INCREDIBLE NEWS!

Easter is THE great Christian festival, celebrating Jesus’ triumph over death. It is recorded in all four gospels.

The problem is that they don’t quite match up. The earliest version of Mark breaks off with the women running away from the tomb.  Luke tells the same story and then switches to the two disciples walking along to Emmaus. John has Mary Magdalen left alone at the tomb after Peter and the other disciple have left. Matthew has his own Hollywood-ised version.  Can the different accounts make sense? It’s what I will be discussing in a Zoom meeting on Wednesday 14th at 7.30. Here is the Eventbrite link:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-puzzle-of-easter-solved-tickets-149413031399.

Of course, this not the only problem. Did Jesus meet the disciples in Galilee ( as in Mark and Matthew) or in Jerusalem (as in Luke) or in both (as in John). Do come and bring your thoughts.

?From Jesus the Troublemaker

Here is part of the letter that Salome, a disciple of Jesus, sent to her husband three days after Good Friday:

What a dreadful Shabbat that was. We didn’t dare to go out, we hardly ate, we sat and lamented, taking it in turns to keen for him. We could hear the other pilgrims making their way to the Temple, but we stayed inside. I went across to Shim’on’s house to check that the brothers were safe. They were, apart for Shim’on Kefa. No one knew where he was, and they were very worried about him. And of course the traitor didn’t dare show his face. So no longer the Twelve - they were now the Ten. The front gates of both our houses were securely locked and bolted. We were all on tenterhooks, jumping at the smallest sound, but nothing bad happened.

After dark Miryam of Magdala, Miryam - Yaakov’s mother, Yochana and I went to buy spices to anoint our rabbi’s body in the morning. We avoided the Temple, going down the Kidron to the Valley Gate and then to Spice Street near the racing stadium. It looked pretty with the lanterns hanging over the stalls with their colourful array of spices, but it was a sad and difficult task. The first merchant we went to was quite chatty and sympathetic when we told him it was for a burial. But when we told him who it was for he got angry, spat on the ground and told us to take our custom elsewhere. I didn’t realise how much these Judaeans hated our rabbi. The next one wasn’t so chatty and sold us the spices without asking any questions. The moonlight made the walk back easy. Still, we were relieved to get back safely to Marta and Miryam’s home in Beit-Anyah.

Miryam of Magdala woke us up really early, all four of us who had been out with her the night before. After washing our hands we wrapped ourselves in our cloaks and went out.  There was just the faintest hint of pale sky in the east. We walked down the Mount of Olives, and past the Roman fortress, ignoring the wolf whistles from the soldiers guarding the main gate of the Antonia. We skirted the city wall till we came to the spot where our rabbi had died. As we got closer, we realised that the stone blocking the grave entrance would still be in place. We didn’t know if the combined effort of the four of us would be enough to shift it. Perhaps a stranger might help us. We did not want any of the twelve to get involved - they had almost been arrested two days ago. But when we got there there wasn’t one grave that was shut! We knew it wasn’t a popular place because of where it was.? It gave me the cold shivers to be right at the spot where our rabbi had suffered that cursed death. But Miryam of Magdala strode straight up to one of the black square openings, and then shrieked! We ran up to her and stood rooted to the spot. In the early morning light we could just see a young man dressed in a white tunic sitting on the body slab on the right hand side inside the grave. We were about to turn tail and flee when he announced, clear as clear, 

“‘Don’t be shocked. You’re looking for Yeshua IshNatzaret, the crucified one. He has been raised; he isn’t here. Look, here is the place they put him.”

We were speechless. We didn’t know whether to run or stay.

“Go and tell his trainees, and go and tell Shim’on Kefa, that he is going ahead of you.. He’s going to the Galil. You’ll see him again, just as he said.”

Our nerve broke and we ran out of there as if our lives depended on it. When we got half way along the city wall, Miryam of Magdala stopped. 

“That man - whoever he was - told us to tell Shim’on Kefa.”  

“But we don’t know where he is,” wailed Yochana.

“I have an idea,”  she replied. “ You go back and tell the rest of the brothers. I’m going into the city, I think I know where he might be.”

We found out later that she had guessed that Shim’on Kefa had taken refuge in the house of Yochanan of Yerushalayim, along with Miryam the mother of Yeshua, and she was right. Shim’on and Yochanan both ran to the grave and found the linen grave- clothes in an empty tomb. Miryam of Magdala followed them walking and stayed alone at the grave. And listen to this!

Yeshua, our rabbi, met her there! Alive! She raced back to us and by mid-morning all of us, men and women, had heard her story. We just didn’t know what to believe.

Then Shim’on Kefa turned up at the door knocking loudly. He was like the old Shim’on, excitable, enthusiastic, strong. He said that Yeshua had met him too!  

Next morning we had more news. The previous night the Eleven were roused by Cleopas and his wife who had just hurried back in the dark from Amma’us. It was not far off the middle of the night when they got here. They gasped out their news that they had just spent two hours with Yeshua and almost had a meal with him! Not surprisingly everyone started talking at once, so much so that for a little time they didn’t realise that Yeshua was right there standing among them! Absolutely unbelievable!

T’oma had been out staying with family and when he got back in the morning, said roundly that he didn’t believe a word of it. 

So that’s our amazing news! The faces of our brothers now shine with a new hope and joy. It’s wonderful but hard to know, what now? I guess that if anyone is going to credit it, it’s El’azar, because he’s been there. We’re going to stay here for a few more days, at least to the end of the feast. What happens then only Abba Elaha and our rabbi Yeshua know.

To be continued!

DO JOIN ME ON ZOOM ON WEDNESDAY

And you can buy ‘Jesus the Troublemaker’  o on both Amazon and bibleinbrief.org

Happy Eastertide to you all

Andy