Islam - The Summit of Religious Evolution — Page 93
93 him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away'. 66 With these word Mary Magdalene seems to have turned away from Jesus - the gardener - to look farther when Jesus said to her: Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him: Rabboni; which is to say, Master. Only now did she recognize Jesus because it seems only he would say Mary in this particular way. He said: '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. 67 Mary went and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and he had spoken these things unto her. On the evening of the same day, Jesus, no longer in the clothes of a gardener, was on his way to Emmaus, a village near Jerusalem, when he caught up with two disciples going in the same direction. Jesus did indeed look strange. No wonder the disciples did not recognize him. As it was written: 68 'But their eyes were holden that they should not know him'. 'The disciples were thus confused. From the way they talked it was clear that they did not know what was happening, and their interpretations differed. Jesus listened with great interest but finally exclaimed: 69 O fools, 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', Jesus thus explained what the scriptures had said about him beginning with Moses and taking them through all the prophets. Incidentally, Jesus had himself prophesied before his crucifixion that he would go to Galilee after he is risen. 70 Thus, his trip to Emmaus, after his ordeal on the cross was in fulfillment of his own prophecy. Unlike the Christian belief, he never said he would go to hell or the heavens after his crucifixion. Here the Bible recalls a clear statement by Jesus after the resurrection pointing to the prophecies and their complete fulfillment as borne out by his own experiences. He describes himself as the Messiah and speaks of suffering; but there is not a word about dying. The Biblical record continues as follows: 71 Thus they approached the village of Emmaus which was as far as the Apostles wanted to go. Jesus was about to move on but they urged him: 'Abide with us: for it is toward evening and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them. . . as he sat at meat with them, he took bread and blessed it and broke it, and gave to them'. Now they recognized him. His manner of praying and blessing was inimitable: 'and their eyes were opened and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight'. 72 'They rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem and found the eleven gathered together and them that were with them'. 73