Parallels: Matthew 27, Mark 16 and Luke 24.
Jesus lay in the tomb. As the Lamb, He died on the day of Passover, a High Sabbath. Then, there had been the regular Sabbath the next day. Finally, in the wee hours of morning darkness, the women who had been there when Jesus died, and had seen where His body was laid, left the place where everyone had been hiding. This was almost surely somewhere in Bethesda, the newer quarter of Jerusalem built north of the Temple plaza.
It was just a short walk to the memorial garden as the women carried their spices. John mentions only Mary Magdalene because she plays a central role in what happens next, but the other Gospels tell us at least three more came with her — the other Mary, Joanna and Salome. They discussed how they were going to get that massive stone moved from the door of the tomb. The door was a large round slab requiring several men to move it.
The doorway was a bit low and required crouching to get through it, but it was also below the ground level, with the threshold even lower, enough so to capture that stone door. It would have to be rolled back up the incline to uncover the entrance. Upon arriving, it was just light enough for the women to see that the stone was completely away from the face of the rock where the tomb had been carved.
Matthew tells us that there had been an aftershock from the quake that struck when Jesus died. This put the guards on edge. Then an angel floated down from the sky, whose very physical form and clothing emitted light. This single being alone rolled the stone back from the door, breaking the seal in the process. All of the guards together probably could not have moved it. Nobody had to tell them this was not someone they could fight; the men nearly swooned. Who can guard against such a powerful being?
After removing the stone away from the face of the tomb, the angel rolled it a bit to one side, pushed it over on one face, and sat down on it. The guards felt utterly powerless, and probably fled almost immediately upon recovering from their shock. At some point, another angel showed up. Nobody could report how Jesus had risen and left, but He was already gone. The angels were waiting for the women to arrive.
As soon as they got close to the tomb, the angels met them and told them they were wasting time, because Jesus was among the living again. They told the women to go back and report that Jesus had risen, and that they should all go to meet Him where He had told them in advance, on some mountain in Galilee. The women hurried away. Near as we can tell, John and Peter were not in the hideout. Mary Magdalene got separated from the others, going to John and Peter, who likely had rented space for their fishing business. The other women went to the group holing up, probably in the same home as the Upper Room. On the way, these others encountered Jesus Himself.
They fell at His feet, hugging His lower extremities in worship. He reiterated the angels’ message, referring to the disciples as His brethren, and made sure to mention Peter, the one who would surely have felt he deserved to be written off.
The other women headed for the larger group holing up, probably in the same home as the Upper Room. They told them everything they encountered; it took some doing to convince anyone that they weren’t deluded, drunk or joking. Mary Magdalene found Peter and John in their separate hideout, who didn’t hesitate to take off for the garden where the tomb stood. John was a faster runner, so he got there first. He stooped down and saw how the linen casing had collapsed inward without having been disturbed. He believed that Jesus had risen.
Peter was slower, but simply blundered all the way into the tomb. He noted the collapsed mummy casing that had not been altered in any other way, and the head wrapping folded neatly close to where Jesus’ head had rested. He marveled at what he saw — obviously the body had been removed without cutting the linen strips soaked in the now dried gum Arabic. After he came out, John went all the way inside, as well. Then they all went back to their hideout in Bethesda.
Somewhere behind the men, Mary Magdalene made her way back to the memorial garden. It would appear they were gone when she arrived. The angels’ message had not yet sunk in with her. She stood outside the tomb weeping, fearing the worst had happened. Eventually she stooped down to see what was inside. Not only was the mummy case still there, but also the two angels sat there, one at each end. Again they asked her why she had not believed them the first time.
At that moment, Jesus Himself came up behind her. Being a dutiful Hebrew woman, she avoided eye contact with a man she didn’t know. Assuming this was some hired keeper of the memorial garden, she asked about the missing body, willing to take responsibility for it. Without knowing much about Joseph or Nicodemas, she likely figured that the body had been placed there out of mere convenience for the timing with the approaching high holy days. Such a powerful and rich man probably wanted it moved now that the ritual observance had finished.
It took Jesus calling her name for her to realize who it was. She called Him “Master” and tried to hug Him. It was almost humorous how He told her He wasn’t gone yet, and suggested they both had a lot to do right now. She could save the hugs for later. She ran back to the disciples’ hideout in the Bethesda quarter and added her report to all the others. Most of them would be staying for the week of Unleavened Bread.
Meanwhile, the soldiers that had been guarding the tomb reported to the Sanhedrin, indicating that they had been detached from regular duty and temporarily placed under command of the Temple Guard. They told the whole story. The officials could not allow this to leak out into the public, so they bribed the guards to tell the story that they had fallen asleep, and that during their slumber, the disciples had stolen the body. Of course, this would be an admission of dereliction of duty, a capital offense under Roman military law. The Sanhedrin promised to cover for them by explaining the situation to their officers and to Pilate, but they wanted to keep everything as secret as possible. As the fake story was being repeated around town, it meant there was a warrant for the arrest of the disciples for breaking the Roman seal.
Two of the disciples decided to leave town, Cleopas and one other. They were hiking to Emmaus where they lived. On the way, Jesus casually joined them and asked about their discussion. They were kept from recognizing Him, and were naturally shocked that this fellow wasn’t aware of all the noise about Jesus and His death. They mentioned their disappointment with how things turned out, and noted the unconfirmed claims of Him being seen alive. Upon hearing this, Jesus scolded them for being so slow to put the picture together.
Then He launched into a recitation of the prophecies that had indicated quite accurately how the Messiah would die and rise from death. He further reminded them that the Messianic Kingdom would have to be a moral empire of hearts, not some political entity. They must have thought He was a rabbi on the good side of things, and invited Him to stay with them. This was just common courtesy; it was late and time for dinner. They honored their fascinating guest by treating Him as a respected superior. As soon as He blessed and broke the unleavened bread, the Spirit allowed them to recognize Him. And just as suddenly, He vanished.
They immediately forgot the meal and rushed the seven miles back to Bethesda and recounted their experience. As they all were discussing this, Jesus materialized in front of them, greeting them with “shalom!” Most Jews believed in ghosts, and their presence was always bad news. Jesus sought immediately to calm them down, and warned them they had been too locked into their human expectations of a political reform, and never paid any attention to what Jesus had pointedly told them several times about the nature of His reign as Messiah.
While He was in a resurrected body, it was still fully manifested in solid form. He demonstrated this by eating food. He still bore the scars of His execution, and showed them as proof who He was. He began another lecture on the nature of His Kingdom. He was careful to bring it home to them, with none of His normal cryptic statements. He finished by telling them that they now had His divine authority to declare sins forgiven, as the means of demonstrating the new situation, under the New Covenant.
We learn that Thomas had not been present for this late Sunday evening meeting. When the others reported it to him, he showed his character. He was the first one honestly ready to die with Jesus, and was still committed to what he knew best. His commitment rested on what he could verify for himself. Not given to strong emotions either way, he dismissed the wild tales of Jesus alive again, insisting he needed better proof.
It came eight days later, as the disciples tarried in Jerusalem. It was the day after the end of Unleavened Bread. They met again, and this time Thomas showed up. The doors were locked because the warrant for their arrest was still a hot issue in town. Jesus materialized in front of them and turned to Thomas, inviting him to sate his curiosity. At this point, Thomas simply reaffirmed his former readiness to die for Him.
Jesus warned Thomas that the time for hard logical proof was passing. From here on out, Thomas would need to change things. Instead of forming commitments on hard proof, it was now time to let his convictions stand on their own to drive his choices. Taking this as his cue, John reminds his readers that he saw more than enough proof over the coming days with Jesus hanging around a while. People who need proof would never get enough. We will have to take it on faith.
