Witnesses of the Resurrection
a short story written to be read aloud on the radio
the uncut version
translated from the original German
After the beam of the time machine had spit us out, we landed hard on the ground. I felt nauseated immediately, but Benjamin jumped up as though nothing were wrong. Preferring to stay on the ground, I used only my eyes to get my bearings. It was warm -- very warm -- and the sky above us was blue and cloudless. Benjamin turned around so many times that I thought he might fall down. My stomach was turning around with him, and I had to look away.
"Are we there yet?" I whined.
"Yes!" he stated happily. Then his voice lost some of its conviction. "At least I think so. Actually, we should have landed on the hill of Calvary, right before the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, but there's nobody here, and no cross. Does this look like Calvary to you, Markus?"
I didn't even want to lift my head, let alone sit up, but I did both, and survived. Unfortunately.
"Urgh," I said. "My stomach feels like it's been turned inside out."
"You're always thinking about your stomach," Benjamin said. "We've come to see if Jesus Christ really died and was resurrected, so at least try to think about him!"
He shouldn't have said that. The first thing that crossed my mind was Jesus feeding the five thousand with loaves and fishes. I was afraid that we might have landed too early and would accidentally run right into this miracle. The thought of food made me feel sicker. I might have been able to manage a piece of bread, but certainly not a fish!
"What does it say in the Bible, Markus?" Benjamin went on. "Thy faith has made thee whole? Just believe that you're feeling better."
"I suppose next you're going to say, stand up and walk," I groaned.
"See? You've barely arrived in the right year and you're already having revelations," he grinned. I wanted to kick him, but to do that, I had to stand up. Having survived that motion as well, I looked around. We were indeed on a hill, and not far from us were three great poles in the ground, which might have been parts of crosses. I felt uncomfortable and had to look away. Below the hill, I discovered a city. Immediately, I showed Benjamin the city wall, and a building I thought might be the temple. We found a path, and started to walk in that direction.
Soon afterwards, we saw a woman. I had the feeling that she hadn't come this way by accident.
Benjamin asked excitedly, "Have you ever heard of a man who preaches, does miracles, and whose name is Jesus?"
To my great surprise, the woman was able to understand him. She smiled and said, "I used to follow after him, a while ago."
She didn't even have an accent! I was amazed, but still managed to ask, "Can you take us to him?"
"I wish I could go there myself," the woman said.
Benjamin understood immediately. "Is he ... dead?"
The woman nodded. "He was crucified two months ago, on this hill. Three days after that, he was resurrected, but now he's ascended to heaven again."
"Two months ago?" Benjamin looked stricken, and I also felt a sour disappointment. Or maybe it was just my stomach.
"Too late," Benjamin sighed. Then he turned to me. "Markus, we have to go back immediately and --"
"Urgh," I protested. "Not so fast! Let my stomach calm down first."
"You and your stomach!" he hissed.
"Travelling can be very tiring," the woman said. "Would you like to come to my house and recover? I can tell you more about Jesus, and introduce you to other people who knew him."
"That sounds wonderful," I said, before Benjamin could even think about rejecting this offer.
"By the way, my name is Salome," the woman said.
"My name is Markus, and this is Benjamin," I introduced us. "We come from Germa--"
I wanted to say, from Germania, but Benjamin interrupted me by kicking me in the leg. "From far away," he said, and shot me a hard look.
"Well, come on, then, Markus and Benjamin from far away," Salome said. She led us to her little apartment and we sat down on the floor.
"Here are some fruits," she said. "I'll get you something to drink."
She laid a plate on the floor between us, and went to another corner of the room. I picked up one of the strange fruits and looked at it, then whispered, "Benjamin, what is this?"
"Haven't you ever seen a fig before?" he asked.
"We only get tangerines and chocolate for Christmas," I defended myself.
"Well, no wonder you always have stomach problems, if you never try anything new," Benjamin said.
This time, I managed a kick, and Benjamin cried out. Salome shot a worried look in our direction, and I said loudly, "Sorry. I got a cramp in my leg."
"Yeah, Markus, sure," Benjamin said sarcastically.
"Hey, tell me why I shouldn't say that we come from Germania," I asked.
"Because they'll certainly expect us to be barbarians," Benjamin replied in a tone of voice as though he were explaining something to a child. To get revenge, I replied, "Well, in your case, they'd be right."
Benjamin was not able to say anything because Salome came back at just that moment.
"Here's something to drink," she said, handing us two cups. I sipped at mine, but Benjamin took a large swallow.
"There we are," Salome said, sitting down close to us. "What would you like to hear first about Jesus?"
"Did he really die and was he really resurrected?" Benjamin asked.
"Yes," said Salome. "I can testify to that, because I was there."
Benjamin's next question was, "Was he really dead?"
"Yes," Salome said slowly. "He was crucified at the third hour, and at the ninth hour, he said, It is finished. After that, he didn't move again. We could see that he was already dead ... the others who'd also been crucified were still suffering. The Sabbath day started at evening, but it wasn't only the Sabbath, it was also the Passover Feast. The bodies weren't allowed to stay on the cross during the Sabbath, so the soldiers went around breaking the men's legs. That would make them die faster so that they could be taken down before evening. But they didn't have to do that to Jesus. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus took him off the cross, and they saw that he was truly dead."
I had expected to feel sick, but instead, I simply felt a great sadness. I murmured, "Crucifixion must be awful."
"It is the worst death that I can imagine," Salome replied.
Benjamin looked impatient, as though he wanted to get to the point, and asked, "And the Resurrection?"
Salome's face lit up a little. "Very early on the morning after the Sabbath, I met up with Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Mary Magdalene, and a few other women. We had the sweet spices and we wanted to annoint him, so we went to the grave."
"You wanted to annoint him?" I blurted out. "Although he was already dead?" I was probably somewhat shocked, and Benjamin gave me a kick. When I gave him an angry glare, he put on an innocent look and said, "Sorry, I got a cramp in my leg."
Salome decided not to hear this, and explained, "Annointing is a custom here. Don't you do that with the dead in Germania, or wherever you come from?"
I wasn't at all certain what we actually did with our dead, so I hesitated, and finally said, "No ..."
Benjamin got impatient again and asked, "Were you there when Jesus was resurrected? Did you see it?"
Salome smiled a little wistfully and said, "No, it had already happened by the time we arrived. We had just been wondering who would roll the stone away, but then we saw that the grave had already been opened. We went in slowly, and it was empty. We kept looking around, but we couldn't explain it. But then suddenly, it got lighter, and then two angels were standing next to us."
"Angels?" Benjamin repeated.
Perhaps Salome thought she heard some disbelief or even mocking in his voice, because she said energetically, "They were angels. They wore shining garments, and they could not have come from outside, because we were standing between them and the door. Besides that, there was this feeling in the room like ... something holy. Peaceful, and yet at the same time, so awe-inspiring. The angels said to us, Why seek ye the living among the dead? We were all so surprised, because we had expected to find a dead body. It was only later that we remembered that Jesus had said he would rise again on the third day."
It seemed to me that her face shone a little at this memory. Unfortunately, we were disturbed in the very next sentence, and the shine, or the hint of it, disappeared.
"He appeared first to Mary Magdalene --" Salome was just starting to say when there was a knock at the door. Salome opened up, and I heard her call out, "Mary! You must have come because you heard us talking about you!"
"Oh, and I thought it was because I'd been clumsy and spilled an entire plate of figs right into the fire," she said. She had a little laugh in her voice as though she found everything around her very amusing. "I wanted to ask if you could loan some to me."
"Here, you can have mine," I said, and lifted up the plate.
"You are a polite guest," said Salome, "but I do have plenty. Mary, we were just talking about Jesus Christ. Sit down and tell these young men about what it was like when we found the empty grave."
Mary started to talk before she'd finished seating herself. "Oh, was I scared! I thought the High Priest had come to take his body away and throw it on a garbage dump somewhere! It was such a horrible thought! I started to cry even before I got to the tomb!"
"Did you see the angels, too?" Benjamin asked.
"Yes." Mary smiled. "I bent down to look in and see where the other women were, and then I saw the angels. They looked at me and asked me why I was crying. I just had time to explain that I thought someone had taken Jesus away, and then I had to start crying again. Then I turned around."
"Don't make it so suspenseful," Salome urged. "Young men don't want to hear about tears!"
She was right, but I didn't want to admit it. I just hoped that Mary didn't start crying here, because I didn't know how to deal with crying women. Perhaps Benjamin shared my fear, because he quickly said, "Tell us more."
Mary nodded. "I turned around and then I realized that there was a man standing behind me. I was still crying -- yes, yes, I know, but it's important for you to know that I couldn't see properly because of my tears. I only heard him ask, Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? I thought it could only be the gardener, although his voice did sound somewhat familiar. I asked him to tell me where he had taken Jesus, and dried my eyes at the same time. Then he said my name, and I was able to see again, and I recognized him. It was Jesus Christ himself! I could hardly believe it! The last time I'd seen him, he was naked, covered in blood, and dead. And now he stood in front of me, clothed, clean, and alive! I just looked at him for the longest time, and he looked at me, and there was the same love in his eyes as before, if not more. It was not a deception. It could not have been a deception. It was Jesus."
As she spoke, I felt a tingling deep inside of me. I wanted her to continue talking, but unfortunately, we were interrupted yet again. The door opened and three men came in. It turned out that two of them, James and John, were the sons of Salome. There was also a certain Thomas with them, whom they introduced as their brother in the faith. Salome was very pleased to see them, and it was obvious that she had not expected them. I thought it was probably not a coincidence that they'd come by just at that moment. In any case, Salome began to explain everything about our conversation, and soon the men were sitting on the floor next to us.
"Where do you come from?" James wanted to know.
"From Germa --" I said, just to bother Benjamin. I'd meant to pull my legs away, but he was too fast.
"Sorry," he said. "My leg cramps, you know."
I looked at him and rejoiced in silence as James offered in all seriousness, "Shall we lay our hands on your head and heal you?"
Benjamin was so embarrassed! But at length he recovered and said stiffly, "Thank you, but I think they will go away on their own."
John was more like his mother, prepared to ignore certain things. "So, you come from far away, and you've heard of Jesus?"
Benjamin nodded. "We had hoped to find him alive so that we could see him ourselves. But now we've found out that we're too late. Actually, we might as well go again."
"I know that feeling," said Thomas. "I myself was not there, when he showed himself to his disciples the first time. When the others told me he'd been there, I just could not believe it. I wanted to see him myself, touch him myself, and be convinced myself!"
Benjamin smiled for the first time and cried, "Well? Did you get to see him?"
"I did," said Thomas, "one week after. We were all gathered in one room and suddenly, he appeared in the midst of us. You know, Jesus once brought a man forth from the dead -- Lazarus. He came out of the tomb. We all saw that he came out on foot. He was still wearing the clothes he'd been buried in, and he looked exactly as he'd looked when he was alive. His hair had started to get thin, and he still had scars, that sort of thing. He looked mortal. But Jesus came into the room, and we didn't know where he'd come from. He couldn't have walked in on foot, because the door was shut. It was completely different than with Lazarus. And Jesus looked completely different than Lazarus had looked -- alive, but not mortal anymore. We read in the scriptures about Moses and the burning bush, how the bush burned but was not consumed. Jesus almost looked like he was burning -- no flames, but -- oh, I can't explain it!"
I felt that tingling again. I had shut my eyes to try and imagine what had happened. Now I suggested, "Perhaps as though he were standing in a sunbeam, although there was no sunbeam in the room?"
"Yeah, like that," Thomas mused. Then he looked into my face. "You almost sound as though you've seen him yourself."
"No," I said. "I just have a vivid imagination."
"Huh," Thomas grunted. "I don't have any imagination. I can't imagine anything until I've seen it. Jesus knew that. When he appeared to us, he turned directly to me and said, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands. He stretched out both hands, and I could see the marks on them. I didn't want to hurt him, but where he'd once had wounds, everything looked healed. I was able to touch him, and so I did. There were only scars, as though the crucifixion had taken place years ago. One of the soldiers had thrust a lance into his side, to see if he were already dead. This wound had healed, too. Right then, I believed that he'd been resurrected."
Slowly, Benjamin asked, "Could he have been a spirit?"
It was James who answered this time. "When he appeared to us the first time, we were quite afraid, because that's exactly what we thought, too. But he invited us to touch him, too. He said to us, a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have."
Thomas stretched out his arms. "Take my hands! Do you feel my flesh and my bones?"
Benjamin took one of his hands, I grasped the other, and Thomas continued, "That's exactly what Jesus felt like. Flesh and bones!"
I let go and considered this.
Salome had gone into another corner of the room to do something, but now she raised her voice. "When we came back into the city from the tomb, Jesus appeared to us on the way. We threw ourselves at his feet, and held them, and we also felt flesh and bones. And the wounds in his feet and ankles were also healed, just like Thomas said."
John spoke again. "He also ate, right in front of our eyes. We brought him a piece of fried fish, and he ate it. A spirit could not have eaten. After that, we didn't doubt any more. But I also saw something different about him -- after his resurrection, Jesus looked renewed to me."
"Renewed," cried Thomas. "That's the word!"
"That's the meaning of the resurrection," John said, quietly but firmly. "The spirit comes back into the body and the body is renewed, or rather, changed from corruptible to incorruptible, from mortal to immortal. I know that Jesus has been resurrected. I saw him before and after his death, and I testify of that."
The tingling in my heart grew stronger. Actually, it wasn't so much a tingling as a feeling of joy.
"I also give my testiomony that he is risen," said James, with the same quiet but firm tone of voice.
Thomas' voice was somewhat louder. "I didn't want to believe until I'd seen him, but now that I have seen him, I know that he is risen. I also testify to this truth."
"I testify as well," said Salome from her corner.
Mary's little sob was quite audible. "Oh, now I'm starting to cry again, but me, too."
To my surprise, I heard my own voice next. "Before I came here, I thought I believed, but now I really do!" I said.
"That's good," said Thomas. "Jesus said, blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. And you, Benjamin? Do you believe?"
I glanced over to Benjamin, hoping that he felt the same thing. He was quiet for a long time, and just as I was starting to feel disappointed, he suddenly whispered, "I believe you ... I used to think that I had to see to believe, but now I think I could stay here without having the feeling that I've missed something."
Stay here? I hadn't expected that! Confused, I asked, "Benjamin, didn't you want to get back immediately?"
He thought for a moment. "Yeah, I did, but not anymore. We could stay here for a while -- there's no need to go anywhere else now."
No need to go anywhere else? This did not sound good. "But you want to go back sometime, right?"
"To-morrow, or maybe the day after. Don't panic, Markus!" He laughed.
"I'm not panicking, I'm just getting an overview of the situation," I said with too much relief in my voice, and Benjamin laughed again.
John spoke up again. "You'll know when it's time to go back. In the meantime, you can gladly stay here."
"Of course you can," said Salome. There was a bubbling hiss from her corner, and a moment later, I caught a whiff of fish. In astonishment, I realized that it didn't make me nauseated. In fact, it actually smelled appetizing. Right after, Salome invited us to stay for dinner, and I didn't mind accepting.
"Perhaps I might even try a fig now that I'm here," I said.
"Oh, don't do that!" Benjamin cried in mock alarm. I looked questioningly at him, and he said, "If you've got something new hanging out of your mouth, how will I ever recognize you?"
I had no idea what he was talking about.
"Don't they say, by their fruits shall ye know them?" he crowed, and dodged nimbly when I wanted to kick him.
The End
If you liked this story, you might want to read this little narration that I wrote for the ward Christmas Party in December 2004:
Angels We Have Heard On High.