, and said:

"Why are you crying? For whom are you looking?"

Mary thought that the man must be the gardener. Through her tears she
said:

"Sir, if you have carried away the body of my Lord, tell me where you
have laid him, and I will go and take him away."

The man said softly,

"Mary!"

She looked again. She knew that voice. It was Jesus--Jesus calling her
name!

She cried out,

"Master!"

She moved as though to take hold of him. Jesus spoke again. It was
really he.

"Do not try to hold me here. I am going to my Father in heaven. But
now go and tell that to the disciples. Tell them that I am going to my
Father."

And Mary went and told the disciples,

"I have seen the Lord!"

* * * * *

Afterward, no one could ever remember clearly all that happened on
that day. No one knew what to make of it all. No one knew whether to
believe that Jesus was really alive.

Late that afternoon, two disciples were walking along the road from
Jerusalem to the village of Emmaus. They talked of what had happened
on Friday, and now on Sunday. As they were talking, a stranger joined
them. The stranger said,

"What is it that you are talking about?"

[Illustration]

The disciples stopped. They were almost too sad to speak any more,
but one of them answered,

"Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who doesn't know the things
that have been happening there these last few days?"

"What things?" the stranger asked.

[Illustration]

The disciples replied:

"Why, all about Jesus of Nazareth. He was a great prophet and teacher.
The chief priests and the rulers had him crucified. We had hoped that
he was the Messiah, who was going to save the Jewish people. But now
it is two days since he was put to death, and nothing has
happened--though there were some women who went to the tomb and came
away saying that he was risen from the dead."

The stranger said:

"O you foolish men--so slow to believe what it says in the Prophets!
Don't you see that the Messiah had to suffer this way in order to be
King?"

Then he explained everything in the Scriptures about the Messiah. He
spoke to them of how the Prophet Isaiah had said long ago:

"He was despised and cast out by men; a man of sorrows and
full of grief; and no one would look at him. He was hurt,
because we were so sinful. He suffered for our sakes. He was
killed like a lamb, and he did not try to defend himself."