Christ Has Risen from the Dead

We are continuing our meditation on the resurrection of Jesus. On Saturday night as the sun was down and the first two stars appeared in the sky, the Sabbath was over. Mark records that, as soon as darkness fell, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome bought spices to anoint further Jesus’ body (Mark 16:1). Since it was too dark to do anything that night, they decided to go together the next morning, Sunday. Luke tells us that the women watched where Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus had buried Jesus (Luke 23:55), no doubt with many tears. John and Luke both wrote that the women started for the tomb very early while it was still dark (John 20:1; Luke 24:1), and only on the way did they consider the difficulties of getting into the tomb and moving the one-ton door: “They asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?” (Mark 16:3).

Love never considers difficulties. Their only thought was to honor and express their love of Christ by bringing more spices to add to the seventy-five pounds of spices of Nicodemus and Joseph. As they approached the tomb, Matthew wrote that a violent earthquake occurred and that an angel of the Lord came down, walked to the tomb, rolled the stone away, and sat on it (Matthew 28:2). The Roman soldiers guarding the tomb were so terrified at the angelic appearance that they fell to the ground, trembled at the sight, and acted as if they were dead (Matthew 28:4). 

Luke writes that, only when the women entered the tomb and saw that Jesus’ body was not there, the angels then appeared: 

₂They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, ₃but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. ₄While they were puzzling over this, suddenly two men in radiant apparel stood beside them. ₅As the women bowed their faces to the ground in terror, the two men asked them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? ₆He is not here; He has risen! (Luke 24:2-6).

The angels spoke to the women and instructed them to go and tell the disciples the good news that Jesus had risen from the dead. It is possible that there were two groups of women: “It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles” (Luke 24:10 Emphasis mine). It is hard to get our minds around Mary’s still thinking that someone stole the body of the Lord, but, maybe, she left right away to tell John and Peter before the angels had a chance to describe that Jesus had risen from the dead. 

John the Apostle described how the disciples received the news that morning, i.e. how he and Peter ran for the tomb after Mary Magdalene burst into the room to tell them that someone had stolen the body:

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!” (John 20:2). 

Why does John not mention any other women that resurrection morning? Most commentators believe that John wrote his Gospel later in life and knew what the other Gospel writers wrote. It is possible he decided to fill in some of the details and focus on specific aspects of the resurrection by giving personal testimony of what it was like for certain individuals, for instance, Peter and John (vv. 1-10), Mary Magdalene (vv. 11-18), the disciples (vv. 19-23) and Thomas (vv. 24-29). When we read John's account, he focuses on the personal testimonies and interactions with the risen Lord Jesus. Thank God for the eye witness testimonies of those who were there. There is every evidence to back up the assertion that Jesus is alive from the dead and will come again for His bride, those who place their trust in Him. Keith Thomas