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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. 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!” So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb.

Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)

Then the disciples went back to their homes, but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”

At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. “Woman,” he said, “why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her. John 20:1-18.

The gospels make it clear that none of the disciples had grasped the possibility of Jesus coming back to life. A resurrection as the explanation for this shocking course of events was the furthest thing from Mary’s mind. Mary’s concept of Jesus was just too small. She was looking for a lifeless body in a cold tomb. But instead, she should have been looking for a victorious and living Lord out in the world. You see, just like Jesus’ question, “Who are you looking for?” sometimes we fail to recognize Jesus because we have too small a concept of who Jesus really is. Mary was the first of Jesus’ followers to be commissioned after His resurrection to go and tell others about the gospel message: sin had been paid for at the cross and we have hope beyond the grave.

This is amazing. You need to understand that in first century Jewish culture, women were not trusted witnesses. They could not be a witness in a court of law and so for Jesus to commission a woman to be the first person responsible to go and spread the gospel message to His disciples and to the world was amazing. Jesus is always choosing those the world thinks are weak or foolish or unworthy to carry His message to the world. I love the story of Mother Teresa asking her Bishop if she could start the order of the Sisters of the Missionaries of Charity to care for the dying in India, and he told her “No.” He said that she was “too weak to even light the altar candles in a church.” But God had other plans! The Missionaries of Charity continued to grow after Mother Teresa’s death in 1997. In 2025 there are 5,076 Sisters in 754 missions in 138 countries continuing Mother Teresa’s legacy and giving wholehearted and free service to the poorest of the poor.2 

This was the way Jesus always worked and he still does. His disciples were examples of this. They were commissioned with the same task – go and tell the good news. And so are we. God has chosen to commission us to continue to take the good news to all nations. The Cross and the empty tomb have an incredible message – they are filled with hope and power, … and we need to go and tell the world. The power and success of this commission does not rest in our ability and power as messengers. It lies in the power and truth of the gospel message.

Some have made the comment that the tragedy of the Christian community over the centuries is that it has been more inclined to sit and cling to Jesus’ feet than to go and tell others the wonderful life changing Gospel of the cross and the tomb. It is far easier for us to hold onto him in the security of a church building, than to go out and tell a world that needs to hear. Mary went and shared the good news that “He Lives” and this is also the model for us.

Prayer: Father, we give thanks for the gift of the Easter salvation borne through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Embolden us to look past our fears and misgivings accepting the commission to tell the Gospel story to all who will listen. Help us each day to seek to serve the Living Christ. We make this prayer in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.

1 Sermon (Summarized and edited for a devotion), First Words of the Risen Christ by Reverend Valerie Mireb, Monday, April 12, 2015.

2 https://missionariesofcharity.org/about-us/mother-teresa/.

The Wesleyan Bridge is written by K.B. Kelly with the Reverend Valerie Mireb and Pastor Hank Brooks as Theological Editors with Debbie Kelly as Text and Content Editor.