Jesus' disciples and friends were thus deeply saddened by the loss of the Master. Yet they were somewhat consoled when they remembered his promise that he would rise again on the third day after his death. The one who had more faith in his promise than the others and who gladly waited for its fulfilment was Mary Magdalene, one of his followers who had previously been a prostitute. She had once been rescued by Jesus with the wise and sympathetic judgment: "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her". He, the friend of "sinners" and sufferers, had saved her from stoning, from a criminal verdict returned by sinful men against a sinful fellow being. This is what she had never forgotten, because, when those who had condemned her went out one by one, rendered powerless by Jesus' judgment, and when the mild merciful words: "Neither do I condemn thee" sounded in her ears, then she suddenly saw in Jesus the "Saviour". And from then on faithfully she followed him.
      Sadly but yet with a slight nebulous hope Mary made her way to the sepulchre in the early morning after the sabbath. But for her there happened what happens to every one of those left behind who comes to the grave of a dead one; she found the tomb empty. The "dead" are not in the graves, they are in a place of light, in a "forecourt" of the divine kingdom; they are in "heaven". So Jesus too was not in the sepulchre. Yet he had made an exception: for a short moment that morning he showed himself at the tomb, but that occurred only to prove the indestructibility of life and the eternal existence of the spirit to the guardians of death. And for those few seconds the grave was not a grave, it was a sun, a blinding light, it was heaven's portal opened to let God's emissary return into the physical world.
      Mary Magdalene was the first person whom the Saviour met after his luminous return through the grave into the material world. Through her sorrow and through disillusionment at the sight of the empty sepulchre she first kept her eyes lowered; therefore she did not recognize the man before her immediately. But when she heard her name "Mary" pronounced in the well-known and beloved voice which in the past had impressed her soul so deeply, her eyes lifted in a flash to the returned Saviour, and she stretched out a hand to catch and kiss the edge of his garment. She did not know how dangerous such a touch would be; she did not know that the body before her was not the same as Jesus' previous familiar body, but that it was a copy of it, a copy composed of spiritual material and made manifest by the will of the Saviour; she did not know either that because of the recent events at the sepulchre this copy was still pulsating so strongly that it would be mortally dangerous for any person on earth to touch it. But the Master prevented the touch and drew her attention to the danger. He said to her that he had not yet ascended to his Father, the Father of mankind, to his God, the God of mankind, and that therefore he would be for some time living in a realm in which he could make himself visible to material eyes. He told her that in a place which he had indicated in Galilee all the disciples and friends would have an opportunity of seeing him once more. And Mary was beaming with joy when she departed to inform the "brethren" of the joyful promise. Later Jesus appeared to several other friends before he finally met them all together.
      One evening they were all sitting together in the place which Jesus had indicated. The door was locked, as they feared the Jews. Then it happened that a small white light appeared in the centre of the room; blue elements formed in it and gradually took on more exact shapes. Those present watched tensely; with ineffable delight they finally recognized the features of Jesus in the blue configuration, and their rapture increased still further when the light vanished and the beloved figure of their master remained among them, clearly visible with arms outstretched in invitation. And his voice too sounded familiar to them with its "Peace be unto you". After that noble salutation Jesus convinced them all, even the most sceptical, of his real continuing existence. He explained his mission to them, the meaning of his sufferings and his death, his resurrection and reappearances. He exhorted them to observe love's great law ceaselessly, and he ordered them to go out into all the world in order to teach all nations and "every creature" about his life and deeds.
      Once more Jesus consoled and encouraged them; to many of them he gave loving advice in their personal affairs and difficulties. And for the last time in the physical realm he pressed each separate disciple and friend to his breast. Finally the white light appeared again; it increased and vibrated and surrounded the Master more and more. Those present saw the Saviour gradually become one with that light and disappear. God's emissary had returned to his Father. But the white light carried his last loving message over the whole world, to towns, countries and continents, across forests, deserts and oceans, even into the distant future as far as our time, into cottages and factories, through peace, through war and revolutions – the message: "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world".