Risen Indeed
OPENING PRAYER:
Mighty God, you are ever able to do more than I ask or think. Let your Word of hope and resurrection fill me with joy.
The Empty Tomb
20 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.
John 20:1-10
REFLECT:
Share with Jesus any doubts and fears you have and ask for his reassurance.
What was that first Easter Day really like? Many of us are so familiar with the story, and the biblical accounts make it sound straightforward. In fact, it was a day of surprises, of confusing stories, and conflicting emotions – a day in which faith and doubt, fear and hope alternated.
Mary and other women had seen where Joseph and Nicodemus had placed the body of Jesus (Mark 15:47). Early on the Sunday morning they come with heavy hearts to anoint his body, only to find the tomb empty. For John, there is the beginning of faith (v 8), but it is not complete. None of them grasps the full significance (v 9) or understands what God has planned all along, although the body has gone, and the arrangement of the linen does not suggest a body stolen. (Had the body been moved by human hands, the graveclothes would have been taken or left discarded on the floor.) Full certainty came later, based on the facts they observed and their meetings with the risen Lord.
Based on their testimony, we can have every confidence that Jesus is alive. We can see this as a day of great joy, a day to celebrate the defeat of death and the gift of new life. Things will never be the same again.
APPLY:
Whatever doubts and fears you may have, rejoice in the new life that you have in Jesus.
CLOSING PRAYER:
Merciful Father, make me the kind of Christian who invites rather than hinders faith.
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