The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus (several decades after Jesus):

"In those years there lived Jesus, a philosopher. He performed deeds that were considered impossible and became a teacher of the simple-minded. Both Jews and Greeks followed him. Pilate condemned him to death on the cross, at the instigation of the Jewish leaders.

Nevertheless, his disciples did not give up their love for him. They said that they had seen him alive on the third day after his death. That he was therefore the Christ foretold by the prophets of old, the Anointed One of God, the liberator of the Jews. His followers are called Christians. To this day, that group has not disappeared.'

The first day

It is as if the sun is shining in the tomb where they have laid me. I open the long cloth on which I am lying and which, thrown over my head, covers my body down to my feet. Two coins fall to the ground. Now I realize that they had placed them on my eyes, as is done with every deceased person, to close them forever. I fold the cloth and place it at the head of the tomb.

I feel like I did when I died on the cross. But this time I am clothed in a simple white robe. Like my neighbor who was accepted by the messengers of the Father. I have no idea how I got it. But I do realize that my body is no longer separate from me, as it was when I looked down on it from the cross. I am whole again.

Mary and Peter

Then I stand outside and see how the keystone of the tomb door has been rolled away. The early morning light breaks through as a group of women approach the tomb. From a distance, I recognize Mary Magdalene, who has supported me so much, Mary, the mother of little Jacob, Salome, my aunt, and Hannah, the wife of Chusas. How great is their love and loyalty, greater even than that of their sons, my own disciples. Surprised by the rolled-away stone, they enter the tomb. Then they hurry away.

A little later, Mary returns with Peter and John. When they see the tomb, they begin to run faster. John waits at the entrance, Peter goes inside. But all they see is the empty tomb. Peter asks Mary in a harsh tone what she has seen. She begins to cry and John calms her down. Then she turns around and runs back to the tomb. Peter and John leave her there and walk back to the city.

Mary stands close to the tomb, crying. I stand next to her, but she does not see me. She bends down to enter the tomb. There are two men sitting there, dressed in white clothes like me. One at the head and one at the foot of where my body had been lying. And they say to her, "Woman, why are you crying?" "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I don't know where they have laid him." Then she turns around and sees me standing there, but she continues to cry. And I ask her the same question: 'Woman, why are you crying? Who are you looking for?' But she keeps her face turned away from me and does not recognize me. Perhaps she thinks I am the caretaker of the cemetery. "Sir, if you have taken him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take care of everything." Only when I mention her name does she look at me. "Master," she says, and she grabs hold of me. We stand there for a moment.

"You cannot hold me. You know that I am going to my Father. Go to my brothers and tell them that I am alive, that I am going to my Father, who is also your Father, to my God, who is also your God. Let them go back to Galilee to gather our people at the Mount of Seven Springs, where I will see you again." I kiss the water from her wrinkled cheeks and we walk together to the road. 

*

I see Peter walking on the roof of the house on Mount Zion. From there, you can see the whole city. On the same slope is the royal palace of Herod the Great, where Pilate now sits. Behind it are the large, strong towers that Herod had built for his safety and in memory of his brother and his beloved. To the east, deep below, lies the valley of the cheese makers, where the smaller houses are built. A little further on is the small city of David, and above it, to the northeast, is the temple. Behind the imposing walls, the sanctuary rises like a snow-covered hilltop. Caiaphas and the other priests bring their sacrifices to God there without interruption. My own Peter stands lost in thought. Then I call his name and he sees me. He sinks to his knees:

"Go away, Lord, for I am a sinful man. I have forsaken you.

Do not call me Peter anymore, for I am not the rock you saw in me.' 

"Do not be afraid. Remember what is written: 'Behold, I lay in Zion a cornerstone, chosen and precious.' I am the living Stone, and you too will be built by God into a living temple, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God."

I take him in my arms, for I know that he is not yet able to come to me on his own. He cries.

Chalpai and the Twelve

I see my uncle Chalphai and his son Simon, the Rebel, on the road to Emmaus, about an hour and a half's walk from Jerusalem. I walk with them and hear them talking about my crucifixion. "What are you talking about?"

They stand there with gloomy faces. I wonder why they do not recognize me. Chalphai replies, "Are you from another country that you do not know what has happened in Jerusalem these days? With Yeshua the Nazarene?" But I play dumb and ask again. Simon replies. "Yeshua was a prophet, powerful in word and deed. We and many of the people lived in the hope that he was the one who would deliver Israel. But our rulers handed him over to the Romans to be condemned to death and crucified. It is now the third day since this happened. But now some women from among us have confused us: they went to the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body. They said they saw an apparition of heavenly messengers who said that he is alive. Two of us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see him.

How can you be so foolish? Don't you understand what the prophets have said? Read what is written. Wasn't the Anointed One supposed to suffer this in order to be crowned? And I begin with Moses and continue with the prophets, explaining to them what has been said about me. They listen to my words, but they still do not recognize me.

As we approach the village where they are going, I want to take leave of them. But they won't let me go: "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the sun is setting." At the meal, they ask me to break bread. I take the bread, say the blessing, break it, and give a piece to each of them. They see the wounds on my wrists and look at me in amazement. Then the Spirit takes me away.

I am no less surprised than they are. How is it that they do not recognize me immediately? How is it that place and time seem to lose their meaning for me? Yet I do not feel my personality fading. On the contrary, since my death I have been living more intensely. I am.

*

My friends are sitting in the large hall of the house on Mount Zion. There is a knock at the carefully locked door. Apparently, they are afraid of the Judean authorities. Chalphai and Simon are let in. They tell of the encounter on the road to Emmaus. In turn, the others tell of my encounter with Peter. Only when I greet them do they see me standing in their midst. But some recoil, again. Don't they recognize me?

"Why are you so afraid? Look at the wounds on my wrists and ankles: it is I!

Feel, I am not a ghost!'

Slowly, joy overcomes fear and hope overcomes doubt.

"Do you have anything to eat here?" I ask, and the tension breaks. We eat fried fish with honeycomb. Then I lead them through the words of the prophets to show them that the Anointed One had to die to take away the sin of the world, and also that he would be raised on the third day.

A few days later, I meet them again. Now Judas Thomas, the twin, is also there. I know that he said he would not believe until he had laid his finger on the wounds in my wrists, my ankles, and my chest. When I greet him, I see him startle:

"Come here, put your finger on my hands, and your hand on my chest."

"My God," he stammers, and I say:

"Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe."

*

On the Sea of Galilee, off the coast of the Seven Springs, two fishing boats are busy. In the large boat belonging to the family of Zebedee, John and his brother James, Judas Thomas, and Nathanael are busy setting a large drum net. It stands like a wall, soon about a hundred meters long, and is pulled around until it forms a drum, trapping the fish inside. But the trapped fish jump out of the water, and it is the task of Peter and his brother Andrew in the smaller boat to lay a second net flat on the water around the drum. Levi stands on the shore to see where the garfish are swimming so he can give directions.

"Do you have anything to eat yet?" I ask. But they haven't caught anything yet. The season for garfish is almost over. "Pull the nets to the other side of the boat, you'll find them there," I shout to the men who are working less than 100 meters from the shore. They do so. Peter dives into the water to untie the weights that were used to sink the standing net. Now they pull in the net and it is full of fish. So full that it is better not to pull it into the boat. Boats and nets move carefully toward the shallow water where they can do their work standing up. Johannes looks at me and says something to Peter. He looks up too. Then he recognizes me. He is naked because it is his job to dive into the water when the net gets stuck. He doesn't want to wait until all the fish have been brought in. He puts on his shirt and swims toward me. The others don't bother to take the fish out of the net first either. They moor and hurry over to me. They stand around me awkwardly. No one dares to ask if it's really me. In the meantime, I've made a charcoal fire with bread and some salted sardines. "Bring some of those fresh fish for the meal!" Of course, Peter is the first to jump up and they drag the net out of the boat and onto the shore.

They have caught 153 flatfish. While the men are busy picking all the fish out of the net and tidying it up, I roast Peter's fish. "Come on, let's eat." I take the bread, break it, and share it around. And the fish too. We don't say much.

When the meal is over, I walk with Peter to the water:

"Simon, son of John the Baptist, do you really love me more than these others?"

'Lord, you know that I love you.'

'Feed my lambs.'

"Simon, son of John the Baptist, do you truly love me?"

'Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.'

"Feed my sheep."

"Simon, son of John the Baptist, do you truly love me?" Then he became sad:

'Lord, you know everything, everything I have failed to do. But you also know that I love you, don't you?'

"Feed my sheep. You know that when you were young, you thought you could come and go as you pleased. But know also that when you are old, others will bind you and force you to go where you do not want to go. You wanted to follow me, didn't you? Now is your chance."

John follows us, and Peter asks:

"Lord, will he also be put to death?"

"Suppose I want him to live until I return, would that make any difference to you? Follow me."

The 500

Peter has gathered our people at the mountain above the Seven Springs, by the lake. About five hundred have believed his words. Together they await the events of the night. As I walk among them, I see Chusas and Hanna with their son, Mary of Magdala, my family, and the families of my friends, such as Peter's mother-in-law and his wife. Jairus with his wife and daughter. Fishermen, farmers, gentlemen.

I go up the mountain and speak to them as if I had never been away:

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the farmer. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away. Every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes, so that it will bear more fruit. You are being pruned by the word that I have spoken to you. Therefore, remain in me, and I will remain in you. For the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, if it is cut off from the vine.

I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, as I in them, bear much fruit. Those who do not remain in me are thrown away like branches and wither. They are gathered up and thrown into the fire. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, your prayers will be answered. For that is what my Father wants. Then you will be my disciples.

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love. Just as I have kept my Father's commandments and remain in his love. I am not telling you this to command you, but to share my joy with you, yes, to make you truly happy. For this is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Who is there who loves one more than the one who lays down his life for his friends? And these are the ones who have this commandment of love.

I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit. To receive from the Father what you ask him in my name: that you love one another.

If the world hates you, know that it has hated me first. If you were of the world, the world would love you. But because you are not of the world, because I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: "A servant is not greater than his master." If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. Those who accepted my words will also keep yours.

Whoever hates me also hates my Father. If I had not done among them the works that no one else has done, they would not have sin. But now they have seen my works, and yet they have hated me and my Father. David said it himself: 'They hated me without reason.

When the Comforter comes, whom I will send to you, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will testify about me. You also will testify before courts and kings, because you have been with me from the beginning.

I am telling you this not to make you afraid, but so that you will not be ashamed when you see me go away and when you see me again, and when you hear voices from the earth and from the sky.

I have told you these things now, so that when the time comes, you will have confidence. I did not tell you this before, because I was with you. But now I am going to him who sent me. You are sad because I have told you of my departure. None of you knows where I am going. Truly, it is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Comforter will not come. I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment:

- Of sin, because they do not believe in me.

- Of righteousness, because I am going to the Father.

- Of judgment, because the power over this world has been judged.

I have much more to say to you, but you cannot bear it now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what I tell him. He will tell you what is to come. Everything that belongs to the Father is mine; that is what I mean when I say that he speaks in my name. Friends, in a little while you will no longer see me, but again in a little while you will see me.

This was too difficult for them. I see questioning looks and some are beginning to talk among themselves.

'Do you find it difficult to understand what that means: "a little while longer and you will no longer see me, and again a little while and you will see me"? Of course you will weep and mourn, and of course the world will rejoice that I am gone. But your sorrow will turn to joy. A woman in labor has pain because her time has come. But when she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers her anguish. Out of joy that a human being has been born into the world. You too are sad at this time, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice; no one will take that away from you. On that day, all your questions will be answered.

Know that if you ask the Father, he will give you that joy in my name. Until now you have not asked in my name. Ask, and you will receive, so that you may be filled with joy.

This may be a metaphor, but a time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in metaphors, but will speak freely about the Father. On the day you pray to him in my name! I do not mean that I will ask the Father on your behalf as an intermediary. But that the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and believed that I came from God. I came from the Father and entered the world; I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.

Someone stood up and said, "Now you are speaking freely for the first time, without figurative language. Now we know that you know who you are and are not responding to the questions of others. This is proof to us that you came from God."

"Do you dare to trust now? Behold, the hour is coming, yes, it has even come, when they will scatter you, each to his own place, alone. And yet you are not alone, for the Father is with you. I have told you this so that you may have peace in me.

In the world you will have tribulation, but take heart: I have overcome the world. So go out and make disciples of all nations. Baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. You will see that I am with you. Always. Forever."

Jacob

My brother Jacob had not eaten since he heard about my encounter with Mary. Although he was saddened by my death, perhaps most of all for my mother, in his eyes it was the inevitable consequence of my delusions. But the stories told by Mary and then by our mother had confused him. Could he have been so wrong about his own brother, or worse, about the intentions of the Lord, the God of Israel? As befits a devout man, he decided to fast and pray until the Lord gave him clarity.

I enter his workshop in Capernaum. He is sitting where I used to maintain so many tools and make plows and tables. Perhaps he thinks I am a customer. I place a loaf of bread on the workbench and sit down next to him. "I don't need anything," he says. But I say the blessing and break the bread. Then he sees the wounds on my wrists and looks up in amazement. "Jacob, my brother, you can eat again. For the Son of Man has risen from the dead."

Sent

I have asked them to gather for the Harvest Festival in Jerusalem. And for the first time, they are all together: my brothers and sisters-in-law, my mother Mary, my friends, and the women who have supported us all this time. The seventy I had chosen earlier to go out are also there: Joseph Justus, Matthias, Barnabas, Aristion, and so many others. And once again I explain to them what Moses and the prophets said about us. About my suffering and my death for sins. About my resurrection and about their task: to proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sins in my name to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem.

Someone asks, "Yeshua, when you have left us, who will be our leader?" An old question, but this time I have an answer. "Wherever you are, if there is a difference of opinion, you will refer it to my brother James in Jerusalem, for he knows the law."

My friends who have been with me all these years are surprised. I explain that they must go out into the world. That is why I have chosen them. But not right away:

"Stay in Jerusalem and wait for the promise of the Father, which I told you about. For John baptized with water, but you will soon be baptized with the Holy Spirit."

Someone asks, "Lord, will you restore the kingdom to Israel?"

How long will it take before they truly understand that the good news is for all nations? "It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has set. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

*

Then we go out to the Mount of Olives, toward Bethany. I lift up my hands and bless them:

"Father, the hour has come. You will glorify me. You have given the Son of Man authority over all things on earth. To give eternal life to all those you have given him. The eternal knowledge of the only true God, and the Anointed One whom you sent. I have shown your glory on earth through the work you gave me to do. And now you will give me back the glory I had with you before the world was created.

I have revealed your name to the people you gave me from the world. They were yours, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. For I have given them the words you gave me, and they have accepted them. They have believed that you sent me.

I pray for them. I do not pray for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. I will no longer be in this world, but they will still be here. Holy Father, keep them in your name, that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name. I protected them, and none of them was lost, except the one who betrayed me, as David said. But now I am coming to you, and I say this in the world so that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, as I am not of the world. I do not pray that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. Sanctify them in your truth; in your word. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. I sanctify myself for them, so that they too may be sanctified in truth.

I pray not only for these, but also for those who believe in me through their word. That they may all be one. That they may be in us, as you are in me and I am in you. For then the world will see that you sent me. And the glory that you have given me, I have given them. Let them be one, as we are one. I in them and you in me. Let them be perfect in unity. So that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them as you loved me.

Father, I have given them to you. I want them to be with me where I am, so that they may see the glory you have given me, because you loved me before the creation of the world. Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you, and these know that you sent me. I have made your name known to them, and I will make it known. So that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them.

The light

Once again there is the light that I saw at my crucifixion and before that, with Moses and Elijah on the mountain. The light of God's messengers who welcomed my neighbor on the cross, but left me behind. It surrounds me and now I am also taken up into it. Messengers of my Father welcome me with wordless love. A ladder reaches up to heaven. A garden of colors and scents that cannot be described in words.

And then him. With a shock, I recognize him. And in his eyes, myself, while my last question is answered:

            My soul, my soul,

            I never left you.

            But how could I answer when you called,

            how could I mourn you when you died

            or carry you in your death?

            For in your dying,

            I myself died.

And I am.