In The Name Of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

Extracts from CRUCIFIXION OR CRUCIFICTION by Ahmed Deedat

THE KING-PIN OF CHRISTIANITY
According to St. Paul, there is nothing that Christianity can offer mankind, other than the blood and gore of Jesus. If Jesus did NOT die, and he was NOT resurrected from the dead, then there can be NO salvation in Christianity! “For all your good deeds”, says the Christian dogmatist, “are like filthy rags” - (Isaiah 64:6).
NO CRUCI-FICTION - NO CHRISTIANITY
In a nutshell, No Crucifixion! - No Christianity! A thousand sects and denominations of Christianity are vying with one another to redeem the “heathen” (as they say) from hell-fire.
BLOOD FOR SALVATION
“Yes! Yes!” says the Christian missionary, “but you do not have salvation.” Because salvation comes only through the blood of the lord Jesus”. All your good works are like filthy rags, he says. “If only you Muslims would accept the redeeming blood of Jesus, and take Jesus as your Personal Saviour, you Muslims, then would be like angels walking the earth.
WHERE DO WE BEGIN?
We must not forget that the Jews are in the dock, alleged for the murder of Jesus Christ; and we as Muslims are constrained to defend them against the Christian charge, because justice must be done.
The Christian world has been unjustly persecuting, and hounding and killing our Jewish cousins for nearly two thousand years for a murder they did not commit. Attempted murder? - may be! But murder? - NO! By absolving the Jew of a crime he did not commit, we are also taking the wind out of the hot-gospellers and the Bible-thumpers sail. In the battle for the hearts and minds of mankind, “CRUCI-FICTION” is the only card the Christian holds. .
AROUND THE TABLE AN ABORTED COUP
On the eve of the Passover Feast, Jesus and his twelve disciples are seated around a huge Table with their host - the “beloved disciple”, whose name also happened to be JOHN. Johns and Jesus were names, common among the Jews in the year 30 A.C. There were at least 14 men at the table (count them if you wish) and not the unlucky thirteen of Western superstition.
The overthrow of the Temple Authority was imminent, and a forerunner to the expulsion of the Romans, heralding the “Kingdom of God.” But alas his high hopes did not materialise. The whole performance fizzled out like a damp squib, despite all the “Hosannas” and hoorays to the “Son of David” and the “King of Israel.” All this ballyhoo was only forty years premature. Jesus had failed to heed the warning of the Pharisees to curb the over exuberance of his disciples (Luke 19:39). He had miscalculated. Now he must pay the price of failure. His nation was not ready for any sacrifice, in spite of all their infantile clamour.
JEWISH REASONING
The Jewish leaders reasoned that this one man had almost brought the nation to destruction. Therefore, “It is expedient for one man to die for the nation” - (John 11:50). But with all the mass hysteria surrounding him, it was also NOT expedient to apprehend Jesus in public. They waited for the opportunity of a clandestine arrest. As luck would have it they found in Judas, an elected disciple of Jesus (pbuh), a traitor who would sell his Lord and Master for thirty miserable pieces of silver.
POLICY CHANGE
Jesus will not be a sitting-duck for a clandestine arrest by the Jews. He prepares his disciples for the impending showdown. Discreetly, so as not to frighten his disciples, he introduces the subject of defence. Gently he begins: “When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye anything?” And they said, “Nothing.” Then said he unto them, “But now, he that hath no purse, let him take it, and likewise his bag; and he that hath no SWORD, let him sell his garment and buy one!” (Luke 22:35-36)
Jews against Jews! Why! Why this somersault? Did he not advise them to “turn the other cheek”; “to forgive seventy times seven” (70 x 7 = 490)? Did he not send his chosen Twelve with the advice: “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves; be ye, therefore, as wise as serpents, (?) and as harmless as doves.” (Matthew 10:16)
A MASTER TACTICIAN
He leads his platoon, in the middle of the night, to Gethsemane. Gethsemane - an olive press - a courtyard built of stone walls some 5 miles out of town. On the way, he unburdens to them the seriousness of the situation. He places eight of the eleven disciples at the entrance to the courtyard, commanding them: • . Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.” (Matthew 26:36) The question that would bug any thinker is: Why did they all go to Gethsemane? To pray? Could they not have prayed in the upper-room? Could they not have gone to the Temple of Solomon, a stones throw from where they were, if prayer is all that they wanted to do? No! They went to the Garden so that they might be in a better position to defend themselves! Observe, Jesus does not take the eight with him to pray. He positions them strategically at the entrance to the courtyard; armed to the hilt, as the circumstances would allow: “And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee. Then saith he unto them. . . tarry ye here and watch with me.” (Matthew 26:37-38) Where is he taking Peter and John and James now? Further into the Garden! To pray? No! To make an inner line of defence - he had put eight at the Gate, and, now these zealous Zealots (the fighting Irishmen of their day), armed with SWORDS, to “wait and watch” - TO KEEP GUARD! The picture is very vivid; Jesus leaves nothing to our imagination. A-n-d HE (alone) prayed!
JESUS PRAYS FOR RESCUE
“. . . and began to be sorrowful and very depressed. Then saith he unto them, ‘my soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death’ . . .“ “And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, ‘O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt’.” (Matthew 26:37-39)
“And being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” (Luke 22:44)
JESUS UNAWARE OF HEAVENLY CONTRACT
From the call to arms in the upper-room, and the masterful deployment of forces at Gethsemane, and the blood-sweating prayer to the God of Mercy for help, it appears that Jesus knew nothing about the contract for his crucifixion. It reminds one of the Biblical Abraham, leading his son to the slaughter with the bluff that the Lord will provide a scapegoat.
Strange as it may sound, after every outpouring of prayer, Jesus Christ found his disciples lulled to sleep at their post. Again and again he bewailed: “What could ye not watch with me for one hour?” - (Matthew 26:40). “And again he (Jesus) went away, and prayed, and spoke the same words. And when he returned, he found them sleep again . . (Mark 14:39-40). Poor St. Mark bemoans that the disciples could give no excuse for their lassitude, their somnambulism. He records: “neither knew they what to answer him”, - (Mark 14:40). However, the most lucid, the most coherent and systematic of all Gospel writers, St. Luke, hazards a guess for this anomaly. He says: “And when he (Jesus) rose from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for SORROW.” (Luke 22:45)
FAILURE AND TRIAL
The march on Jerusalem had fizzled out. The sabre-rattling in the Garden had proved abortive. As there is a reward for success, likewise there is a price for failure. The odds are heavy! Hence the trial, the tribulation, the turmoil and the sweat and blood. With heavy hands, the Roman soldiers dragged Jesus (pbuh) from Gethsemane to Annas, and from Annas to Caiphas the High Priest, and on to the Sanhedrin as directed by the Jews, for trial and execution. Whilst Jesus was being manhandled and buffeted towards his doom, where were his heroes who were beating their breasts with the war-cry: “Master, we are prepared to die for you, Master, we are prepared to go to prison for you!”? St. Mark, the first of the Gospel writers, un-ashamedly and without any apology reveals: “AND THEY ALL FORSOOK HIM, AND FLED.” (Mark 14:50)
PREDETERMINED JUDGEMENT
The fate of Jesus (pbuh) was already sealed. Caiphas the High Priest, at the head of the Sanhedrin (a Religious Board of Jewish Deputies), was a man who would have rescued himself in any civilised Court-of-Law, because of his prejudice against the defendant. He had already condemned Jesus to death without any hearing. He had recommended to his Council, even before the case that: . it is expedient for us that one man die for the people, and the whole nation perish not.” (John 11:50)
He made a telling plea in his own defence, saying: I spake openly to the world; I ever taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, where the Jews always gather; and in secret have I said nothing.” (John 18:20)
The Jews could not get even two to agree in their allegations! “But neither did their witness agree together” - (Mark 14:59). His argument was so potent that an officer standing by was provoked to strike him in silence. Did that intimidate Jesus? No! Instead, he protested further: “. . . if I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil. But if well, why smitest thou me?” (John 18:23)
The victim was slipping out from between their fingers. It was now or never. Legally they could not incriminate him. Direct intervention was necessary. The High Priest interjects with a side thrust. Tell us then: “. . . Art thou the Christ, the son of the Blessed? And Jesus said, I am. (Mark 14:61 -62)
“SON OF GOD”- NO BLASPHEMY
There was nothing blasphemous or treasonable in the simple avowal of Jesus (pbuh). “Christ” is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word “Messiah,” which meant the ANOINTED ONE or the APOINTED ONE. Nowhere was the word Christ equated with God. We must divorce this notion from the paganised Christian doctrine of the incarnation, wherein God becomes man. The Jewish expectation of a Messiah, did not identify the Messiah with God. Indeed, the nature of Jewish monotheism wholly excludes such pagan connotations. “Son of God” is also another harmless expression in Jewish theology. God seems to have sons by the tons in the Jewish Bible. But if you are looking for trouble, you do not have to go far. You will find it round the corner. The High Priest was exultant. He felt that his rapier thrust had ripped open the defence of Jesus. To dramatise his contrived victory, he began renting his clothes. “What need have we for any further witnesses? And they all condemned him to be guilty of death.” - (Mark 14:63-64).
GUILTY OR NOT GUILTY - “JESUS MUST DIE!”
The Jews falsely charged that Jesus had blasphemed, which is like treason in the spiritual realm. The Christians are ONE with the Jews regarding this blasphemy of Jesus, but contend that he was not guilty, because as God, he was entitled to blaspheme - it was no blasphemy. Between the two (Jews and Christians) they want poor Jesus to die. One for “GOOD RIDDANCE” and the other for “GOOD REDEMPTION. The verdict was quick and unanimous. It was cut and dried! But without the Roman consent, they could not hang him. In the morning they took their victim to Pontius Pilate, because, as they said: “It is not lawful for us (Jews) to put any man to death”. - (John 18:31).
PILATE “PASSES THE BUCK”
On discovering that Jesus was a Galilaean, the most troublesome of his subjects, Pilate felt it advisable to pass the buck to Herod. You remember, the oldest game in the world. It started in the Garden of Eden according to the Christian Scriptures. But it did not work. After a fruitless attempt to elicit co-operation from Jesus, Herod sends him back to Pilate. The Jews had condemned Jesus for blasphemy. A man claiming to be God, they alleged. This would not hold water before Pilate. He had his man-gods beyond counting. His Jupiter and Pluto, his Vulcan and Eros, his Mars and Neptune, his Appollo and Zeus, to name just a few out of his Pantheon. One more, or one less, would not make any difference to him. This the Jews very well knew. So they changed their charge from blasphemy to treason. They began accusing: . We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ, a king.” (Luke 23:2)
SECOND FALSE CHARGE
The charge was absolutely false. Contrary to what they are alleging, he had said, on the subject of taxation: “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God, the things that are God’s” - (Matthew 22:21). What is subversive about this? Like the Christians, the Jews too, before them had invented a new meaning for the word “Christ”, viz. A KING! So that he could be more easily presented as a challenge to their Roman overlords. Pilate got the message. But this poor man, meek and passive, seemed to be no threat. He did not look like a Zealot, a political agitator, a subversive person, a terrorist! A MASTERFUL DEFENCE - AND A JUST VERDICT Incredulously he asks Jesus: “. . . ‘Art thou the King of the Jews?’ Jesus answered him, ‘MY KINGDOM IS NOT OF THIS WORLD, if my kingdom was of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now is my kingdom not from hence’.” (John 18:33-36)
A masterful defence! No Q.C. could have done a better job. As a man of God, he could not disavow his religious status. His was a spiritual kingdom, a ruler to rescue his nation from sin and formalism. This was all nonsense to the Roman Governor. The man may be deluded, mad; but of no danger to the State. He was on no collision course with Rome. Pilate goes to the waiting Jews and delivers an unequivocal verdict - “. . . I FIND IN HIM NO FAULT AT ALL!” (John 18:38)
Though Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are supposed to be writing independent records on the life of Jesus, it is astonishing that the Synoptists, the first three had never heard the words - “My kingdom is not of this world” - at all. If God dictated these words exclusively to John, or if he had been informed by some witness, then these words must have escaped the lips of Jesus. A most telling defence against the false allegation of the Jews. How did these words reach any ear, without Jesus opening his mouth?
THE BLACKMAIL
In the case under discussion, Pilate finds Jesus - NOT GUILTY! His implacable enemies, blackmail Pilate, saying: If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend; whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.” (John 19:12) While the trial was under way, Pilates wife sends him a message: “Have thou nothing to do with that just man (Jesus); for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him.” - (Matthew 27:19). As reluctant as Pilate was to condemn an innocent and harmless subject, and despite the pleadings of his dear wife based on supernatural visions, he could not prevail against Jewish pressure. He was forced to give in to the Jewish clamour of “Crucify him, crucify him!”. “Pilate took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this righteous man.” - (Matthew 27:24). You are culpable for this unjust crime. And he handed Jesus over to be crucified.
“THE GOSPEL UNTRUTH”
Contrary to common belief, Jesus was not nailed to the cross, but bound, if at all, like the other two. In the light of the knowledge available, we must regard the Doubting Thomas episode as a flagrant gospel fabrication.The Jews were in extreme haste to have Jesus done away with. Remember the midnight trial? Early in the morning, they dragged him to Pilate. From Pilate to Herod. From Herod back to Pilate. According to a boisterous American (another “born-again”) there were SIX trials within twelve hours. At the busiest time in Jerusalem, around the Feast of the Passover, it appears from the Gospel narratives that people of worth had nothing else to do but twiddle their thumbs in great expectation of interviewing Jesus. Exactly as things happen on the set, for the shooting of films. Hurry! hurry! hurry!
SYMPATHY FOR JESUS
God works in a mysterious way. He inspires the soldiers to think that the victim is “dead already” so as not to break his legs, but at the same time inspires another to lance him on the side with a spear, and “. . . FORTHWITH came there out blood and water.” (John 19:34)
It is a Blessing of God that when the human body cannot endure further pain or agony, unconsciousness supervenes. But immobility, fatigue and the un-natural stance on the cross must have slowed down the blood circulation. The lancing came to the rescue. By bloodletting, the circulation could regain its rhythm. We are assured in the Encyclopedia Biblica, under article “cross”, column 960, that “Jesus was alive when the spear was thrust”. This also confirms the statement of John that the flow of “water and blood” was instantaneous. In his own words he says: FORTHWITH - straight-away, immediately, which was a sure sign that Jesus was ALIVE! But why the Water and the Blood? Dr. W.B. Primrose, a Senior Anaesthetist of the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, gave his expert opinion: In the “Thinkers Digest”, London, Winter 1949 issue, he said that THE WATER WAS A RESULT OF THE NERVOUS UPSET OF THE BLOOD VESSELS LOCALLY DUE TO THE OVERSTIMULATING EFFECT OF THE SCOURGING BY STAVES. This may be an extreme case, but so was his sweating, like “great drops of blood, falling down to the ground”, when Jesus was in agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. Medical authorities also confirm the latter phenomenon.
EVANGELISTS DIFFER
The Gospel-writers are not unanimous regarding the time when Jesus was hoisted onto the cross. But John tells us that Jesus (pbuh) was still before Pilate in the praetorium at 12 noon: “. . . and about the sixth hour (Hebrew time), he saith unto the Jews, Behold, your King!” - (John 19:14). And after much wrangling he was handed over for crucifixion. Imagine the disorderly mob, the heavy cross which Jesus himself is supposed to have been loaded with. The long climb to Golgotha could never have been accomplished in minutes. And the saddling, the tying and the lifting must have taken some time. The author of Johns Gospel failed to record the time when “Jesus gave up the ghost” (John 19:30), but the synoptists seem to be agreed that it was around the “ninth hour”, meaning 3 p.m. PONTIUS PILATE MARVELS We are told in the Gospels, in varying terms, that between the “sixth” and the “ninth” hours, there was THUNDER, an ECLIPSE and an EARTHQUAKE! - Without purpose? No, to disperse the sadistic mob after their enjoyment of a Roman holiday. To enable the hands of mercy, his “secret” and faithful disciples, to come to his succour. Joseph of Arimathea together with a sympathetic Roman centurion who had declared: “Truly this man was the Son of God” (Mark 15:39), went to Pilate to claim the body of Jesus, and: “Pilate marvelled if he were already dead, and calling to him the centurion, he asked him whether he had been any while dead.” (Mark 15:44) What was the reason for Pilates amazement? Why did he marvel? He knew from experience that normally no man would die within 3 hours on the cross, unless the “crurifragium” was resorted to, which was not done in the case of Jesus; unlike in that of his “crossmates”, who were given the treatment because they were still ALIVE! REASON FOR MARVELLING It stands to reason, that if a man faces a firing squad, and shots are fired into his body, and he dies, there would be nothing to marvel about. If a person is taken to the gallows and is hanged, and he dies, there is nothing to marvel about. But should they survive, after our common knowledge expects them to die, then there is much to MARVEL about. Conversely, Pilate expects that Jesus should be ALIVE on the cross, and not dead as he is being told, therefore his marvelling is only but natural. He had no special reason for verifying whether Jesus was dead or alive. If he was ALIVE - so what? Had he not found Jesus innocent of the charges levelled against him by the Jews? Did his wife not warn him against doing any harm to that just man? Was he not blackmailed into surrendering to Jewish clamour? So if Jesus was alive - Good Luck to him. Pilate grants permission for Joseph to have the body.
SO HE HAD “SECRET” DISCIPLES The so-called disciples of Jesus, whom he called “my mother and brethren!” (Matthew 12:49) (in preference to his own mother and his uterinal brothers and sisters), were nowhere in sight when he was most in need. His secret disciples, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, would never have been heard of had it not been for Jesus ordeal. And they were the only persons to handle the body of Jesus, with Mary Magdalene and the other Mary(s) (Mark 15:47) as the only spectators. To satisfy the religious scruples of the Jews - the burial bath, the anointing and the shrouding - would well-nigh have taken more than two hours. If there were any signs of life in the limp body, no one was foolish enough to shout to the retreating curiosity mongers: He is ALIVE! He is ALIVE! They knew that the Jews would then make doubly sure that that life was snuffed out.
We must not suppose that Jesus was buried 6 feet underground. The sepulchre was a big, airy chamber and not a grave. Jim Bishop (a Christian authority of note), in his book “The Day Christ Died”, gives the dimensions as 5 feet wide by 7 feet high by 15 feet deep, with a ledge or ledges inside, which any “pondokkie” dweller in our slums would have been happy to own as his residence. The Jews were suspicious. It was all very fishy.
(a) The tomb within easy reach.
(b) Helping hands of his secret disciples.
(c) His “crossmates” still alive.
(d) His legs not broken, whereas those of his “crossmates” were!
(e) Quick and easy permission granted by Pilate to obtain the body of Jesus.
For these and many more reasons, the Jews were suspicious. They felt that they had been cheated. Jesus was ALIVE! (?) So they ran to Pilate. But they had missed the bus again! They were 24 hours too late!
CULTISTS MANIA
What the Jews did or did not do after Pilates curt reply is immaterial. They had already lost a day! But the Christian cultists clutching at straws, transform the Jewish temple “guard” to soldiers, and make these “soldiers” into “Roman” soldiers. Then fill pages expounding the efficiency of the Roman military machine; that it can never be caught napping or caught off- guard! And the dire consequences in store for any that slipped. Did all this make the Roman soldier impeccable, faultless (?). By the time the unwary and weary reader wades through the profuse irrelevant details, he is ready to swallow everything hook, line, and sinker uncritically. It is a deception they have developed as an art!
What was the FIRST “error” that the Jews made in wanting to eliminate Jesus? The first was that they had permitted Jesus to be brought down from the cross without breaking his legs, under the false assumption that he had died. The LAST would be to allow the secret disciples of Jesus to render help to the wounded man, by NOT sealing off the tomb. But in the meantime, they made another mistake by approaching Pilate the “NEXT” day which was TOO LATE! God works in a mysterious way. His Ways are not our ways.
SUNDAY MORNING
It was Sunday morning, the FIRST day of the week, according to Hebrew calculations, with Saturday the Sabbath as the seventh, when Mary Magdalene alone (Mark 16:9 and John 20:1) visited the tomb of Jesus. The question arises: Why did she go there? “TO ANOINT HIM”, Mark 16:1 tells us. The Hebrew word for anoint is “masaha”, which means to rub, to massage, to anoint.1 The second question is: Do Jews massage dead bodies after 3 days? The answer is “No!” Do the Christians massage dead bodies after 3 days? The answer is again, “No!” Do the Muslims (who are the nearest to the Jews in their ceremonial laws) massage dead bodies after 3 days? And the answer is again, “No!” Then why should a Jewess want to massage a dead, decaying body after 3 days? We know that within 3 hours rigor mortis sets in - the stiffening of the body after death. In 3 days time, the body would be fermenting from within - the body cells would be breaking up and decomposing. If anyone rubs such a decaying body, it will fall to pieces. Does the rubbing make sense? No! It would, however, make sense if she was looking for a LIVE person. You see, she was about the only person besides Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus who had given the final rites to the body of Jesus. If she had seen any sign of life in the limp body of Jesus when he was taken down from the cross, she was not going to shout, HE IS ALIVE! She returns after 2 nights and a day, when the Jewish Sabbath had passed, to take care of Jesus.
STONE REMOVED - WINDING SHEETS UNWOUND
She was sorely amazed to find on arrival, that somebody had already removed the stone and, on peeping into the tomb, she finds that the winding sheets (shroud) were folded up inside. More questions arise? Why was the stone removed? Because for a resurrected body, one which had conquered death, it was not necessary for the stone to be removed for it to get out, nor was it necessary for the winding sheets to be unwound for it to move. Because, for a spiritualised body: STONE WALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE, NOR IRON BARS A CAGE.
The removal of the stone and the unwinding of the winding sheets was the need of a physically resuscitated body, not that of a resurrected body! The empty tomb was an anti-climax to what she had expected! So the hysterical woman (Jesus had had to cast out of her “seven devils” - Mark 16:9) breaks down and sobs. Jesus was all the while watching her from the vicinity - not from heaven, but from earth. This burial vault (tomb) was a privately-owned property belonging to Joseph of Arimathea (a very rich, influential Jew), who could afford to carve out of rock the big roomy chamber. Around this tomb was his vegetable garden. Please do not try to tell me that this Jew was so generous that he was planting vegetables 5 miles out of town, for other people’s goats and sheep to graze upon. Surely, he must also have built gardeners quarters for his labourers and his own country home for himself and his family to relax during the week-ends?
BACK FROM THE DEAD
But what about the hundreds of people who have come back from the dead? We read about them daily in our newspapers. Those persons who were certified dead, by medical men, and who subsequently came back to life; were not really DEAD, in the sense of DEATH AND RESURRECTION. Our Doctors have erred and will continue to make mistakes; it cannot be helped. But I want you to note the word “dead”, and “Corpse”, and “crucifixion”. All these words are in inverted commas. The honest and alert newspaper reporter in each case is telling us, very subtly, that the DEAD was not really dead. That the CORPSE was not really a corpse, and that the “CRUCIFIXIONS” were not really crucifixions but cruci-fictions! They were SO-CALLED dead, the SO-CALLED corpse, the SO-CALLED crucifixions, etc. But from the newspaper circulation point of view, the word SO-CALLED would greatly diminish the sensationalism, lessen the news value, and reduce possible sales. After all business is business! Hence the inverted commas In actual fact, no man ever dies twice. No matter how many death certificates are issued.
THE DRAMA CONTINUES
Mary supposing the disguised Jesus to be a gardener, says unto him: “Sir, if you have taken HIM hence, tell me where have you laid HIM. (John 20:15) She is not looking for a corpse, for “it”. She is looking for a LIVE person, for “HIM”. And further, she wants to know as to where have you LAID him? (i.e. To rest, to relax, to recuperate!) NOT, where have you BURIED him? “So that I might take HIM away.” (John 20:15) Take HIM away, where? What would she want with a dead (?), decomposing body? She could only bury it. Who dug the grave? Carrying a corpse is one thing for an American Super- woman, but another for this frail Jewess; carrying a corpse of at least a hundred and sixty pounds. That weight plus another 100 pounds of medicants (according to John 19:39) would make a neat load of 260 pounds. Carrying would be one thing, but burying? She would have to dump it in a hole! Does it make any sense? The prank that Jesus was playing upon this woman had gone too far. The woman had not been able to see through the disguise yet and Jesus was laughing under his breath, but could restrain himself no longer. He blurts out: “M-A-R-Y!” Only the one word! But it was enough. This one word, “Mary!” did what all the exchange of words failed to do. It enabled Mary to recognise her Master. Everyone has his or her unique and peculiar way of calling ones nearest and dearest. It was not the mere utterance of the word Mary, but its deliberate intonation which made her respond: Master! Master!. Mad with happiness, she lunges forward to grab her Master, to pay reverence. Jesus says, “Touch me not!” (John 20:17)
“Touch me not!”, because it would hurt. Though he appears normal to all intents and purposes, he had, nevertheless, been through a violent, physical and emotional ordeal. It would be excruciatingly painful if he allowed her any enthusiastic contact. Jesus continues: “For I am not yet ASCENDED unto my Father.” (John 20:17)
She is not blind. She can see the man standing there before her. What does he mean by “not yet ascended” - GONE UP - when he was DOWN right there? He is, in fact, telling her that he is not RESURRECTED from the DEAD. In the language of the Jew, in the idiom of the Jew, he is saying: I AM NOT DEAD YET! - He is saying: “1 AM ALIVE!” “And they (the disciples), when they heard that he was ALIVE, and had been seen by her (Mary Magdalene), they BELIEVED NOT.” (Mark 16:11)

Yet they will not believe!! Let us see whether they will believe the words of their own Lord and Master, in the following chapter.
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