|
CHAPTER XIII Sunday Morning
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome, a friend of the two Mary's, went to the tomb.
This was not the same Salome that danced before Herod Antipas. This woman, along with the others, had been a follower of Jesus. The previous day they had purchased spices for the purpose of anointing Jesus' body. They either did not know or had forgotten that the tomb had been sealed by the chief priests. When at length they realized this, they conferred together wondering how they would gain entrance to the tomb. Soldier guards stood by, amused at their quandary. The stone covering the door of the tomb was large and had clearly been cemented to the walls with mortar and bore the seal Joseph of Arimathea and the seal of Rome, for it had been sealed under Pilate's authority. Hence, a double seal, as insurance against molestation, or possible theft of the body, given Jesus' celebrity, and the zealous deception of his disciples.
As they stood debating what to do, the ground suddenly began to tremble beneath their feet, no doubt continuing aftershocks of the quakes of the previous three days. It shook violently for what seemed like an eternity. Buildings in Jerusalem fell, and panic seized the city as people ran about seeking protection from falling debris. The mortar and seal affixing the stone to the tomb cracked and fell away. Abruptly, a large, powerfully built man appeared. His size was accentuated by the raiment he wore. It shimmered in iridescence. His eyes penetrated the depths of the hearts of the three women. They were deeply frightened and clung to one another. The man said, while the earth was still shaking, "Do not be afraid." He spoke in a language they did not know yet understood. He moved toward the stone which yet stood against the opening of the tomb. With one arm he rolled the gigantic boulder aside as if it were vapor. As he did so, small wavelets of lightning crackled around the stone and through the surrounding air. He mounted the stone and sat upon it. The guards standing by were helpless and trembling, frozen in fear. Dust at the feet of the guard in command puffed into little clouds, and small puddles formed as a stream of fluid fell from his loins. It was no surprise that they were stiff and unmoving. The intimidating man who sat on the stone dressed in raiment as brilliant and white as snow was an angel of God.
He again spoke gently to the women, "Do not be afraid. I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified and buried in this place. He is not here. He has risen, just as he said he would." Despite his gentle manner, the women were terribly frightened and, of course, skeptical. He seemed to understand both their apprehension and their reticence to believe him. "Come," he invited. "Step into the tomb and see the place where he lay." When they entered, the body of Jesus was not in evidence!
Inside, there appeared yet another angel. This one was a young man dressed in a white robe. He sat on the right side of the crypt where Jesus had been laid. Once again the women were upset. "Don't be alarmed," he said. "As you can see, Jesus is not here. He has risen!"
The women were stunned. As they wondered about all of this, yet two more men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. Four angelic creatures! All dressed in wondrous, dazzling raiment. They could take no more. Their fear drove them to their knees, and they bowed themselves to the ground, overcome by the presence of such holy creatures. Once again the men spoke gently to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? Jesus is not here. He has risen! He told you this would happen while he was still with you in Galilee. Do you not recall his words, 'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of evil men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again?'" As they continued to bow down their faces in the damp earth, the blazing light around them began to fade, at length leaving them in darkness within the empty tomb. Mary (the mother of James) looked up. Slowly the heads of her two companions rose. They were still trembling and bewildered. Once they realized the angels had gone, excitedly, they fled the tomb.
As the women disappeared in the distance, the guards recovered from their fright. They ran into the city, stumbling over each other, and blurted out in confusion to the priests the events they had just witnessed. The priests met with the elders and devised a scheme. They would pay each of the soldiers a year's wages in gold with the proviso that they were to say only what they instructed them to say. "You are to say, 'His followers came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.' If Pilate hears of this, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble." "Are you certain you do not exaggerate your influence with the Procurator?" one of the soldiers spoke without thinking. "Fool! Your impertinence will find you in serious trouble if you speak another word! Why do you think this man was crucified? Pilate wanted to let him go, but we prevailed." Asher was incensed. They were paying these dumb brutes for a simple deception. How could they question his authority? "He will listen to us. He knows we control the people. Besides," he continued, "do you think he cares a fig for this self-proclaimed prophet? Go now, do as you have been paid. You underestimate us at your own peril." The priest was convincing. They took the money and did as they were instructed. The deception worked. The story circulated widely that Jesus' followers somehow broke the seal, removed the stone and whisked away the body of their dead leader.
Mary Magdalene and her two companions found Simon Peter, John and the mother of Jesus at the home of Lazarus, less than an hour's walk from the tomb. "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!" This is an amazing episode, is it not? Only moments ago, these very same women were in the presence of no less than four angels sent from God, yet they were still convinced that someone had stolen the body of Jesus. Peter and John, of course, knew nothing of their encounter with the angels. The three women somehow neglected to speak of it, at least right away. Their main concern was the missing body of Jesus. We knew that no one had stolen the body. That was absurd. Jesus' words rang in our numb minds. Could it be possible that he really had risen from the dead as he had said he would? The two men were immediately on their feet. "We have to see this for ourselves." As the men started for the tomb, it was Peter who could answer this question best. He knew the answer--but that story in a moment. Both men were caught up in the excitement and began to run. John, being younger, outran Peter, for whom this was somewhat anticlimactic, and reached the garden first. He stood outside the open cavity, stooped and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Peter arrived. Peter was not the kind to be cautious. Besides, he knew what to expect while John didn't. He entered the tomb without hesitation. There he saw the strips of linen used to wrap the body of Jesus folded neatly at one end of the crypt. These were the same type of strips used to embalm Lazarus. The shroud provided by Pilate was folded up by itself, separate from the wrappings. Emboldened by Peter's entrance, John also went inside. He saw, and any doubt he may have had was erased.
The word of Jesus' disappearance spread rapidly and soon the other disciples arrived at the tomb along with several of the other women. Each one examined the empty tomb carefully, amazed at what they both found and did not find. They stood speaking with each other talking about how it actually had happened as Jesus had predicted. "But if he is not here, where is he?" "He said he had to return to the Father." "But where is that?" "Heaven?" "Will we not see him again?" After a while, the men began to drift away and go back to their homes. There wasn't much left to see. Clearly, Jesus was not here. They were more than a little confused, not knowing whether to wait or begin to make attempts to restart their lives. But Mary Magdalene and the other women were not so quick to leave. They stood outside the tomb talking and weeping. As Mary wept, she looked again into the tomb and was taken aback to again see two men in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They were not dressed as the angels she had seen earlier; they appeared to be ordinary men. As she looked at them, she was puzzled. Had she seen these men before? She thought not. One of them asked her, "Dear woman, why are you crying?" She did not realize that they, too, were angels. "They have taken my Lord away," she said, "and I don't know where they have put him." As she said this, she turned and saw a man standing near her. She did not recognize him either. "My sister," he said softly, "why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?" The words seemed so normal. The question so routinely logical. In her grief, she simply could not discern that there was something unexpected happening. She supposed the man to be Joseph of Arimathea's gardener. "Sir," she inquired through her tears, "did you carry him away? If so, please tell us where you have put him, and we will go get him and bring him back. He should be here where those of us who loved him can come and worship." By this time, the other women also saw the man but did not recognize him either. Then the man simply said her name, "Mary." He had a bemused grin on his face, and his eyes danced in the morning light. She had heard her name spoken like this from only one person. It was as though her name had been caressed. Instantly she knew. She lifted her eyes to see joy in the eyes of Jesus. "My Lord!" she cried in the shock of joyous surprise. "Lord!" cried Salome, and the others. They came to him, fell to their knees, clasped his feet as if to restrain him from leaving them, and there, they worshiped him. Jesus put his hands on their heads and wiped joyful tears from their eyes with his fingers and said, "Don't be afraid; I am not a spirit. I am here, but do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go and tell my brothers, 'I am going back to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.' Tell them to go to Galilee. There they will see me." Galilee? That was a week's journey from this place. And then, Jesus was gone--released into thin air as though he were a fleeting hallucination. But he wasn't! The women had actually touched him and held on to his feet. You cannot touch or hold onto an apparition. Excited and exhilarated, the women went to his disciples (he had called them brothers) with the news, "We have seen the Lord!"
|