Jesus In India — Page 72
62 JESUS IN INDIA power over him; he was now beyond and above mortal existence? One observes with regret that while, on the one hand, it is said that he was made to live again and assume a glorious body, that he met the disciples and went to Galilee and thence went to heaven, yet the fear of the Jews prevails over quite trivial things and, in spite of his glorious body, he fled secretly from the country, lest some Jews should discover him; he made a journey of 70 koses to Galilee in order to save his life and time and again asked the peo- ple not to mention this to others. Are these the signs and ways of a glorious body? No, the truth is that his body was neither new nor glorious, it was the same body with wounds on it, which had been saved from death; and as there was still the fear of the Jews, Jesus, the Messiah, took all the necessary precautions and left the country. All the things that are said contrary to this are, one and all, senseless and absurd; as that the Jews had bribed the soldiers to make them say that the disciples had stolen the corpse while they (the soldiers) were asleep. If the soldiers were asleep, they could very well have been asked how on earth they came to know in their sleep that the corpse of Jesus, the Messiah, had been stolen away. And from the mere fact of Jesus, the Messiah, not being in the sepulchre, can a sensible person conclude that he had gone up to heaven? Are there, in this world, no other causes, as a result of which, tombs might be found empty? It was the responsibil- ity of Jesus, the Messiah, to provide proof of this; such that, on his way to heaven, he should have met a few hundred Jews, and also Pilate. Who was he afraid of in his glorious body? But he did not care to furnish his opponents with the slightest proof. On the contrary, he took fright and fled to Galilee. That is why we positively and certainly believe and accept that though it is true