When the disciples sat stunned before the crucified body of their Lord, it was Mary Magdalene who asked them whether they were mourning His body or His spirit, and told them that Jesus lives. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá returns to that scene whenever He explains the resurrection of Christ. For two or three days after the martyrdom the reality of Christ, His teachings and spiritual power, lay hidden, and His Cause was like a lifeless body; on the third day the apostles, steadied by one steadfast woman, arose to serve Him, and the religion of Christ rose with them. Heaven, in the same reading, is not the sky but the Kingdom of God, from which Christ came though born of Mary and to which He returned; the cloud on which He is awaited is the human body that veils the Sun of Truth; the fish and honeycomb eaten after Easter are symbols to be understood in the spirit. Luke, with his insistence on hands and feet, flesh and bones and a meal shared, states the other reading in its strongest form, and the two deserve to be held side by side with their difference intact [1]. From here the way leads to Mary Magdalene herself, to the crucifixion and ascension, and to the interpretation of scripture more widely.
"Just as in the time of Christ: the disciples were agitated when they saw the body of Jesus crucified. Then Mary Magdalene came to them and said: 'Why are you agitated?' 'Because,' they replied, 'Jesus has been crucified.' 'Oh,' she said, 'that was the body of Jesus, but the Reality of Jesus is living and eternal. It is not subject to corruption.'
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to Juliet Thompson et al, spoken on 1909-Jul-10 -- ABU1052)
02
After the Lord Christ suffered, the disciples wept, and gave way to their grief. They thought that their hopes were shattered, and that the Cause was utterly lost, till Mary Magdalene came to them and strengthened them saying: 'Do you mourn the body of Our Lord or His Spirit? If you mourn His Spirit, you are mistaken, for Jesus lives! His Spirit will never leave us!' Thus through her wisdom and encouragement the Cause of Christ was upheld for all the days to come. Her intuition enabled her to grasp the spiritual fact.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken in Sep. 1911 in London -- ABU2288)
03
We explain, therefore, the meaning of Christ's resurrection in the following way: After the martyrdom of Christ, the Apostles were perplexed and dismayed. The reality of Christ, which consists in His teachings, His bounties, His perfections, and His spiritual power, was hidden and concealed for two or three days after His martyrdom, and had no outward appearance or manifestation--indeed, it was as though it were entirely lost. For those who truly believed were few in number, and even those few were perplexed and dismayed. The Cause of Christ was thus as a lifeless body. After three days the Apostles became firm and steadfast, arose to aid the Cause of Christ, resolved to promote the divine teachings and practise their Lord's admonitions, and endeavoured to serve Him. Then did the reality of Christ become resplendent, His grace shine forth, His religion find new life, and His teachings and admonitions become manifest and visible.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Chapter 23, The Resurrection of Christ, 1904 ca. -- AB00575)
04
As to the resurrection of the body of Christ three days subsequent to His departure: This signifies the divine teachings and spiritual religion of His Holiness Christ, which constitute His spiritual body, which is living and perpetual forevermore.
By the "three days" of His death is meant that after the great martyrdom, the penetration of the divine teachings and the spread of the spiritual law became relaxed on account of the crucifixion of Christ. For the disciples were somewhat troubled by the violence of divine tests. But when they became firm, that divine spirit resurrected and that body--which signifies the divine word--arose.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1903-Mar-08, to Francis J Phelps -- AB01126)
05
The greatness of her station was not known during her lifetime, but after nineteen hundred years God has made it clear that this woman was the most steadfast of all the followers of His Holiness Christ. After the crucifixion his disciples were greatly agitated, even Peter who, although he had denied His Holiness Christ to be, was considered the chief of the apostles, but this marvelous woman caused them to become firm and steadfast. Through the power of her faith they were able to see that though the body of Christ had been crucified yet his spirit or reality had not suffered but was with them still; that his body was like a torn and discarded garment, but that his spirit was eternal and indestructible. Thus the disciples became reorganized through her exhortations and exhibition of firmness.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken on 1912-Oct-21 in San Francisco -- ABU1908)
06
On the third day, Mary Magdalene became the cause of their steadfastness and firmness. The Cause of Christ rose again and His teachings were revived, for Mary Magdalene explained to the disciples that what had occurred affected only the body of Christ - nothing had befallen the reality of Christ. Christ was living and enduring, and was ascending to the heaven of reality.
By heaven is not meant the physical heaven but the spiritual heaven.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1912-Jan-19, to Schweizer, Friedrich et al -- AB12232)
07
Verily the heaven into which the Messiah rose up was not this unending sky, rather was His heaven the Kingdom of His beneficent Lord. Even as He Himself hath said, 'I came down from heaven,' and again, 'The Son of Man is in heaven.' Hence it is clear that His heaven is beyond all directional points; it encircleth all existence, and is raised up for those who worship God.
… Rather, the cloud referred to in the Gospel is the human body, so called because the body is as a veil to man, which, even as a cloud, preventeth him from beholding the Sun of Truth that shineth from the horizon of Christ.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1904 or <, to George T Winterburn -- AB01866)
08
Q. Then you do not mean this phenomenal heaven?
A. I mean the heaven from which Christ descended and to which he ascended--the heaven of divine Will, the heaven of spirituality.
A question sent by a Baha'i: "What is the meaning of Christ's eating the fish and honey after his resurrection?"
'Abdu'l-Baha answered: "All these things - the fish, the honeycomb etc, are symbols and were meant to be understood spiritually, just as the Resurrection itself was a spiritual resurrection. But because the people who received these teachings from the first teachers were ignorant, they understood them literally."
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to Miss Rosenberg, spoken around 1909-Jan-09 -- ABU3231)
10
Know thou that the Messianic Spirit and the out-pouring of the Holy Spirit is always manifest, but capacity and ability (to receive it) is more in some and less in others. After the crucifixion the apostles had not in the beginning the capacity and ability of witnessing the Messianic reality. For they were agitated. But when they found firmness and steadfastness, their inner sight became opened, and thy saw the reality of the Messiah as manifest. For the body of Christ was crucified and vanished, but the Spirit of Christ is always pouring upon the contingent world, and is manifest before the insight of the people of assurance.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1904-Jun-16, to Francis J Phelps -- AB03757)