The History of Christianity - John S. C. Abbott (bookstand for reading .txt) 📗

The week passed away, and the first day of another week came. The eleven apostles were again assembled together. Thomas was with them. As they sat at meat, the doors being shut, Jesus came, and said, “Peace be unto you.” Then, turning to Thomas, he said, “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.”

Thomas replied, “My Lord and my God!”

Jesus rejoined, “Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”

Again Jesus disappeared. John writes, “Many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book.”80

The apostles now, in a body, “went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them.” This was probably the Mount of Transfiguration. Very brief is the record of what ensued, which is given by Matthew alone: “And, when they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying,—

“All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 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 you. And, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”81

Soon after this, Jesus revealed himself to several of his disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, under the following circumstances:—

“There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples. Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a-fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth, and entered into a ship immediately; and that night they caught nothing.

“But, when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore; but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No. And he saith unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast, therefore; and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord.

“Now, when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher’s coat unto him, and did cast himself into the sea. And the other disciples came in a little ship (for they were not far from land, but, as it were, two hundred cubits82). As soon, then, as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread. Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught. Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes,—a hundred and fifty and three; and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken. Jesus saith to them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord. Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise. This is now the third time83 that Jesus showed himself to his disciples after he was risen from the dead.

“So, when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?84 He saith unto him, Yea, Lord: thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord: thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me; and he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things: thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.”

Jesus then added, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walked whither thou wouldest; but, when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.”

“This,” says John, “spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And, when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me. Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved [John] following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee? Peter, seeing him, saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me.”

John adds, “Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?”85

At the conclusion of this interview, of which we have so brief a recital, Jesus said, “These are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then,” writes Luke, “opened he their understanding that they might understand the scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day; and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things. And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you; but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high.”86

Paul testifies, that, after this, Jesus “was seen of above five hundred brethren at once.” But we have no record of that interview, or of one which he mentions with James alone.

We have but a brief account of the last and most sublime of all these interviews. Jesus met the eleven in Jerusalem. Their prejudices so tenaciously clung to them, that they again asked, “Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” Jesus replied, “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power; but ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in Judæa and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”

Going out from Jerusalem, they walked together over the Mount of Olives on the road to Bethany. When near the summit of that sublime swell of land which had ever been one of his favorite places of resort, Jesus stopped on the greensward, at a point where one could obtain an almost unbroken view of the horizon and of the overarching skies, and, raising his hands, pronounced a final earthly blessing upon his apostles.

Then he began slowly to ascend into the air. As he rose higher and higher, they all gazed upward upon him in silent amazement. At length, far away in the distance, a dim cloud appeared, perhaps a cloud of clustering angels, which received him out of their sight. As the apostles stood lost in wonder, still gazing into the skies, two angels, clothed in heaven’s “white apparel,” stood by them. One of them said,—

“Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.”

The apostles returned to Jerusalem, there to await “the baptism of the Holy Ghost.”