Jesus ate and slept, grew tired, fell sick and was taken captive, and so, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá observes, the people around him could not believe that one who needed bread was the manifestation of opulence. Bahá’u’lláh describes the same stumbling block: the immortal Beauty appears in the image of mortal man, with poverty and riches, sleeping and waking, and the very familiarity casts doubt. The way through is to distinguish stations, the corporeal, the rational soul and the divine manifestation, without pretending that bodily weariness or sorrow was unreal; the flesh of Christ was sorrowful and heavy, and Bahá’u’lláh in his last years hardly ate. The Letter to the Hebrews holds the same two truths together, an exalted high priest who can sympathise with our weakness [1]. Even the dust of the Prophets is ordinary dust, precious only through its association with a great spiritual power. The inquiry leads on to the Manifestation’s inability to comprehend God, to the lack of formal education that accompanies a special knowledge, and finally back to ourselves: if even the Prophets sometimes grew tired and cried out, we may be patient with our own poor selves.
For instance, the people noticed that Jesus Christ was the same as all other men as regards eating, drinking, sleeping, sickness, fatigue, clothing and lodging. They said he was one like themselves and did not understand how he could be the Son of God. As he was a human being, a natural man, the people wondered how he could claim to be a heavenly man.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to Will and Wendell Dodge, spoken on 1901-Nov-24 -- ABU0076)
02
In another sense, they mean the appearance of that immortal Beauty in the image of mortal man, with such human limitations as eating and drinking, poverty and riches, glory and abasement, sleeping and waking, and such other things as cast doubt in the minds of men, and cause them to turn away.
… Viewed in the light of their second station -- the station of distinction, differentiation, temporal limitations, characteristics and standards -- they manifest absolute servitude, utter destitution and complete self-effacement.
(Bahá’u’lláh, Kitab-i-Iqan (The Book of Certitude), 1278 ca. [1861-1862], to Haji Mirza Siyyid Muhammad, great uncle of the Bab (Khal-i-Akbar) -- BH00002)
03
Those who looked at the material body of Christ and saw Him enduring all the hardships and trials, marveled that he was the Messiah because he was in this condition.
The holy Manifestations have three stations: the corporeal station, the station of the rational soul, and the station of perfect divine manifestation and heavenly splendour. Their bodies perceive things only according to the capacity of the material world; and so it is that they have at certain times expressed physical weakness. For example: "I was asleep and unconscious; the breeze of God wafted over Me, awoke Me, and summoned Me to voice His call"; or when Christ was baptized in His thirtieth year and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him, having not manifested itself in Him before this time.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Chapter 58, The Extent and Limitation of Human Perception, 1904 ca. -- AB00747)
05
Although for the last three years of His life he hardly ate anything. The servants brought the tray before Him, he looked at the various dishes, ate a few mouthfuls and it was immediately removed; yet the pulse was more than normal.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken on 1914-Mar-05 -- ABU1649)
06
Q. Are the Manifestations limited?
A. They are limited only by the capacity of souls to whom They reveal the Word.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to Julia Grundy spoken around Jan. 1905 -- ABU3576)
07
I said: The answer to your question is very simple and given in a few words: The body or the flesh was 'sorrowful and very heavy' (Math chap 26th v. 37) because it loathed to be separated from the companionship of such a divine, celestial Spirit and be returned to clay and dust. This was the secret of its weakness, sorrow and heaviness.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to the friends, spoken on 1915-May-22 -- ABU1363)
08
That the Manifestations of Divine justice, the Daysprings of heavenly grace, have when they appeared amongst men always been destitute of all earthly dominion and shorn of the means of worldly ascendancy should be attributed to this same principle of separation and distinction which animateth the Divine Purpose.
Further quotations · supplied wording and references
09
It is clear that the prophets and Manifestations of the Cause of God were sent to guide the nations, to improve their characters, and to bring the people nearer to their Source and ultimate Goal. They were not sent as historians, astronomers, philosophers, or natural scientists. … Therefore, the prophets have indulged the people in regard to their historical notions, folk stories, and scientific principles, and have spoken to them according to these. They conversed as was appropriate to their audience and hid certain realities behind the curtain of allusion.
(Mirza Abu'l-Fadl, Miracles and Metaphors, p. 9)
Supplied quotation · catalogue passage not verified
10
There is no special physical significance in the remains of the Prophets or relics of Their Persons. But there is a profound spiritual significance in the sense that Their dust was the physical mirror of the greatness of God. In other words we know God through His Prophets, Who have bodies; these bodies - Their very dust - are precious through association.
LG#1711 (13 Nov. 1944 on behalf of Shoghi Effendi)
Supplied quotation · catalogue passage not verified
11
The atoms of the Prophets are just atoms, like all others, but the association of this great spiritual power with them leaves, in the place they are laid to rest, a spiritual atmosphere, if one can use this expression. They are, no doubt, endowed with a tremendous and far-reaching power. But the physical character of their atoms are not different from other people's, any more than their bodies and physical functions are different.
LG#1712 (28 Oct. 1949 on behalf of Shoghi Effendi)
Supplied quotation · catalogue passage not verified
12
We must not only be patient with others, infinitely patient!, but also with our own poor selves, remembering that even the Prophets of God sometimes got tired and cried out in despair!
UD.456-457 (22 Oct. 1949 on behalf of Shoghi Effendi)
Supplied quotation · catalogue passage not verified