John 6 they therefore rejected it." Jesus' response, "Does this offend you? What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before? (John 6:60-61) could be interpreted as: or it could mean William Robertson Nicoll suggests that "the second interpretation gives the better sense: you will find it easier to believe I came down from heaven, when you see me returning thither". In John's Gospel, Jesus' ascension "to where he was before" takes place through His death and resurrection: the Ascension on the Mount of Olives 40 days after Jesus' resurrection is not recorded in John's Gospel.
Historicity and origin of the resurrection of Jesus 'the women saw him first,' 'no, I did; they didn't see him at all,' and so on." "That Jesus' followers (and later Paul) had resurrection experiences is, in my judgment, a fact. What the reality was that gave rise to the experiences I do not know." James Dunn notes that whereas the apostle Paul's resurrection experience was "visionary in character" and "non-physical, non-material," the accounts in the Gospels are very different. He contends that the "massive realism'...of the [Gospel] appearances themselves can only be described as visionary with great difficulty - and Luke would certainly reject the description as inappropriate,"