A handbook of Freethought

by Unknown

We are called upon to believe that with feet, the bones of which were broken and crushed with the spikes driven through them on the cross, he traveled back to Jerusalem about as rapidly as did the two persons with whom he journeyed to Emmaus. How could he walk upon feet thus crippled? His hands were yet unhealed, although his fellow-travelers did not perceive such wounds, nor did they notice that he stepped haltingly.

He possessed the same material body which he had before his death. He could be seen and touched. All of which shows that he not only possessed a physical organization, but that it was the same body he had before his death. And yet this body could vanish from the two unknown brethren at Emmaus, it could travel rapidly, it could come in through closed doors, it could ascend from earth out of sight contrary to the laws of gravitation; he had flesh and bones, and could eat and drink. “And when he had thus spoken he showed them his hands and his feet, and while they believed not for joy and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye any meat? And they took and gave him a piece of broiled fish and honeycomb, and he took it and did eat before them.” ([Luke 24 : 41–43].)

It is useless to attempt any explanation of this difficulty by calling his body a spiritual body. The disciples on this occasion, when Jesus suddenly appeared among them, thought they had seen a spirit, but Jesus wishing to disabuse their minds, said, “Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.” ([Luke 24 : 39].)

If we accept this plain declaration, then, we are forced to enquire what became of this physical body. It surely must have died. It is certain that if he ate and drank, he had a nutritive system—a human organism—subject to death. And what became of this “corruptible body?” Matthew and John do not pretend to know anything about the matter. Mark has no knowledge of the final disposition of his body, for the last twelve verses of Mark are generally regarded as spurious. Why should not all these writers have possessed the same information that Luke pretends to have? They do not write to complement and supplement the writings of one another, but each claims to give the important features of Jesus’ biography independently. Is not the end of Jesus’ career on earth important, in order to understand his life and character? Three of the four biographers by their silence say either that there is no importance to be attached to the ascension of Jesus, or that it was unknown to them; in other words, that it did not occur.

Passing this, we encounter irreconcilable contradictions between different writers as to the locality where Jesus appeared to his disciples after his resurrection. Matthew says the angel at the sepulcher informed the woman to “go quickly and tell his disciple that he is risen from the dead, and behold he goeth before you into Galilee; there ye shall see him.” (28 : 7.) “And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them and said, All hail!” (28 : 9.) But as the angel had instructed them to go into Galilee, so also does Jesus give the same command, “Go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me.” (28 : 10.)

Mark gives a very similar account of the woman coming to the tomb and seeing the “young man,” who said, “Be not affrighted; ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified; he is risen; he is not here; behold the place where they laid him. But go your way and tell his disciples that he goeth before you into Galilee, there ye shall see him, as he said unto you.” (16 : 6, 7.)

The writers of the third and fourth gospels know nothing of any command to go into Galilee; but on the contrary, Luke relates the command of Jesus to his disciples to remain where they were until they should receive blessings from God. “Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high.” (24 : 49.) Here is manifestly an entire unconsciousness of any necessity of the disciples for going into Galilee. For, after giving this command, Luke goes on to say, “He led them out as far as Bethany, and he lifted up his hands and blessed them. And it came to pass while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.” (24 : 50, 51.)

The two gospels of Mark and Luke make no mention of any journey; but on the contrary, the immediate ascension of Jesus precludes the possibility of it. Matthew, who knows nothing of any ascension, gives this very equivocal statement of the affair: “Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them, and when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted.” ([28 : 16, 17].) But this is too vague; the point which would most interest us to know is what they doubted and who it was that doubted. Another equally vague expression is found in the fourth gospel, where it is related of Peter and John that they went into the sepulcher, “Then went in also that other disciple which came first to the sepulcher, and they saw and believed” ([20 : 8]); but what they saw and believed is not made plain, except that they saw an empty tomb, or at least one which contained only the “linen clothes;” but what they believed concerning this empty grave we are not informed. If their belief maintained any correspondence with what they saw, they believed that they had seen an empty grave. But our difficulties do not cease; we are surprised that these early visitors of sepulchers do not see anything of the material in which Jesus was embalmed. It is recorded that “there came also Nicodemus which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight.” ([John 19 : 39].)

It is but natural to suppose that if the linen clothes were laid off, the myrrh and aloes also would be found lying with them, for there is no probability that Jesus would go abroad a la mummy. We might ask where the clothes came from that he wore after coming out of the sepulcher. His own garments had been taken by the soldiery when he died, that the scripture might be fulfilled (?), but where is the scripture fulfilled which informs us whence came his resurrection garments? He did not go into society nude, and yet we have no evidence that any provisions were made for a new suit of clothes. Some have supposed that when Mary saw him and mistook him for the gardener her mistake arose from the fact that he may have been clothed in the garments of the gardener. But how did he get possession of them?

We must return to the contradictions in regard to the embalmment of Jesus. Matthew’s version excludes the myrrh and aloes. He says, “And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his own new tomb.” ([27 : 59, 60].)