Jesus rose from dead and gave us the power to share his life

That first Easter morning in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago was a most unusual day. Mary Magdalene was up very early. When there was nobody else about, and while it was still dark, she set out for the tomb where, on Good Friday, she had seen the body of Jesus laid.

I imagine that in Jerusalem, at that time of year, and before dawn, it would have been very cold; and maybe a heavy mist and dew would have been on the ground.

No doubt, Mary had a heavy garment wrapped around her to keep her warm. As she rushed on, she had one thing in mind — to get to the tomb as soon as possible and to be near the body of Jesus.

Then, she arrived at the Garden where the tomb was, near to where Jesus was crucified. As she approached through the darkness and in the breaking dawn, she saw that the stone across the entrance to the tomb had been removed.

She drew close to the tomb and looked in. But there was no sign of Jesus’ body.

Surprise and great shock! The stone was rolled away and the body of Jesus was gone.

She ran immediately to tell Peter and the beloved disciple. They came and found it as Mary had said.

Peter and the beloved disciple returned to their house, but Mary Magdalene went back to the tomb.

There she stooped again and looked into the tomb — and she stood and wept. As she stood weeping, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know it was Jesus.

He said to her “Mary” and then she knew it was Jesus.

Here, in St John’s Gospel, we see that Jesus, risen from the dead, first appeared to Mary Magdalene.

The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is, I suppose, one of the hardest things to grasp and understand.

Jesus was crucified and died on the cross on Good Friday. When Mary Magdalene went to the tomb two mornings later, she expected to find the dead body of Jesus.

But, the totally unexpected happened. The stone was rolled away.

There was no body in the tomb and sometime soon after dawn Jesus was present outside the tomb, standing and speaking to Mary Magdalene.

Jesus had been dead. But, now he was raised up from the dead, his body somehow transformed.

As he spoke and made himself known to Mary, and later to the other disciples, they knew it was Jesus.

This was a very strange, mysterious Sunday morning almost 2,000 years ago. But, it is clear from all that those first Christians said and wrote about Jesus, that within three days, he was raised from death to life.

God raised Jesus from death to life because Jesus had been faithful in everything he came to do.

He had overcome evil, proclaimed the truth, helped the poor and outcast, healed the sick, taught people to love and forgive, and live as servants one to another.

Because Jesus was faithful, the Father raised him up from death to life.

Today, Jesus unites himself with us and gives us power to share his life — risen from the dead.