EASTER DAY

Sunday 5 April 2026

Saints Matthew and Mark, Barrington, R. I.

 

John 20:1-18

 

The Church’s faith in Jesus Christ’s bodily Resurrection from the dead hinges upon two pieces of evidence. Both are attested in the Gospels. The first item is the empty tomb. The second is the series of appearances by the Risen Christ to the women and disciples beginning on the first Easter Day.

 

Notice that these Gospel accounts are remarkably spare and restrained. Nowhere do they attempt to describe what happened inside the tomb when Jesus came back to life. They confine themselves simply to reporting the eyewitness testimony of those who were there that morning of the first day of the week, and in the days and weeks following. And that eyewitness testimony consists, once again, of two parts: the empty tomb and the Risen One’s appearances.

 

Neither signifies that much on its own. An empty tomb by itself could result from the body being stolen or hidden, just as Mary Magdalene supposes. And appearances of the spirit of a recently deceased person to the living were not all that uncommon in the ancient world, just as some would argue that they’re not all that uncommon today either. Over the years, a number of people have told me of a departed loved one appearing and speaking with them in the days following the death and burial. Ghosts, spirits, hallucinations, deceptions, or overactive imaginations? You decide. But the Risen Christ belongs to a completely different category. He’s not a disembodied spirit but a whole person raised bodily from the dead to new and glorious life.

 

So, it’s the combination of the two, the empty tomb and the bodily resurrection appearances, that affords the strongest evidence that something utterly unique happened that first Easter morning. And the Gospel reading from John, traditionally appointed for the principal Mass of Easter Day, explicitly brings out both these elements in wonderful detail: the tomb is found empty; the Risen Lord appears to Mary Magdalene.

 

Part of the beauty of John’s account is the way he describes the responses of the three principal characters: Peter, the Beloved Disciple, and Mary Magdalene. Before dawn, while it’s still dark, Mary Magdalene comes to the tomb, finds the stone rolled away, and the interior empty. She runs to tell Peter and the other disciple, whom Jesus loved. This other disciple is generally identified with John, the author of this Gospel, so this account really does present itself as eyewitness testimony. 

 

Peter and the Beloved Disciple run to the tomb. John is younger and in better physical shape than Peter, so he gets there first, but he doesn’t go in – perhaps out of deference to Peter’s age and position of leadership. When Peter arrives, they both go in. At this point, John’s description really does suggest eyewitness testimony: the linen cloths are lying there, and the linen napkin which had covered the Lord’s head is rolled up separately in a place by itself: the sorts of precise details that are unlikely to be made up.

 

John does not explicitly tell us what Peter’s reaction is. Peter seems to take it all in, not knowing what to think. By contrast, the Beloved Disciple sees and believes. Neither of them yet knows the scriptural prophecies foretelling that the Messiah must die and rise again. But the Beloved Disciple—that is, John himself—has an almost mystical intuition that if Jesus isn’t here, he must be alive. Then, having seen all that there is to see, the two disciples return to their homes.

 

I’ll wager that some of us here today are more like Peter, and others are more like John. Some of us come to church, listen to the biblical stories, take them all in, and don’t know what to think. The jury is still out. Others have no difficulty hearing and believing. John doesn’t say that either response is better than the other. He simply notes them both and moves on with the story.

 

Mary Magdalene doesn’t return home, but remains outside the tomb, weeping. Unlike Peter and the Beloved Disciple, she’s sure she knows exactly what’s happened. Even when she encounters two angels who ask her why she’s weeping, she explains: “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” And when Jesus himself appears and asks why she’s weeping and whom she seeks, she doesn’t recognize him. Supposing that he’s the gardener, she pleads, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”

 

It’s only when Jesus addresses her by name that the realization dawns. The penny drops. We can only imagine her joy as she exclaims, “Rabbouni! Teacher!” 

 

Down through the centuries, commentators have spilled much ink trying to decipher the mysterious words that the Lord utters next: “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father …” But at least part of their meaning must be that the Jesus Mary Magdalene has been seeking is Jesus as he was, the Jesus who died, the corpse for whom she wanted to complete the rites of burial. He exhorts her to let go of all that. Instead of holding on to the past, her mission is now in the future: go and tell the disciples what she’s seen and heard; bear witness to the Lord’s Resurrection.

 

And again, I’ll wager that Mary’s experience exemplifies a pattern for many of us. We may search for God’s truth all we want, but ultimately our quest ends not when we find God but when God finds us, calls us by name, and gives us some task or mission. This was certainly my experience when I came to faith in Christ: not finding God, but being found by him. It’s unnerving when one realizes that one isn’t nearly as much in control of one’s life as one thought.

 

And so, the third piece of evidence supporting the Church’s faith in the Resurrection is the difference it makes in our own lives here and now. I believe in the Resurrection of Christ not only because I find the scriptural testimony persuasive, which I do, but also because I have encountered the Risen Jesus here, in his Church, in his Word and Sacraments, and not least, in the faces of his faithful people. The Church’s Easter proclamation is that Christ is alive. And if we seek him, he will certainly find us.