IT WAS FRIDAY evening at sunset, only three hours after Jesus had died
upon his cross, when the stone at the door of the tomb was rolled
against the door, and the body of Jesus was left alone in its resting
place. All day on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, and through that night,
the body lay in the tomb, watched by Roman soldiers. But early on Sunday
morning, before the sun rose, something wonderful took place such as had
never been seen from the beginning of the world and never has been seen
since that day.
There was a great earthquake, shaking the ground around the tomb, as an
angel from heaven came down. His face and his form shone with dazzling
brightness like lightning, and his clothing was white as snow glittering
in the sun. The soldiers on guard trembled as they saw the angel, and
fell down on the ground as if they were dead; and after a little while
rising up, crept away in their fear, and left the garden.
The bright angel laid his hand on the stone at the door of the tomb,
paying no attention to the seal upon it, and rolled the stone away. As
he stood at the open door of the tomb, the Lord Jesus Christ walked out
from it, no longer dead but living, and living never to die again. The
grave clothes were not now wrapped around his body, and the napkin had
been taken from his face.
[Illustration: The women at the empty tomb listened in fear and wonder
to the words of the angel: "He is not here; he has risen!"]
If the Roman soldiers were still there, they could not see Jesus, for a
change had come over him, and he was now seen only by those whom he
wished to see him and by no others. And he could suddenly appear and
disappear as he chose. He could be seen suddenly in one place, and then
a moment after could be seen just as suddenly in another place miles and
miles away. He could pass through closed doors just as if they were wide
open; and after being seen by his friends could vanish out of their
sight.
A few moments after the earthquake, and after the risen Christ had come
from his tomb, a few women came from the city to the tomb, bringing some
more spices and perfumes to place around his body. Those women were Mary
Magdalene, and Mary the wife of Clopas, and Salome, and a woman named
Joanna, and perhaps others. They may have felt the earthquake shock, but
they did not know the wonderful things that had taken place, and
supposed that the body of Jesus was in the tomb. As they came near, they
said to each other:
"Who will roll away for us the great stone at the door of the tomb?"
But when they came to the tomb, they found the stone already rolled
away, and the tomb open. Mary Magdalene came a little before the others,
and was the first to see that the tomb was open, and looking inside she
saw that it was empty. She took but one glance, and then, without
waiting for the others, ran away to tell some of the disciples of Jesus
that the tomb had been opened and the body of Jesus taken away, for she
did not know that Jesus had risen and was living.
A moment after Mary Magdalene had gone away, the other women came to the
tomb. They, too, saw that the stone had been rolled away, the tomb was
open and the body of Jesus was not there. But these women saw what Mary
Magdalene had not seen, a young man with shining face and long white
robe, seated on the right side of the place where the body of Jesus had
been laid. They were frightened as they looked upon him, for this young
man was the angel who had rolled away the stone. But he calmed their
fears, saying to them:
"Do not be afraid, you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been
crucified. He has risen; he is not here! Look! this is the place where
his body was laid; and you can see it is empty! But go, find his
disciples, and Peter, and tell them that he will go before you into
Galilee, to the mountains. There they will see him, as he said to them
before he died."
So these women, like Mary Magdalene only a few minutes before, went away
from the tomb to find some of the disciples. They found Peter and John,
and told them the news that the angel had given to them.
Peter and John at once hurried to the tomb. John was younger than Peter,
and came to the tomb first. He saw the stone rolled away and the tomb
open, and stood at the door, hesitating, uncertain whether to go into
the tomb or not. But Peter, who came a moment afterward, did not
hesitate. He rushed past John into the tomb, and saw that it was empty.
It was like John, the thoughtful one, to wait at the door of the tomb;
and it was like Peter, the quick and hasty one, to rush straight into
the tomb. After Peter walked into the tomb, John followed him inside.
They saw that the grave-place was empty; but they saw no angel. John
noticed that the grave-clothes were lying in a heap on the floor, just
as if Jesus had slipped out of them, without unrolling the long bands;
and that the napkin which he had seen bound about his face had been
carefully folded and was lying by itself. All these things showed that
the body had not been taken away suddenly or in haste.
[Illustration: Peter and John hurried to the tomb; seeing that it was
empty they were convinced that Jesus had risen.]
Peter, the excitable, was not a thinker, and just looked at these things
and wondered. But John, the thoughtful disciple, looked at these
things--the stone rolled away with its seal broken, the empty tomb, the
grave clothes in an orderly pile, and the napkin folded carefully. Then
it flashed upon his mind for the first time that his Lord had risen
alive from the tomb! And at that moment came to him the words of Jesus
spoken more than once, that he must die, and on the third day would rise
again from death to life. Of all the eleven disciples of Jesus--for now
that Judas was dead, they were no longer twelve, but eleven--John, the
disciple whom Jesus loved the most, was the first one to believe that
Jesus had risen, and he believed it before he had seen his living Lord.
As yet no one had seen Jesus living. Two disciples had looked into the
empty tomb, and the women, except Mary Magdalene, had seen the angel,
but none of them had seen Jesus; and all of them, save Mary Magdalene,
went away, wondering and scarcely knowing what to think.
Jesus and Mary Magdalene