered him up unto thee.” Pilate replied, “Take him and judge him
according to your law.” They, thirsting for his blood, answered, “It
is not lawful for us to put any man to death.” Pilate then addressed
himself to Jesus, and inquired, “Art thou King of the Jews?” Jesus
replied by asking the question,――
“Sayest thou this of thyself? or did others tell it thee of me?”
Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests
have delivered thee unto me. What hast thou done?”
Jesus replied, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were
of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be
delivered to the Jews; but now is my kingdom not from hence.”
Pilate rejoined, “Art thou a king, then?”
Jesus said, “Thou sayest” (i.e., it is so) “I am a king. To this end
was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should
bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth
my voice.”
Pilate, having carelessly inquired “What is truth?” without waiting
for any answer, turned to the Jews, and said, “I find in him no fault
at all. But ye have a custom that I should release unto you one at the
passover: will ye, therefore, that I release unto you the King of the
Jews?”
There was then in prison a noted robber and murderer by the name of
Barabbas. With one accord these Jewish rulers cried out, “Not this man,
but Barabbas!”
Then Pilate, though he had already declared Jesus to be innocent,
infamously ordered him to be scourged, that he might conciliate the
favor of the Jews. It pales one’s cheek to think what it was to be
scourged by the sinewy arms of the Roman soldiery.[68] After Jesus had
undergone this terrible infliction without the utterance of a word,
while fainting with anguish and the loss of blood, the ribald soldiers
platted a crown of thorns, and forced it upon his brow, piercing the
flesh with its sharp points, and crimsoning his cheeks with blood.
A purple robe they threw over his shoulders, and placed a reed, in
mockery of a sceptre, in his hand: derisively they shouted, “Hail, King
of the Jews!” while they smote him with their hands.
The infamous Pilate led Jesus forth thus, exhausted, bleeding, and held
up to derision, to the Jews, saying at the same time, “Behold, I bring
him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him.”
But the rulers, clamorous for his blood, not satisfied with even
this aspect of misery, cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate,
wicked as he was, recoiled from the thought of putting one so entirely
innocent to death. He therefore said impatiently and sarcastically,
“Take ye him, and crucify him; for I find no fault in him.” This he
said, knowing that the Jews had no legal power to do this. But they
replied, “We have a law; and by our law he ought to die, because he
made himself the Son of God.”
Pilate was greatly troubled. The bearing of Jesus had deeply impressed
him. He was fearful that there might be something divine in his
character and mission. Turning to Jesus, he said, “Whence art thou?”
(i.e., “What is thy origin and parentage?”) Jesus made no reply. Pilate
then added,――
“Speakest thou not unto me? Knowest thou not that I have power to
crucify thee, and power to release thee?”
Jesus replied, “Thou couldst have no power at all except it were given
thee from above. Therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the
greater sin.”[69]
Pilate was now really desirous of liberating Jesus; but being a
weak and wavering man, totally deficient in moral courage, he knew
not how to resist the clamors of the Jews. They endeavored to goad him
to gratify them by the menace, “If thou let this man go, thou art not
Cæsar’s friend. Whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Cæsar.”
Pilate was not on very good terms with the imperial government. He
knew that any report that he was unfaithful to Cæsar might cost him
his office.
Pilate still persisted, “I find no fault in this man. And they were
more fierce, saying, He stirreth up the people, teaching throughout
all Jewry, beginning from Galilee to this place.” Pilate caught at
this allusion to Galilee, and hoped that there was a new chance to
extricate himself from his difficulties. As a Galilean, Jesus belonged
to Herod’s jurisdiction; and it so chanced that Herod was at that time
in Jerusalem. He therefore sent him under a guard to Herod. A band of
chief priests and scribes accompanied the prisoner to this new tribunal,
and vehemently accused him. Herod, with his men at war, set him at
nought, and mocked him, and arrayed him in a gorgeous robe, and sent
him again to Pilate. It was now about twelve o’clock at noon. Pilate
presented Jesus to the Jews, saying scornfully, “Behold your King!”
A scene of tumult and clamor ensued, the rulers crying out, “Crucify
him, crucify him!” Then Pilate said, “Ye have brought this man unto
me as one that perverteth the people; and behold, I, having examined
him before you, have found no fault in this man touching those things
whereof ye accuse him: no, nor yet Herod; for I sent you to him; and,
lo, nothing worthy of death is done unto him. I will therefore chastise
him and release him.”[70]
Still the clamor rose, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate was seriously
troubled. While these scenes had been transpiring, his wife had sent a
messenger to him, saying,――
“Have thou nothing to do with that just man; for I have suffered many
things this day in a dream because of him.”
But Pilate had force of character only in wickedness. In violation of
every dictate of his judgment, he surrendered Jesus to his foes. “When
Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was
made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying,
I am innocent of the blood of this just person. See ye to it.”
The Jews replied, “His blood be on us and on our children.” Pilate
then, having released Barabbas, again ordered Jesus to be scourged, and
delivered him to the Jews to be crucified. The soldiers led Jesus into
the common hall of the palace, and summoned all their comrades to take
part in the awful tragedy in which they were engaged.
First they stripped Jesus, then put on him a scarlet robe, placed a
crown of thorns upon his head, put a reed in his hand, and bowed the
knee before him, and derisively exclaimed, “Hail, King of the Jews!”
At length, weary of the mockery, they took off his imperial robes,
clothed him again in his own garments, spat upon him, smote him on the
head with the reed, and led him away to crucify him. A heavy wooden
cross was placed upon the shoulders of Jesus, which he was to bear
outside of the walls of the city, where it was to be planted, and
he was to be nailed to it. Exhausted by the sufferings which he had
already endured, he soon sank fainting beneath the load. The soldiers
met a stranger from Cyrene, and compelled him to bear the cross. Thus
they proceeded, followed by an immense crowd of people, men and women,
many of the women weeping bitterly. Jesus turned to them, and said,――
“Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves
and for your children. For, behold, the days are coming in which they
shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and
the paps which never gave suck. Then shall they begin to say to the
mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us. For, if they do
these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry.”[71]
They came to a small eminence, a short distance from the city, and
beyond its walls, which was called Mount Calvary, sometimes Golgotha.
The place of the execution of Jesus is not now known. He was nailed by
his hands and his feet to the cross, and the cross was planted in the
ground. By his side two thieves suffered the same punishment. Jesus, as
in this hour of terrible agony he looked down from the cross upon his
foes, was heard to breathe the prayer, “Father, forgive them; for they
know not what they do.”
Pilate wrote the inscription, “JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE
JEWS.” This, in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, was nailed over the cross.
The Jews wished to have it changed to “_He said_ I am the King of the
Jews;” but Pilate refused to make the alteration. Of the two thieves
who were crucified with Jesus, one was obdurate. Even in that hour
of suffering and death he could revile Jesus, saying, “If thou be
the Christ, save thyself and us.” The other, in the spirit of true
penitence, rebuked the companion of his crimes, saying,――
“Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And
we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this
man hath done nothing amiss.” Then, turning his eyes to Jesus, he said,
“Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.”
Jesus replied, “Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in
paradise.”
As Jesus hung upon the cross, his sufferings excited no pity on the
part of his foes. They reviled him, saying, “If thou be the Son of God,
come down from the cross. He saved others: himself he cannot save. He
trusted in God: let him deliver him now, if he will have him; for he
said, I am the Son of God.”
The mother of Jesus, and two other women who had been his devoted
friends, and the apostle John, stood by the side of the cross. Jesus,
addressing his mother, and then turning his eyes to John, said, “Woman,
behold thy son!” To John he said, “Behold thy mother!” From that hour
John took Mary to his home.
There now came supernatural darkness over the whole land, which
continued until about three o’clock. Jesus, being then in his dying
agonies, exclaimed with a loud voice, “My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me?” and then he added, “I thirst.” Some one, probably kindly
disposed, ran, and, filling a sponge with vinegar, raised it upon a
reed to the lips of the sufferer. Jesus, simply tasting of it, said,
“It is finished!” and with a loud voice exclaimed, “Father, into thy
hands I commend my spirit!” and died.
At that moment, the massive veil of the temple in Jerusalem, which
concealed the holy of holies, was rent in twain from the top to the
bottom. There was an earthquake rending the solid rocks. Many graves
were burst open, and the bodies of the saints which slumbered in them
came forth to life, “and went into the holy city, and appeared unto
many.”
These startling phenomena greatly alarmed the crowd which was gathered
around the cross. “Truly,” many of them exclaimed, “this was the Son of
God.” It was Friday afternoon. At the going-down of the sun, the Jewish
sabbath would commence. Being the sabbath of the commencement of the
paschal feast, it was a day of unusual solemnity. The Jews, unwilling
that the bodies should remain upon the cross over the sabbath, applied
to Pilate to hasten the lingering death of the crucified by breaking
their legs. The brutal Roman soldiers did this brutally to the two men
who were crucified with Jesus. But when they came to Jesus, and found
that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the
soldiers, to make it certain that life was extinct, thrust his spear
deeply into his side. The outflow of blood and water indicated that the
spear had pierced both the pericardium and the heart.
It is recorded that these things were done that the scripture might
be fulfilled, “A bone of him shall not be broken;” and, “They shall
look on him whom they pierced.” Thus, also, the executioners of Jesus
divided his garments among themselves, and drew lots for his seamless
coat; “that the scripture might be fulfilled which saith, They parted
my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots.”
The evening drew nigh. One of the disciples of Jesus, a wealthy man by
the name of Joseph, from Arimathea, being a man of high position, went
to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Pilate, marvelling that he was
so soon dead, granted his request. Nicodemus also, the timid man who
visited Jesus by night, and once during his career ventured to speak
a cautious word in his favor, now came by night, with a hundred-pound
weight of myrrh and aloes, to embalm the dead body of one whom he had
not the moral courage to confess when that living one was struggling
against his foes.
Joseph took the body of Jesus from the cross, wrapped it in a linen
robe, and deposited it in a newly-constructed tomb of his own which
he had hewn out of a solid rock. The door of the tomb was closed
by a heavy stone. Several women, the friends of Jesus, followed his
remains to the sepulchre. This was Friday, called the “preparation-day,”
because, on that day, the Jews prepared for the solemn rest of the
sabbath.
The next morning, the morning of the sabbath, the chief priests and
Pharisees, remembering that Jesus had declared that he would rise again
on the third day, held a council, and called upon Pilate, requesting
him to appoint a sure guard at the tomb until after the third day,
“lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto
the people, He is risen from the dead.”[72]
Pilate authorized them to make the watch as sure as they could,
employing a guard of Roman soldiers which had been placed at the
command of the Jewish rulers. A detachment of these soldiers was
marched to the tomb to guard it, and in some way sealing the stone
at the door with the public signet of the Sanhedrim. Thus every thing
was done which caution could suggest to prevent any deceit; and these
precautions established beyond all possibility of doubt the reality of
the resurrection.
The night of Friday, the sabbath, and the night succeeding the sabbath,
passed in quiet. Early in the morning of the third day (which was the
first day of the week), “at the rising of the sun,” Mary Magdalene,
and another Mary, the mother of James, came to the sepulchre. As they
approached the closed door, there was a violent earthquake, which
rolled back the stone which had closed the entrance. An angel, radiant
with exceeding beauty and clothed in celestial robes, sat upon the
stone. The guard fainted in excessive terror. The angel addressed the
women, saying,――
“Fear not ye; for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He
is not here; for he is risen, as he said. Come see the place where the
Lord lay.”[73]
Entering the sepulchre, they saw an angel, in the form of a young man,
sitting on the right side, also clothed in the white robe which is the
emblematic garment of heaven. The angel repeated the declaration which
had just been made by his companion, and added,――
“Go your way; tell his disciples and Peter[74] that he is risen from
the dead. And, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye
see him. Lo, I have told you.”
Greatly agitated and overjoyed, they ran to communicate the glad
tidings to the disciples. On their way, Jesus met them, and greeted
them with the words, “All hail!” “And they came and held him by the
feet, and worshipped him. Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid:
go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they
see me.”
Some of the guard also, as they recovered from their swoon, hastened
into the city to report to the chief priests what had transpired.
Alarmed by these tidings, they held a council, and bribed the soldiers
to say that they all fell asleep in the night; and, while they slept,
the disciples of Jesus came and stole the body. This was the best story
they could fabricate; though it was obvious, that, if they were asleep,
they could not know that the disciples had stolen the body. Moreover,
it was death for a Roman soldier to be found sleeping at his post. The
rulers, however, promised that they would intercede with Pilate, and
secure them from harm.
The women hastened to the residence of John, who had taken home with
him the mother of Jesus. There they met him and Peter, and informed
them of what had happened. The two disciples immediately started upon
the run for the sepulchre. John reached the sepulchre first, and,
looking in, saw the tomb to be empty, and the grave-clothes of Jesus
lying in a corner. He, however, did not venture in. The impetuous Peter
soon arrived, and immediately entered the tomb. John followed after
him. The body of Jesus was gone: the grave-clothes alone remained.
Thoughtfully they returned to their home.
Mary Magdalene had probably accompanied John and Peter to the tomb; and,
after they had left, she remained near the door, weeping. As she wept,
she looked into the sepulchre, and saw “two angels in white, sitting,
the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus
had lain.” One of the angels said to her, “Woman, why weepest thou?”
She replied, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not
where they have laid him.” It seems that she still thought that the
enemies of Jesus had taken away his remains.
As she said this, she turned around, and saw a man standing at her
side. It was Jesus; but she knew him not. Jesus said to her, “Woman,
why weepest thou? whom seekest thou?” She, supposing him to be the
gardener, replied, “Sir, if thou hast borne him hence, tell me where
thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her
(probably then assuming his well-known voice), “Mary!” Instantly she
recognized him, and, astonished and overjoyed, could only exclaim,
“Master!” Jesus added,――
“Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my
brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father,
and to my God and your God.”
Then probably he disappeared. Mary went into the city, and informed
the bewildered and weeping disciples of what she had seen; “and
they, when they had heard that he was alive and had been seen of her,
believed not.”
At a later hour of that same day, two of the disciples went to the
village of Emmaus, about six or seven miles west from Jerusalem. As
they walked along, they were conversing about the wonderful events
which were transpiring. While thus engaged in conversation, Jesus
joined them, but in a form which they did not recognize.
“What manner of communications are these,” said he, “that ye have one
to another, as ye walk, and are sad?”
One of the disciples, whose name was Cleopas, replied, “Art thou only a
stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to
pass there in these days?”
“What things?” inquired Jesus.
“Concerning Jesus of Nazareth,” was the answer, “which was a prophet
mighty in deed and word before God and all the people; and how the
chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death,
and have crucified him. But we trusted that it had been he which
should have redeemed Israel. And, besides all this, to-day is the third
day since these things were done. Yea, and certain women also of our
company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre; and,
when they found not his body, they came, saying that they had also seen
a vision of angels, which said that he was alive. And certain of them
which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the
women had said; but him they saw not.”
Jesus replied, “O fools,[75] and slow of heart to believe all that the
prophets have spoken! Ought not Christ to have suffered these things,
and to enter into his glory?
“And, beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them
in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. And they drew nigh
unto the village whither they went; and he made as though he would have
gone farther: but they constrained him, saying, Abide with us; for it
is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry
with them. And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took
bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. And their eyes were
opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.”[76]
Greatly excited by this event, the two disciples hastened back
that same evening to Jerusalem, where they found the eleven apostles
assembled together. In the mean time, Jesus had appeared to Peter; but
when, and under what circumstances, this happened, is not recorded.[77]
The brethren from Emmaus told the eleven apostles how Jesus had
revealed himself to them in the breaking of bread. The apostles were in
a room, with the door closed, from fear of the Jews. As the disciples
were giving their narrative, suddenly “Jesus himself stood in the
midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. But they were
terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.
And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts[78]
arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself:
handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see
me have.
“And, when he had thus spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet.
And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto
them, Have ye any meat? And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish,
and of a honeycomb; and he took it, and did eat before them. Then Jesus
said to them again,――
“Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And,
when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said, Receive ye the
Holy Ghost. Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them;
and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.”[79]
After Jesus had retired, Thomas, who had been absent for the few
moments when Jesus was present, came in, and upon being told by the
apostles, “We have seen the Lord,” replied in despondency and grief,――
“Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my
finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side,
I will not believe.”
The week passed away, and the first day of another week came. The
eleven apostles were again assembled together. Thomas was with them. As
they sat at meat, the doors being shut, Jesus came, and said, “Peace be
unto you.” Then, turning to Thomas, he said, “Reach hither thy finger,
and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my
side; and be not faithless, but believing.”
Thomas replied, “My Lord and my God!”
Jesus rejoined, “Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed:
blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”
Again Jesus disappeared. John writes, “Many other signs truly did
Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this
book.”[80]
The apostles now, in a body, “went away into Galilee, into a
mountain where Jesus had appointed them.” This was probably the Mount
of Transfiguration. Very brief is the record of what ensued, which is
given by Matthew alone: “And, when they saw him, they worshipped him;
but some doubted. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying,――
“All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye, therefore,
and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things
whatsoever I have commanded you. And, lo, I am with you alway, even
unto the end of the world.”[81]
Soon after this, Jesus revealed himself to several of his disciples at
the Sea of Tiberias, under the following circumstances:――
“There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and
Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other
of his disciples. Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a-fishing. They
say unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth, and entered into
a ship immediately; and that night they caught nothing.
“But, when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore; but
the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Then Jesus saith unto them,
Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No. And he saith unto
them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find.
They cast, therefore; and now they were not able to draw it for the
multitude of fishes. Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith
unto Peter, It is the Lord.
“Now, when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his
fisher’s coat unto him, and did cast himself into the sea. And the
other disciples came in a little ship (for they were not far from land,
but, as it were, two hundred cubits[82]). As soon, then, as they were
come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon,
and bread. Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now
caught. Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great
fishes,――a hundred and fifty and three; and for all there were so many,
yet was not the net broken. Jesus saith to them, Come and dine. And
none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was
the Lord. Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth them, and
fish likewise. This is now the third time[83] that Jesus showed himself
to his disciples after he was risen from the dead.
“So, when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of
Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?[84] He saith unto him, Yea, Lord:
thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. He
saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou
me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord: thou knowest that I love thee. He
saith unto him, Feed my sheep. He saith unto him the third time, Simon,
son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto
him the third time, Lovest thou me; and he said unto him, Lord, thou
knowest all things: thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him,
Feed my sheep.”
Jesus then added, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast
young, thou girdedst thyself, and walked whither thou wouldest; but,
when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another
shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.”
“This,” says John, “spake he, signifying by what death he should
glorify God. And, when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me.
Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved [John]
following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord,
which is he that betrayeth thee? Peter, seeing him, saith to Jesus,
Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will that
he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me.”
John adds, “Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that
disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die;
but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?”[85]
At the conclusion of this interview, of which we have so brief a
recital, Jesus said, “These are the words which I spake unto you
while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were
written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms,
concerning me. Then,” writes Luke, “opened he their understanding that
they might understand the scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is
written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the
dead the third day; and that repentance and remission of sins should
be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And
ye are witnesses of these things. And, behold, I send the promise of
my Father upon you; but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be
endued with power from on high.”[86]
Paul testifies, that, after this, Jesus “was seen of above five hundred
brethren at once.” But we have no record of that interview, or of one
which he mentions with James alone.
We have but a brief account of the last and most sublime of all these
interviews. Jesus met the eleven in Jerusalem. Their prejudices so
tenaciously clung to them, that they again asked, “Lord, wilt thou at
this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” Jesus replied, “It is
not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put
in his own power; but ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost
is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem
and in Judæa and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
Going out from Jerusalem, they walked together over the Mount of Olives
on the road to Bethany. When near the summit of that sublime swell of
land which had ever been one of his favorite places of resort, Jesus
stopped on the greensward, at a point where one could obtain an almost
unbroken view of the horizon and of the overarching skies, and, raising
his hands, pronounced a final earthly blessing upon his apostles.
Then he began slowly to ascend into the air. As he rose higher and
higher, they all gazed upward upon him in silent amazement. At length,
far away in the distance, a dim cloud appeared, perhaps a cloud of
clustering angels, which received him out of their sight. As the
apostles stood lost in wonder, still gazing into the skies, two angels,
clothed in heaven’s “white apparel,” stood by them. One of them said,――
“Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus,
which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as
ye have seen him go into heaven.”
The apostles returned to Jerusalem, there to await “the baptism of the
Holy Ghost.”