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Excellent analysis and I agree with you. Clearly, just seeing miracles isn’t enough to generate faith or at least not the faith necessary to sustain belief.

Jesus had made the metaphors more than clear and we don’t have everything that He said to the disciples and it would be ridiculous to assume that the closest twelve didn’t have even more detailed knowledge or discussions with Jesus. The NT narrative is not one to one across time. That is it doesn’t record everything. We have to think for ourselves.

You’ve really hit it on the head with your description of the early moments at the tomb.

What we are witnessing is a complete refutation of the Judaic Error. Their law wasn’t God-made, but man-made. The hedge wasn’t about protecting God’s word, but their own prestige, perks and privileges. God’s Law is Natural Law. Wherein did He decree that women are less than men?

No where. Yet, Judaic Elites made women chattel. They abused their authority and set women below men. Women couldn’t be witnesses, yet Jesus Christ made them his first witnesses. Mary is the first living human to witness the most glorious event in the history of the world. That same world missed it nearly completely.

Jesus refutes this false “Law” and re-establishes his true Law. Moses knew and recognized this, but his people had long forgotten it.

‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani’ which is interpreted, ‘Lord, Lord, why hast thou foresaken me?’ is better translated as “My God, my God, why hast thou left me alone?” I don’t think Heavenly Father would abandon his Son in the negative sense, just left him to complete the task alone. Enkatelipes can mean forsake or abandon, but only in the negative sense. Elói in Aramaic is possessive for “God”.

Your conclusion is interesting. If even the closest, most beloved disciples missed the message - that the Messiah wasn’t a material liberator, but a spiritual one - what does it say about the Chosen People missing the message?

"If even the closest, most beloved disciples missed the message - that the Messiah wasn’t a material liberator, but a spiritual one - what does it say about the Chosen People missing the message?" I would offer that THAT is why Jesus told the disciples to wait for the Holy Spirit to be given and then He, The Holy Spirit would lead them in all things. Again, God's timing is exactly carried out because at Pentecost (the prescribed time Jews had been practicing for generations) God's Spirit came upon the believers in Jerusalem and His Spirit has been with us even unto today, just as Jesus promised. But scripture tells us that His Spirit will not always strive with men. Your salvation and mine depend upon the integrity of God, not the best I can do to obtain His Grace. When He promised the comforter would come and would remain with men until a prescribed hour, Salvation was immediately based on His integrity not mine or yours.

When He promised His Spirit would remain with us until the last hour, He is great enough to have kept His promise right throughout the past 2000 years. In this simple thing, Christinaity is at variance with the founding assertions of Mormonism. Men may argue how He has kept His promise--the myriad of denominations and the apparent dichotomy of Catholicism and Protestanism evidence men's arguing over the 'hows'--but one ought not doubt that He is powerful enough to keep His promises.