John 20:1-2 NIV
[1] “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!”

The pall of unbelief still hung over Jesus’ friends. While they hid in fear, Mary went alone in the pre-dawn hush, to grieve at the tomb, to think, to remember, and to groan in her despair…What now? What would become of all the hopes and dreams Jesus’ presence with them had aroused?

Mary remembered, with a sharp pang of regret, her past life…her pre-Jesus, desperate quest for real love. This desire drove her into the sordid life of a “sinful woman”, eventually to be invaded by demonic spirits that controlled her every thought and movement.

Would she ever forget the instant Jesus spoke the words that drove the demons from her, leaving her free to follow Him and taste the real love her heart had craved. Jesus’ love was pure, not using and abusing her. His was a love that embraced her and all people, elevating each one He touched to a new perspective of divine goodness and mercy.

Slowly, as daybreak brought light to the scene, Mary became aware that the dark form of the stone she thought was covering the tomb was nothing but a black hole. The stone was cast aside, rolled away as by an unseen hand. Numb with horror, she raced back to the city to tell the disciples, hiding behind closed doors, the awful truth. “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

Who were ” they”? The temple guards? The Roman soldiers? The Sanhedrin? And why would these unknown people want to do that? Was the stone that sealed Him in the tomb not enough to keep Him there forever, to prove that He was dead and out of their hair?

Peter and John raced back to the tomb to discover that Mary was telling the truth. Not only that but, when they ventured inside, the tomb was empty! Gone! His remains were gone!

John 20:3-4, 8-9 NIV
[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…
[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).”

A glimmer of faith, a sliver of hope…that was all! It would take a personal encounter with the living Jesus to shatter their unbelief and awaken the truth that He was alive.

When Mary finally reached the tomb again, unaware of the disciples’ encounter with the emptiness they found, she crumpled into a sobbing heap, wailing her misery as she peered inside.

What met her was mind-blowing! Two angels…sitting where Jesus had lain!

John 20:12 NIV
[12] “She saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.”

What impertenance! What audacity! What authority!

They sat where death had been, to declare what Jesus had done. He had destroyed death!

Mary was awestruck, dumbstruck, numbstruck! She turned away, eyes blinded by tears, heart heavy with unbelief, walked away from the tomb… straight into Jesus Himself! What better way to convince her that He was alive!

She lay on the ground once more, not in misery but in ecstacy. Alive! He was alive!

Once more she ran, this time not with despair but with sheer joy, delight…to tell the greatest news in history, the same good news that echoes and re-echoes around the universe today. Jesus is alive!

No other message can bring such joy or strike such fear into the hearts of mankind. Joy… the core of hope! Fear…the certainty of judgment. All of history is wrapped up in the resurrection event. Nothing else can so convincingly confirm that Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords.

Philippians 2:9-11 NIV
[9] “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, [10] that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, [11] and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”