John 20:1-2 (NIV)
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
The other gospel writers make it clear that Mary Magdalene (along with Mary, Salome, and some other women – Mark 16:1-2, Luke 24:1) went to the tomb very early that Sunday morning with a distinct purpose in mind. They had watched Joseph and Nicodemus prepare Jesus’ body for the hasty burial on Friday afternoon, but were dissatisfied with what had been done. Because of the haste caused by the speedily approaching sundown which would begin the Sabbath, Jesus’ body hadn’t been properly washed or anointed with oil. It had simply been wrapped in linen and spices and sealed into the tomb.
Immediately after the tomb had been sealed, the women went into town and bought some oils and spices before the markets closed and prepared their supplies before the Sabbath began. Their intention was to go to the tomb at first light on Sunday, after the Sabbath was over (Luke 23:56), and to redo the job more properly.
As they walked to the tomb on Sunday morning, they were worried that they wouldn’t be able to get in, because the stone that they had seen rolled in front of the door was huge, very heavy (Mark 16:3). But when they got there, they found the stone moved to the side, and the tomb wide open; not a good sign!
They looked into the tomb (they knew that they had the right one, because they had watched the burial standing right across from it – Luke 23:55), but the tomb was empty. Only the burial cloths were laying on the slab, flat and empty (John 20:5).
Mary took off right away, leaving the other women in the dust. She ran to the upper room where the disciples were staying and gasped out the news: someone had broken into the tomb and had stolen Jesus’ body. And she had no idea where the body had been taken!
Nobody moved or said anything for a few moments while the incomprehensible news sank in. Then everyone started talking and moving at once.
Father, the actions of the women and the disciples at what should have been good news and solid confirmation of what Jesus had told them shows that they never really understood or believed Jesus when He told them that He would rise from the dead. How sad! They believed that Jesus was the Messiah, the promised King, the Savior of the world, but they wouldn’t believe what He had promised. It struck me just now how similar we are today. We believe all those things about Jesus, but we discount or reinterpret promises He made to His followers because we don’t really believe that they can be true for us. Forgive us, Lord! Help us to look at those promises again, and to receive them in the simple faith that Jesus never promised anything that He is not able to literally fulfill. Amen.
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