Reading Reflections Easter Sunday Gospel

By 10:12 AM



 
On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb.
It would be good to read the Easter accounts in Matthew, Mark and Luke. Then compare them with John’s account. What are the similarities? What are the differences?
So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, "They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him."
It would seem that after the death of Jesus, the disciples and other believers gathered back in the Upper Room, not knowing what to do next. That is where Mary goes to tell Peter and John, the other disciple.
Notice that John only indicates Mary at the tomb, but in her statement to them, she speaks of "we." This reflects what we read in the other Gospels.
Notice that Mary is not said to have entered the tomb, only to have seen the stone rolled away, presuming that the body was gone. The other Gospels say she looked in.
So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first; he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in.
Being younger, John arrived first; but out of respect for Peter, he waited for him before entering the tomb after him.
When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there, and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place. Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed.
The theme of believing is very important in John’s Gospel. The difference between the healed blind man and the Pharisees was that the former believed in Jesus and the later did not. After Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, many believed.
For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.
 How do we reconcile this lack of understanding with the statement that John saw and believed?
Now reread the passage and put yourself in the flow of the events: first as Mary; then as John or Peter. What did you experience?
What application do you make from this passage in your own life?

About the Author

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