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." The stranger explained that Isaiah was talking about the Messiah. The Messiah was to be humble, and sacrifice himself, like one of the lambs at the Passover feast. Isaiah meant that the only one who could help others was the one who was willing to suffer for others. The Messiah never wanted to be a king like other kings. He did not want to lord it over others. He wanted to love them, and to give his life for them. "And so," the stranger went on, "you ought not to be sad, thinking that Jesus is not the Messiah after all. Jesus has lived and died as the Scriptures said the Messiah would. His love and his sufferings prove that he really is the Messiah. And if his believers love one another, as he has loved them, and sacrifice themselves as he has done, they will have peace and joy."