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1 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. 2 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!”

3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10 Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.

11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).

17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

 

I find it intriguing that across all four gospels that the women are the first to experience the news of Christ’s resurrection. But in truth, it makes complete sense. The women are the first ones to go to the tomb to provide a final service to their teacher and Lord. In John’s gospel though, it is only after the men have come and gone that the messengers and Jesus appear to Mary. Mary stayed and wept. Amid her taking time to mourn and be vulnerable, Jesus shows himself to comfort his friend.

 

Sometimes, like the men, we want answers to questions or to do the thing that needs done. Once we complete this task and move onto the next and the one after that. The disciples had seen Christ had risen and recognized the truth of what they had been told. But they moved on to the next thing quickly; to take the next step. But Mary stops and takes a moment to experience what is happening and connects what is happening on an emotional and spiritual level.

 

I think we need to be more like Mary in our lives. We need to stop rushing and live in the moments of our lives fully. To express our emotions and seek to truly understand those important moments in our lives instead of using them as the jumping off point for the next ‘thing’ we need to accomplish. Gd calls us to dwell in the quietness of life – even in the silence of a vacant tomb.

 

Father, Son, and Holy Sirit, help me to slow down and experience your presence in my life so that I can fully understand and treasure what happens. Amen.

 

 

Chad Ryberg Cryberg@livinglord.org

 

Prayer Concern: Peace in the busy-ness of life.