John 20: 1-9
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.)
Having celebrated Easter our whole lives, it's hard to put ourselves in the shoes of Mary Magdalene, Peter and John that first morning at the empty tomb. Their confusion, though understandable, is hard for us to grasp. Yet, how would we react if we were the first to encounter an empty tomb? Tombs do not usually empty themselves If the body is not there, then someone must have taken it. That would be our conclusion, Yet, slowly the pieces came together...Jesus had predicted this, and now they knew what he meant. He was not there, the cloths that enrwrapped him were, but he was not. He had truly risen from the dead. Now what? By the end of the day, he had appeared to them and it was clear and certain. He was alive!
When our doubts seem to be getting the best of us, or as we continue with the COVID-19 restrictions and long for "normal living", let's keep in mind, RESURRECTION. What seemed like the end of a happy trail was reversed. Jesus was ALIVE and a whole new life for the Apostles and US, began and continues today. So will it be in our POST-COVI-19 lives. Let us repeat over and over, 'HE IS RISEN. ALLELUIA, ALLELUIA, ALLELUIA!"
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