top of page

Spiritual Contemplation

Narrative 7, for  Easter Saturday: The Resurrection and the Meeting with Mary Magdalene

Spiritual Easter - 07 - The Resurrection

Spiritual Easter English

EASTER SATURDAY - Day 07
THE RESURRECTION AND APPEARANCE TO MARY MAGDALENE
Chapters 84 and 85 of the Gospel of the Holy Twelve

Narrative:

Narrative 7, for Easter Saturday: The Resurrection and the Meeting with Mary Magdalene

Reflection:

Reflection 7, for Easter Saturday: The Crucial Victory Over Yourself

Narrative:

Narrative 7, for Easter Saturday: The Resurrection and the Meeting with Mary Magdalene

Chapters 84 and 85 of The Gospel of the Holy Twelve

After the Sabbath was ended, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb bearing the spices which she had prepared, and there were others with her. As they were going, they said among themselves, “Who shall roll away the stone from the door of the tomb?” For it was large. When they came to the place and looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away. Behold there was a great earthquake; and the angel of the Lord descended from heaven and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon it. His countenance was like lighting and his clothing white as snow; and for fear of him the keepers shook and became as dead.

The angel answered and said to the women, “Fear not, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he is risen, as he said. Come see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold he goes before you into Galilee. There you shall see him; lo, I have told you.” They entered in and did not find the body of Jesus. Then Mary ran and came to Simon Peter and the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord away out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”

They ran and came to the tomb, and looking in, they saw the linen cloths lying there, and the napkin that had been about his head lying not with the linen cloths, but folded up in a place by itself. While they were standing there much perplexed, behold, two angels stood by them in glistening garments of white, and said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, he is risen; and, behold, he goes before you into Galilee. There you shall see him. Do you not remember how he spoke to you, when he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man should be crucified and that he would rise again after the third day?”

And they remembered his words. They went out quickly and fled from the tomb, for they trembled with amazement, and they were afraid. At the time of the earthquake, the graves were opened; and many of the saints who slept arose and came out of the graves after his resurrection and went into the city and appeared to many. But Mary stood outside the tomb weeping, and as she wept, she again stooped down and looked into the tomb and saw two angels in white garments, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.

And they said to her, “Woman, why do you weep?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” And when she had said this, she turned around, and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why do you weep? Whom do you seek?” She, supposing him to be the gardener, said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away from here, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned around and said to him, “Rabboni”; which is to say, “Master.” Jesus said to her, “Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father and my Mother, but go to my brethren, and say to them, ‘I ascend to my Parent and your Parent, to my God and your God.’”Mary Magdalene went and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things to her, and commanded her to announce his resurrection from the dead.

Jesus Appears to two disciples at Emmaus

Behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus which was about seven miles from Jerusalem. They talked together of all these things which had happened. It came to pass, that while they spoke together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognising him.He said to them, “What manner of communications do you have with each other, as you walk and are sad?” One of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering, said to him, “Are you only a stranger in Jerusalem and do not know the things which have happened there in these days?” He said to them, “What things?”

And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people; and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. But we trusted that he was the one to redeem Israel; and besides all this, three days have passed since these things were done. Yes, and certain women, also of our company, astonished us, for they were early at the tomb; and when they did not find his body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive.

Certain of them who were with us went to the tomb and found it as the women had said; but they did not see him.” Then he said to them, “O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken; was it not necessary for Christ to have suffered these things, and then to enter into his glory?” Beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. They drew near the village where they went, and he made as though he would have gone further. But they constrained him, saying, “Stay, with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.”

So he went in to stay with them. As he sat at table with them, he took bread and the fruit of the vine, and gave thanks, blessed it, and broke it, and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight. They said one to another, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked with us on the road, and while he opened the scriptures to us?” They rose up the same hour and returned to Jerusalem and found the twelve and those who were with them gathered together, saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon.”

Then they told what things had happened on the road and how he was known to them in breaking of bread. While they were on the road to Emmaus, some of the guards came into the city and told Caiaphas what had happened. The elders conferred with the high priest and said, “Behold, while the soldiers slept, some of his disciples came and took his body away; and is not Joseph of Arimathea one of his disciples? For this reason then he begged the body from Pilate that he might bury it in his garden in his own tomb. Let us therefore give money to the soldiers, telling them to say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we slept.’ And if this comes to the ears of the governor we will persuade him not to accuse them.”

Reflection:

Reflection 7, for Easter Saturday: The Crucial Victory Over Yourself

The cross is one of the oldest symbols of humanity. It is a universal symbol which can be found in many cultures and in many forms. We know the swastika from ancient India, the ankh from ancient Egypt, the medicine wheel of the Indians and of course the Latin cross, which is connected to Christianity.

Each symbol speaks a unique language that addresses the deeper levels of our consciousness, particularly the inner being within us. If we, in our desire to find the truth, focus on universal symbols, then we connect with that language. A universal symbol such as the cross can always be understood in several ways, not only with the head but also particularly with the heart. The heart has its reasons which reason does not know.

Universal symbols emanate a great power. The universal cross tells us about the connection between eternity and time: how imperishable spiritual power flows into the material world. It shows us how the world and humanity can raise themselves up to eternity by means of the cross.

The dynamic reality of the cross is the gate or the ladder through which resurrection into a higher field of life is possible. The human being who follows the gnostic path becomes a cross himself: the body strong although perishable as wood, nevertheless imperishable with regard to the inner power originating from the intersection, the spirit-spark.

The universal cross is a shining and joyful symbol of faith, hope and love. But because the image of the crucifixion has been approached by most people only as to its outer side, the cross has become an object of wood primarily associated with pain, suffering and death.

The stories about the crucifixion of Jesus as described in the Gospels have been wrongly understood for centuries. Not knowing that they are actually symbolic stories about inner liberation, most can see only the outer side of the stories. The profound truth contained therein is veiled and will only be released for people who are able to carry it and to spread it.

A liberating religion can never be proven or made plausible by scientific means, exactly because it is directed to the inner man. Only the touchstone of inner knowledge, of our own inner tribunal, can determine what ‘truth’ is. The truth that wells up inwardly and is recognised, however, is always subject to interpretation by the outer man, for truth has many facets, but the human mind is limited.

Our consciousness can assimilate the truth only in part, and it changes daily. Therefore: be prepared to release today’s truth for the new truth of tomorrow.

As it is said in chapter 69 of The Gospel of the Holy Twelve:

“even among the prophets and those who have been initiated into the Christhood, the word of error has been found. But there are a multitude of errors which are covered by love.”

The Gospel of the Holy Twelve 69: 6

The phenomenon that we know as the crucifixion is not exclusively Christian as we find it already with Plato. Several centuries before the birth of Jesus, Plato wrote that the world-soul reveals itself in the form of an X or a cross (Timaeus); that the righteous will be “whipped, beaten, bound, stabbed and eventually will be crucified” (The Republic), and that the soul is nailed to the body through passions (Phaedo).

The symbolism of the cross and the seemingly simple but profound crucifixion is also imbued with mystery wisdom. In section 101 of an apocryphal book called The Acts of John, Jesus, the inner man, says: “The things they say about me I had not, and the things they do not say, those I suffered.”

This is true, because from the outer, historical point of view Jesus as a human being has actually endured the crucifixion, has suffered and died. But the real Jesus of which the mysteries speak is the inner man. That is the Jesus who, invisible to human eyes, has built his new light-vesture through the power emanating from the cross.

Step by step this growing new spiritual body is connected with the physical body of the historical Jesus. This connection is symbolically represented by the pilgrimage of Jesus on earth and the selection of the disciples. The imperishable soul voluntarily nails itself to the perishable body, delivering itself to the passions of man. That is the story told us by the imprisonment of Jesus.

The disciples and Jesus remain together for some time. And when it is said that Jesus received them ‘in his body’, then this can be taken literally: the twelve personality forces are absorbed in the radiation of the new spiritual body so that the personality may also be subject to the transformation process through the soul. The disciples are prepared for the resurrection of the inner man. They flee, however, just before the sentencing by Caiaphas and Pilate for they still partly belong to the material world.

And that is what makes it mysterious, that is the real mystery of Christianity: the narrative speaks about two crucifixions, two processes. The physical body of Jesus ‘gave up his spirit’ in order to enable the new spiritual body of Jesus to be liberated from the visible body, from the attachment to the cross. That is why Jesus, the inner man, says (and we repeat): “The things they say about me I had not, and the things they do not say, those I suffered.”

The outer man and the outer world are symbolised by the horizontal beam of the cross. The inner man, Jesus, attached himself to this beam, thereby crucifying himself at the time of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. From that moment onward the power of the ‘kingdom of the soul’ descends into the world and into the hearts of all those who follow the gnostic path. In this way the vertical post of the living cross is erected.

The cross was planted in the earth at the birth of Jesus: Jesus tied himself to the outer world. That is his suffering; that is his real passion: carrying the cross through the world up to the Crucifixion. At the crucifixion his new body, the garment without seam, is liberated from the cross, while the soldiers ‘cast lots’ over all the forces of the divine world gathered together therein, meaning that these forces are conveyed to the outer world. Then Jesus the Christ can proceed to the resurrection and the ascension.

For the human being who goes the twofold spiritual path, the crucifixion simultaneously means entering into a special new state of life. Thus cleansed and transformed by the spiritual power of the inner man, he or she is still present in the world amid the turmoil of everyday life.

The inner Jesus for whom that person bears the cross, or isthe cross, is stronger than him or her. Just like the John figure, he has made himself subservient of his own free will.

The liberated inner being is unity and love; it is pure light-power that is connected to the material world through the transformed outer being. All this is symbolised by Jesus and his apostles.

A so called ‘personality change’ occurs. The outer man is still taking full responsibility for what needs to be done in life, but it is the inner being who truly ‘lives.’

In this way, for those and in those who follow this path, the crucifixion and the resurrection become a feast. The crucifixion refers to a process of liberation. It is the story of the eternal Love that descends into time in order to save that which is imprisoned so that every human being can be a living cross of Love.

The seven last words or phrases that Jesus cries out from the cross have a deep meaning. They may be seen as a summary of the gnostic path. In the phase of the crucifixion the pupil on the path takes leave of all the lower and the profane, all passions (as Plato describes them) that bind human beings to the earthly life. In that sense, the phase of the crucifixion is the crucial victory of the inner power over external ties. Two criminals are also crucified with Jesus . A deep symbolic truth lies hidden here.

Jesus incarnated with a very important mission. He entered the way of the mysteries, established a link with Christ and, by means of his ‘Way of the Cross,’ liberated the Christ Power for all of humanity. In this way he established a ‘cosmic mystery school’ in which every human being can go the way of the mysteries himself, without the intervention of priests. Therefore it is written that the veil before the Holy of Holies was torn. From that moment on the Holy of Holies has been accessible to anyone who makes himself worthy of it.

In chapter 82 of The Gospel of the Holy Twelve, we read:

And Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, “Abba Amma, into Thy hand I commend my spirit.”

When Jesus had received the vinegar, he cried aloud, “It is finished”; and he bowed his head and gave up the ghost. And it was the ninth hour.

And behold there was great thunder and lightning, and the partition wall of the Holy Place from which hung the veil fell down and was torn in two; and the earth did quake, and the rocks also were split.

Now when the centurion and those with him watching Jesus saw the earthquake and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, “Truly this was a Son of God.”

The Gospel of the Holy Twelve 82: 26-28

NarrativeTextAnchor
ReflectionTextAnchor
bottom of page