The first Easter.
Jesus was executed on a Friday. He died around 3:00PM. He was speared after his death. Water poured from his side. The Roman crucifixion process was both deadly efficient and cruel. The Romans made sure Jesus was, in fact, dead.
Sunday morning comes. I don’t know if Mary is going to pay her respects at the tomb, or just to check on things, or maybe she remembered that Jesus had raised Jairus’s daughter and Lazarus from the dead. He had also foreshadowed his own resurrection. And Jesus had developed a habit of interrupting funerals. In John 11, we learn that Lazarus had been in the grave four days and the tomb was not a place you wanted to be….
“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”
But we are talking about God Almighty in the flesh. Nothing was beyond Him. Nothing is beyond him.
3When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
Everyone knew this Nazarene had some kind of power of death. They had witnessed it. So, on the third day after His death, Mary shows up at the tomb. John 20, describes the event.
Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
13They 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.” 14At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
15He asked her, “Woman, 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.”
16Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).
I love the saying, “It may be Friday, but Sunday is coming!” Both Jesus and the angels ask Mary why she is crying. In my mind, I picture them smiling warmly. In other words, do we have some news for you! In fact, they had great news! With that, Mary turns around and runs smack dab into the risen Lord.
I don’t know the mind of God, but I have to think Jesus was really looking forward to this moment. “Mary,” and she at once knew the voice of the shepherd. “Teacher!!!” she responds. Oh, to have seen that reunion. Well, Mary had some news to share!
In Isaiah 52:7 it says…
How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
“Your God reigns!”
That evening Jesus would then find the disciples huddled w/ the doors locked in fear for their lives. John 20 continues…
Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
21Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
Now that had to have been some celebration when Jesus returned to his disciples. Waves of emotion and questions had to have swept over them….He lives!!!!! What a relief? And how did this happen? Maybe he told us about this prior? Ha! He did!
By the end of that first Easter Sunday, word had surely begun to spread rapidly throughout Jerusalem. That same Jesus who who was falsely accused, crucified, dead, and buried….had come back from the dead!
Jesus came back that first Easter Sunday, and He is coming back again. Revelation 21 reads…
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ b or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
We are His people. He is our God. Once we turn our lives to Jesus, we must believe and then follow Him.
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