Easter Sunday, April 9, 2023

John 20, 1–9

On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.” So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first; he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in. When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there, and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place. Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed. For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead. 

“On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark.”  St. Matthew says that she (and other women) came to the tomb at dawn, as the sun began to rise.  We can understand from this that she and her helpers made the preparations for the proper care of the Lord’s Body — obtaining oils and cloths and perhaps a donkey to convey these things, for the oil might be heavy (John had already said that Nicodemus brought a hundred pound jar of oil to the tomb).  By the time all was ready, the dawn began to break.  Or, we can understand that they started their journey at dark and arrived at the dawn.  It would not have made a long journey, but they would have to send their way through the streets of Jerusalem.  “And [she] saw the stone removed from the tomb.”  John does not mention the guards, for they were extraneous, and he does not mention the angel(s) that the other Evangelists do.  This could be because John wanted to highlight the announcement to the Apostles and their subsequent actions.  Matthew, in a similar way, tells us that the angel who spoke to the women told them to look inside the womb and they almost certainly did, but he does not say so.  

The fact that the stone was moved, in John’s account, moved Mary Magdalene to run to the Apostles.  She does not run home in despair.  She knows something unprecedented has happened.  The sort of tomb in which the Lord’s Body was laid belonged to a rich family — everyone else was buried in the ground.  It was a vault carved out of the rock in the hills near the city.  It would have been large enough to hold several bodies, though this tomb has never been used before.  The opening would have been wide enough for bearers to carry in a body, and a rock of a size sufficient would have covered the opening.  The rock was fitted to the opening so that air did not go in or out.  Some tombs were hermetically sealed by a round slab of a rock, and that may have been true here.  It could have been opened only by a number of men equipped with ropes and wedges.  Opening a tomb in ancient times was a significant undertaking and it would have been well-known.  When Mary Magdalene saw that that rock was moved, she wondered.  The thing was impossible.  Even if someone had hired men and provided the tools to do this work, they would have had to perform this arduous work in the dark, lit only by torches, and on the Sabbath, for the Sabbath began at sunset on Friday, when work was not allowed.  When the Sanhedrin had gotten wind of this, there would be severe repercussions.  And there was no reason to think that the Sanhedrin would have moved the Lord’s dead Body., but if anyone had moved it, they were most likely involved.

“They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.”  Mary Magdalene seems to assume that the Sanhedrin or the Pharisees had taken his Body.  Her “we don’t know” confirms that other women were with her at the tomb.  Her concern is “where they put him”.  It is not that a law has been broken or the horror of a grave robbery, but the place of his Body that concerns her.  She wants to be with her Lord, even in Death, wherever his Body was.

“So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb.”. John also recalls that “they both ran”.  John ran because of his love for his Master, and Peter ran, racked with guilt over his denials.  “They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first; he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in. When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb.”  John is careful to note the sequence of events here.  In physical terms, John may have run faster because he was younger than the married Peter.  Spiritually, John teaches us that love precedes faith, for John, “the beloved disciple”, signifies love of Jesus, and Peter, who confessed before all the others that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God, signifies faith.  We become Christians because we fall in love with the Lord, and this love leads us to belief in him and his teachings.  Thus, John arrived at the tomb first, but then Peter arrived.  Peter went in that he might believe more.

“[He] saw the burial cloths there, and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place.”  Clearly, this was not the scene of a hurried grave robbery in which the invaders grab the corpse, burial cloths and all, and make their getaway.  The tomb had the orderly appearance of a bedroom attended to by a maid in the morning.  

“Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed.”  The more knowledge of the loved one the lover gains, the more the lover loves and believes.  “For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.”  The Greek text translated here as “they did not know” actually means “had not known” — the verb is in the pluperfect.  This is an important detail because it tells us that they did not previously know the Scriptures about the Resurrection of the Lord until some later time, possibly when he told them about it after the Transfiguration or at the Last Supper (in John’s Gospel).  And so John is saying that at the time of the crucifixion and burial they did not remember or if they did remember, they did not understand the teaching about his rising, but when they saw the empty tomb, they did.

“This is the day the Lord has made: let us be glad and rejoice in it!” (Psalm 118, 24).  Our love for the Lord Jesus causes us to rejoice in his rising from the dead, and our belief in him gives us extra reason to be glad, for his Resurrection is ours, and we, who are members of his Body, shall rise in his to glory.

May God bless you all on this Easter Sunday and fill you with faith and love!