The Resurrection

Ghe Jews obtained leave to seal the sepulchre and to set a guard about it, but let us nevertheless visit this tomb where lay buried a King, a Conqueror, an Emancipator, a Friend, a Brother, a Christ, to see how the body was prepared and deposited. Monarch of the universe, but bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh, and sorrow of our sorrow, and heart of our heart. “Come see the place where the Lord lay.”

It has for surroundings a manor in the suburbs of Jerusalem — a manor owned by a wealthy gentleman by the name of Joseph. He was one of the court of seventy who had condemned Christ, but I think he abstained from voting, or, being a timid man, was absent at the time of the casting of the votes. He had laid out the parterre at great expense. It was a hot climate, and I suppose there were broad-branched trees and winding paths underneath them, while here the waters rippled over the rock into a fishpool, and yonder the vines and the flowers clambered over the wall, and all around there were the beauties of kiosk and arboriculture. After the fatigues of the Jerusalem court room, how refreshing to come out in these suburbs botanical and pomological.

I walk a little farther on in the parterre and I come across a cluster of rocks, and I see on them the marks of a sculptor’s chisel. I come still closer and I find that there is a subterranean recess, and I walk down the marble stairs, and come to a portico, over the doorway an architecture of fruits and flowers chiseled by the hand of the sculptor. I go into the portico, and on either side there are rooms, two, or four, or six rooms of rock; in the walls, niches, each niche large enough to hold a dead body. One of these rooms of rock is especially wealthy with sculpture. It is a beautiful and a charming spot. Why all this? The fact was that Joseph, the owner of that parterre, of that wealthy manor, had recognized the fact that ho could not always walk these gardens, and he sought this as his own last resting-place. What a beautiful spot in which to wait for the resurrection.

Mark well the mausoleum in the rock. It is to be the most celebrated tomb in all the ages; Catacombs of Egypt, tomb of Napoleon, Mahal Taj of India, nothing compared with it. Christ had just been murdered, a;id His body must be thrown out to the dogs and the ravens, as was customary with crucified bodies, unless there be prompt and effective hinderance. Joseph, the owner of the mausoleum, begs for the body of Christ, and he takes and washes the poor and mutilated frame from the blood and the dust, and shrouds it and perfumes

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it. I think embalmment was omitted. When in olden times they wished to embalm a dead body, the priest with some pretension of medical skill would show the point between the ribs where the incision was to be made. Then«the operator would come and make the incision, and then run for his life else he would be slain for violating the dead body. Then the other priests would come with salt of nitre and cassia, and wine of palm tree, and complete the embalmment. But I think in this case embalmment was omitted, lest there be more excitement and another riot.

The Entombment of Jesus.

The funeral advances. Present: Jo.seph, the owner of the mausoleum; Nicodemus, who brought the flowers; and the two Marys. Heavy burden on the shoulders of two men as they carry the body of Christ down the marble stairs and into the portico, and lift the dead weight to the level of the niche in the rock, and push the body of Christ into the only pleasant resting-place it ever had. These men, coming forth, close the door of rock against the recess. The government, afraid that the disciples will steal the body of Christ and play resurrection, put upon the door the seal of the Sanhedrim; the violation of that seal, like the violation of the seal of the United States Government, or of the British Government, was always followed with severe penalties.

A regiment of soldiers from the Tower of Antonia is detailed to guard that mausoleum. At the door of that tomb, a fight took place w’hich decided the question for all graveyards and cemeteries. Sword of lightning against sword of steel. Angel of God against the military. The body in the cr>’pt begins to move in its shroud of fine linen and slides down upon the pavement, moves through the portico, appears in the doorway comes up the marble steps. Christ, having left his mortuary attire behind Him, comes forth in the garb of a workman.

There and then was shattered the tomb, so that it can never be rebuilt. All

the trowels of earthly masonry cannot mend it. Forever and forever it is a broken

tomb. Death that day, taking the side of the militar>% received a horrible cut

under the angel’s spear of flame, and must himself go down at the last — the King

of Terrors disappearing before the King of Grace. “The Lord is risen.” Hosanna! Hosanna!

Christ Appears to Mary.

But while we have been looking at the tomb, lo, the morning breaks, the gray of approaching day begins to creep up the horizon, followed by a train of empurpled light. The guards have beaten a precipitate retreat before the flaming presence of an angel that has broken the seal and rolled away the rock that served as a door to the sepulchre. And, now, through the shadows of the early morning, we see several figures gliding softly, stealthily, towards the tomb, and as they come nearer, we di.scover them to be female friends of the dead Lord, women who had spent the night preparing spices with which to anoint and perfume the body. Among them we are able to identify Mary Magdalene, out of whom Jesus had cast seven devils, and Mary, the mother of James, and Salome, and Joanna.

We see them come to the tomb, and mark their astonishment at beholding the stone displaced, and witness their grief following the belief that the body of their Lord has been stolen by the Jews.

Mary Magdalene, having preceded the others, and being first to discover that the tomb was open, ran in haste back to the city to notify Peter and John, but her companions, being curious to know what had been done, passed into the sepulchre. They were rewarded for their hopeful inquisitiveness by the sight of two angels in robes of brightness, standing by them. The mysterious presences greatly alarmed them, and they bowed down in their fear; but one of the angels quieted their alarm by saying,” Fear not ye; for I know that ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified. Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here; but is risen. Come, see the place where the Lord lay, and go quickly and tell His disciples.”

The women hurried away, with feelings strongly mingled with fear and gladness. But Mary had so long preceded them that she first found Peter and John, and in tears told them that the Jews had stolen the body, and that she knew not where they had secreted it. All was excitement in that house, for Peter and John, and Mary, the Lord’s mother, were now living together, and they were all alike moved with anxiety. In another moment the two disciples were running towards the tomb. John, being the younger, outstripped Peter, but when he came to the sepulchre he was afraid to enter at once, so that the impetuous. and fearless Peter rushed immediately in, and was directly afterwards followed by John. They found the tomb empty, as Mary had told them, but there still lay before them all the grave clothes in which the body of Jesus had been bound; the cloth that was wrapped about the face being rolled up and deposited in one place, and the linen used in covering the body and limbs laid in another place. Now were the spirits of the disciples indeed depressed, for they had no doubt that the Jews had stolen the body and hidden it in a place where the friends were least likely tO’ discover it. But while the two were sorrowfully discussing the events which had seemed to terminate so disastrously, Mary Magdalene returned, her intense grief making it impossible for her to remain away from the spot where the remains of her Lord had last been deposited. She stopped at the open door of the sepulchre and fell to weeping, but still hoping that there might be a mistake, or that she might yet discover something that would help her to find the body, she at length looked into the tomb and beheld to her joy two angel’s in robes of dazzling brightness, one sitting where the feet and the other where the head of Jesus had lain. One of the angels addressed her, saying, “Woman, why weepest thou?”

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to which she tearfully answered, “Because they have taken away my Eord, and I know not where they have laid Him.”

Christ Reveals Himself to Mary.

What effect the angel’s speech had on Mary we know not, but she turned sorrowfully around and met a person in gardener’s apparel as if he had come forth at that early hour to water the flowers or uproot the weeds from the garden, or set to reclimbing the fallen vine — some one in working apparel, his garments perhaps having the sign of the dust and the dirt of the occupation.

Mary Magdalene, on her face the rain of a fresh shower of weeping, turns to this workman, and charges him with the desecration of the tomb, when, lo! the stranger responds, flinging His whole soul into one word which trembles with all the sweetest rhythm of earth and heaven, saying, “Mary! “In that peculiarity of accentuation all the incognito fell off”, and she found that instead of talking with an humble gardener of Asia Minor she was talking with Him who owns all the hanging gardens of heaven, constellations the clusters of forget-me-nots, the sunflower the chief of all, the morning sky and midnight aurora, flaring terraces of beauty, blazing like a summer wall with coronation roses and giants of battle. Blessed and glorious mistake of Mary Magdalene!

Mary would have embraced His feet in her joyful discovery, but Jesus lovingly repelled her, saying,” Touch Me not, I am not yet ascended to ‘My Father.” Mary must have sped on nimble feet to apprise the other women and the disciples, who perhaps were near by, but as they turned back Jesus met them with the gracious salutation, “All hail.” In worshipful reverence they fell at His feet and did Him the greatest reverence, to which loving demonstration He said, ‘Be not afraid; go tell My brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see Me.”

The women went back with all haste to the city to tell such of the disciples as they could find, the glorious news that Christ was indeed risen, but it appears that however earnestly they related the glad fact, and however persistently and minutely they described His appearance, none of the disciples could be made to believe the story; they thought that there was some deception, or exaggeration or unfathomable motive. Peter had been to the tomb and he had neither seen an angel nor his risen lyord, and John, whom Jesus so loved, had been no more fortunate. The people would therefore wait for other evidence before believing.

But the report of Christ’s resurrection spread with great rapidity through Jerusalem, and with such general inclination to believe that it might be true that the priests felt the importance of taking measures to stop its further circulation and to follow the declaration with equally swift denial. The soldiers set to watch the sepulchre had made report to the rabbis of the vision which they had beheld,

JKSUS APPEARING TO MARY IN THE GAkDKN. — Drawn by Plockhorst.

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and this made the high-priests all the more anxious. They accordingly sent for the watch and by the payment of bribes induced them to declare that while they were sleeping the disciples came and stole the body. And this is the explanation of the lyord’s disappearing from the tomb which the Jews continue to give.

Christ on the Road to Emmaus.

The next appearance of Christ was to Peter, but the circumstance of the meeting is not recorded. Soon after He revealed Himself under singular conditions to two other disciples, one of whom was Cleophas, who having no longer occasion to remain in Jerusalem, had left the city and started on their way to Emmaus, which was a small village about eight .miles northwest of Jerusalem. Their journey was a sad one. Jesus, who had been their admiration and their joy, had been basely massacred, and entombed. As with sad faces and broken hearts they passed on their way, a Stranger accosted them, who becoming a familiar and pleasant companion, they told to Him their anxieties and bitterness of soul. He in turn talked to them, mightily expounding the Scriptures. He threw over them the fascination of intelligent conversation. They forgot the time and noticed not the objects they passed, and before they were aware came up in front of their house. They paused before the entrance, and attempted to persuade the Stranger to tarry with them. They pressed upon Him their hospitalities. Night was coming on and He might meet a prowling wild beast or be obliged to lie unsheltered from the dew. He could not go much further now. Why not stop there, and continue their pleasant conversation? They took Him by the arm and insisted upon His coming in, addressing Him in the words: “Abide with us, for it is toward evening.” The lamps were lighted, the table was spread, socialities were enkindled. They rejoiced in the presence of the Stranger guest. He asked a blessing upon the bread they ate, and then handed a piece of it to each. Suddenly and with overwhelming power the thought flashed upon the astounded people — It is the I,ord! And as they sat in breathless wonder, looking upon the resurrected body of Jesus, He vanished. The interview ended. He was gone. But they knew that their Guest was the risen Lord.

Jesus Appears to the Eleven.

With joyful steps the two disciples returned with all possible haste to Jerusalem, where they found the other disciples gathered and discussing a report which Peter had just made them of having seen Jesus. To this glad news the two added their testimony and related all the circumstances of their meeting, and their lengthy conversation with Him, yet, for some reason, while the disciples believed Peter they doubted Cleophas and his companion; but while they were thus talking and partaking of the evening meal, Jesus suddenly appeared in their midst, and hailed them with the fraternaUsalutatioii, “Peace be unto you.” But instead of recognizing Him, they were terrified at the belief that their Visitor was a spirit. Jesus thereupon upbraided them for their unbelief, and baring His hands and feet He bade them look ujion His wounds, and the scars that were upon Him but they- still doubted. They could not understand. They had seen Him p e r f o r m miracles and wonders, but the miracle of His appearing was to them a transcending of the raising of the widow’s son, and of Jairus’s daughter and of Lazarus.

To further establish His identity to
their weak understanding Jesus called
for meat, and when
the disciples gave
Him a piece of broiled
fish and some honey,
He ate before them,
and then repeated U
them the instruction
and prophecies which
He had given them
at the last Passover
feast, and He breathed
on them, saying,
“Receive ye tin
Holy Ghost.” Before this evidence
their eyes were

opened to the truth, and they believed. But Thomas was not among the disciples when Jesus met them at supper, and when they told him of having seen the Lord and of having eaten and conversed at length with Him, he boldly told them that he did not believe, nor would he believe Christ was risen unless he should see in

His hands the prints of the nails, and put his finger into the wounds, and thrust his hand into the pierced side.

Eight days later the disciples were again together and Thomas with them, when; as before, Jesus suddenly appeared, saying, “Peace be unto you.” Fixing His eyes on Thomas, Jesus said to him,” 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.” The challenge was too much for Thomas, the loving words melted his heart, he saw, he believed, and with signs of worshipful devotion and bursting joy he cried out,” My Lord and My God. “” Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed,” answered Jesus.

Jesus in Galilee.’

As Jesus had instructed, the eleven disciples left Jerusalem and went into Galilee to the coast towns of Gennesaret, where several of the first disciples lived, ‘lhither also went Jesus, not by dusty way and toilsome journey; not with blistered feet and in half famishment, for the human now being separated from the spiritual nature, Jesus rode in the chariot of the winds, and at His will moved hither and yon like the flash of an eye that roams from earth to planet, from planet to immeasurable space.

Some of the disciples had resumed their fishing nets on Galilee, and there seven of them were engaged one whole night without taking anything. In the morning, as their vessel stood a short distance off the shore, they saw a man whom they did not recognize, but who called out to them, “Children, have ye any meat? “And they answered” No; “for they had not so much as a single fish. And Jesus again cried out to them,” Cast the net on the right-hand side of the ship and ye shall find.” Why, what strange advice; did not Peter and John and the two sons of Zebedee, who had spent all their lives fishing in this lake, know the best fishing places, and the best time for casting? But, nevertheless, the disciples threw in their biggest net, and when they would haul it in they found that there was such a multitude of fish that seven pairs of strong arms had scarcely strength enough to pull it. Here was a miracle; it had been done before, and John immediately knew who the Stranger on the bank must be. So he shouted, “It is the Lord!” That was enough for Peter, who being naked caught up his coat and hastily binding it around his loins plunged into the sea in his haste to reach the shore and embrace Jesus. The other disciples held on to the net and slowly hauled it to the bank with its tremendous catch.

When the disciples had come on shore they found Jesus cooking His breakfast, a fish broiling on some coals and bread near Him-. But He called to them to bring some of the hundred and fifty-three large fish which they had tken, for they would now make a feast.

JESUS SHOWS HIMSELF TO HIS DISCIPLKS.

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Lovest Thou Me?

After a number of fish had been broiled and all the company had heartily eaten, Jesus spoke to Peter, saying, ““Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me more than these [disciples]?” “Yea, Lord,” answered Peter, “Thou knowest that I love Thee” But Peter, whose asseverations of single devotedness to Jesus had been given before, had apparently changed his relationship to his Master. The impulsive and faithful Peter of Gethsemane had become the weak and thricedenying Peter before the court of the high-priests. But the Lord would not condemn him for his denials; He more than any man could understand how fear, inspired by appalling danger, may wrap itself in a cloak of deception to effect escape, and beneath this mask Christ was able, with omniscient eye, to see the heart and note every change. Jesus therefore knew that Peter’s denials were but expedients, and that they were not expressions of a changeful heart, but He would nevertheless test him again before restoring him to fullest fellowship in the Apostolic order. Therefore said Jesus, “If you love Me, feed My lambs.” Or, in other words,” Love for Me is love for the world; go and minister to all who need you; spread the gospel, and be a true shepherd to Jew and Gentile, or whosoever will accept your teaching in My name.” But again Jesus asked Peter the same question, to which he answered with emphasis, “Yes, Lord; Thou knowest that I love Thee.” Then said Jesus, “Feed My sheep.” The sheep are those who have accepted Christ, but who must be encouraged and tended, for Peter was now ’ to become the shepherd of the flock; and as a faithful shepherd looks carefully after the needs of his sheep, so must Peter, henceforth, minister to the spiritual wants of those committed to his keeping.

Jesus desired to impress upon Peter the supreme importance of his understanding the new condition which he would thereafter be under in his relationship to the church, of which he was to be a chief corner-stone of the foundation, and He therefore for a third time asked the question, “Lovest thou Me more than these?” The question was not meant to give reproof, but to impress instruction, though Peter felt humbled under a suspicion that his sincerity was doubted. Peter therefore answered, “Lord, Thou knowest all things; Thou knowest that I love Thee.” Then again Jesus commanded him, “Feed My sheep; think always of your weakness; if you have denied Me thrice under fear, may you not deny Me again, when equal danger threatens? You have exercised your liberties, as you do now, and have followed Me; but in your old age, as the shepherd of My flock, you will stretch forth your hands in helplessness and your enemies will bind you and do with you whatever their cruel natures prompt; and as you have seen Me crucified, so also will your enemies do with you, but 3’our sufferings, as were Mine, will be to glorify God.”

After Jesus had thus spoken. He said unto His disciples, “Follow Me.”

But Peter, not understanding that Jesus meant he should follow Him with unfaltering footsteps to a martyr’s cross, and seeing Jesus departing, construed the command literally and started to follow. But as Peter went on a few steps he saw John lingering behind, or coming at .slower paces, and unwilling to separate from his companion he asked the Lord, “What shall this man do?” or, “May not John also follow us?” “Why,” an.swered Jesus, “if I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee.” Or, “If it be My will that John shall not die till I come again, why .should you seek to know it. Let My request be sufficient incentive to you; follow Me in faithful service to the end, nor seek to evade any of the responsibilities I have placed upon you. Bravely face all trial, all persecution, and lastfy death itself, for every pain you suffer for My sake shall add a jewel to the crown which you shall wear.”

Christ Reappears to flany Others.

Paul tells us that, some time after the meeting by the shore of Gennesaret, Jesus showed Himself, by appointment, on some mountain, most probably in Galilee, not only to the eleven disciples, but to more than five hundred persons, many of whom were living when Paul made the record. There was no mistake, for a large number in that glorious audience recognized Him fully and worshiped Him; but there were others who doubted, because perhaps they had never seen Jesus before, or so seldom that, with natural doubts, they could not recognize Him. But Jesus talked- with His disciples, to whom He again declared His ‘• Messiahship, and gave to them His parting instruction in these words,” All power is given Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye into all the world [therefore in My name] and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe. In My name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. 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 >’ou; and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”

Thereafter Jesus appeared to James, and once more to the eleven apostles, just preceding His ascen.sion from Mt. Olivet, forty days after His crucifixion, so that altogether there must have been a thousand credible witnesses to His resurrection; testimony not only sufficient, but overwhelming. Evidence indisputable, proof convincing, a fact fully, completely, thoroughly established. Who may gainsay it?