Jesus · c. AD 30
Chapter 57
He Is Risen
He is not here, for he has risen, just like he said. Come, see the place where the Lord was lying.
Early on the first day of the week, went to the tomb where had been laid.
Matthew says it was after the , as the day began to dawn, and that the other Mary came with her to see the tomb.
In Mark, it was Mary Magdalene, , and . When the Sabbath was over, they bought spices, so they could come and anoint him. Very early on the first day of the week, after the sun had come up, they came to the tomb.
Because the stone was very big, they were saying among themselves, “Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?”
Luke tells how the women and some others came to the tomb at early dawn, bringing the spices they had prepared.
In John, Mary Magdalene went early, while it was still dark.
Matthew tells of guards at the tomb. The day after Jesus was buried, the and the had gone together to . They called Jesus “that deceiver,” and they said they remembered what he had said while he was still alive: that after three days he would rise again. So they asked Pilate to give the order to make the tomb secure until the third day. Otherwise, they said, Jesus’ might come at night, steal him away and tell the people that he had risen from the dead. Then this last trick would be worse than the first. “You have a guard,” Pilate told them. “Go, make it as secure as you can.” So they went with the guard and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone.
Now there was a great earthquake, because an of the Lord had come down from the sky. He came and rolled the stone away from the door, and sat on it.
He looked like lightning, and his clothes were as white as snow. Fear of him made the guards shake, and they became like dead men.
The angel said to the women, “Don’t be afraid. I know you’re looking for Jesus, who has been crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, just like he said. Come, see the place where the Lord was lying. Go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has risen from the dead! He is on his way to ahead of you, and you will see him there.’ Now I have told you.”
Full of fear and great joy, they quickly left the tomb and ran to bring the news to his disciples.
As the women went to tell the disciples, all at once Jesus met them. “Rejoice!” he said. They came and took hold of his feet, and worshiped him.
Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Go tell my brothers they should go to Galilee. They will see me there.”
As the women went, some of the guards came into the city and told the chief priests all the things that had happened.
The chief priests gathered with the , and when they had talked it over, they gave the soldiers a large amount of silver. “Say this: ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we slept,’” they told them. “If the governor hears about this, we will persuade him, and you won’t need to worry.”
So the guards took the money and did as they were told. Matthew says this story spread among the Jews and was still going around in his day.
In Mark’s telling, the women looked up and saw the stone had been rolled back.
They went into the tomb, and there they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe. They were amazed.
“Don’t be amazed,” he said to them. “You’re looking for Jesus, the , who has been crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him! But go, tell his disciples and , ‘He’s on his way to Galilee ahead of you. You will see him there, as he said to you.’”
They went out and fled from the tomb, trembling and astonished. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.
Mark says that when Jesus had risen early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene. He had cast seven out of her. She went and told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept. When they heard that he was alive and that she had seen him, they didn’t believe it.
Luke says that the women found the stone rolled away from the tomb. When they went in, the Lord Jesus’ body was not there.
While they were still very confused about this, two men in dazzling clothing stood beside them. Terrified, the women bent low with their faces to the ground.
The men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He isn’t here. He is risen. Remember what he told you when he was still in Galilee? He said the must be handed over to sinful men and be crucified, and rise again on the third day.”
Then they remembered his words. They came back from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.
They were Mary Magdalene, , and Mary the mother of James. The other women with them told these things to the apostles too.
The apostles thought the women’s words were nonsense, and they didn’t believe them.
But Peter got up and ran to the tomb. There he bent down and looked in, and he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves. Then he went home, wondering what had happened.
In John, when Mary Magdalene came, she saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb, and so she ran to Peter and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved. “They have taken the Lord away from the tomb,” she told them, “and we don’t know where they have laid him!”
So Peter and the other disciple went out and started toward the tomb. They both ran together, but the other disciple got ahead of Peter and came to the tomb first.
He bent down and looked in, and he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he didn’t go in.
Then Peter came up after him and entered the tomb. There he saw the linen cloths lying, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head. It wasn’t lying with the linen cloths, but was rolled up in a place by itself.
Then the other disciple, the one who had come to the tomb first, went in too, and he saw, and believed. They didn’t yet know the Scripture that said Jesus must rise from the dead.
So the disciples went back to their own homes.
But Mary Magdalene stood outside the tomb, weeping. As she wept, she bent down and looked into the tomb. There she saw two angels in white sitting where Jesus’ body had been lying, one at the head and one at the feet.
“Woman, why are you weeping?” they asked her.
She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I don’t know where they have laid him.”
When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, and she didn’t know that it was Jesus.
Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?”
She thought he was the gardener, and said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”
Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned and said to him, “!” which means “Teacher!”
“Don’t hold me,” Jesus said, “because I haven’t yet gone up to my Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going up to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
Mary Magdalene went to the disciples and told them that she had seen the Lord, and that he had said these things to her.