Now the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. (2) Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.” (3) Peter therefore went out, and the other disciple, and were going to the tomb. (4) So they both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first. (5) And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there; yet he did not go in. (6) Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths lying there, (7) and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded together in a place by itself. (8) Then the other disciple who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he saw and believed. (9) For as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.

Today we are going to look at the gospel of John (instead of the second reading) and consider that first Easter Sunday; when did the people closest to Jesus know what was happening and how did they behave. At the time of the arrest of Christ Jesus in Gethsemane we have the remaining 11 disciples (Judas was with the arresting party). The disciples were terrified by the arrest and 9 of them scattered, possibly to Bethany where they had returned nightly, but Peter and John probably closely followed the arresting party into Jerusalem. The arrest of Jesus was not done until after Judas went to the Jewish leaders Thursday night and they quickly organized. There is cause – because of the highly irregular Roman trial – to think the high priest visited Pilate late that night asking for a quick trial the next morning so Jesus could be executed before Passover began Friday at sundown. There was also the note Pilate’s wife sent him early Friday morning urging him to have nothing to do with the man on trial – how else would she have known of the impending trial or have had violent dreams unless she had overheard conversation the night before retiring? There is no indication in the narratives that there was universal realization of what was happening to Jesus until much later – probably the women who were close to Jesus didn’t know until early Friday. So we begin Friday morning with 7 of the close group of Jesus in the city and 5 of them were women. After the narrative of the crucifixion of Christ, the story switches to the women who were the principal witnesses of the resurrection.
From the gospels it would appear that the witnesses to the burial of Jesus body was down to three of the women. His mother Mary is removed from the scene, probably helped by the apostle John, with his mother Salome. Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and John, and Joanna from Herod’s household were the witnesses to the wrapping of the body with spices and the internment in Joseph of Aramathema’s empty tomb – and the rolling of the heavy stone to seal the tomb. . The women probably then made plans to return Sunday morning to finish preparing the body which task was interrupted by the Sabbath beginning at sundown that Friday.
That first Easter Sunday at or just before sunrise, the women arrived at the tomb; the narrative tells us they were discussing who would roll away the stone as they made their way. Although John only mentions Mary Magdalene, certainly others accompanied her as she uses the word “we” when she reaches Peter. When the women arrived at the tomb at daybreak, the great stone had been rolled back and when they entered the tomb it was empty of the body: the burial clothes were there neatly and separately folded but the body of Christ was absent. An agent of God was also there and told them Jesus was risen – but the women, alarmed, had no understanding of what had taken place, and Mary Magdalene ran to where Peter and John were to announce that “they” had taken the Lord’s body. This is the last appearance of the women but memory of their testimony is in every document of this experience.
Now the narrative switches to the men. We know both Peter and John were placed in Jerusalem early Friday morning. (By Sunday night 10 of the remaining 11 apostles are also placed in Jerusalem. ). Peter and John are alerted by Mary Magdalene and race to the empty tomb. John emphasizes he arrived first and looked in but did not enter. Peter, of course, entered immediately and “saw” the empty cloths folded there. The implication of “saw” here would be he studied everything carefully but without understanding or connecting the evidence with a risen Savior. But John – who faltered at the entrance to the tomb with perhaps doubt – saw the cloths, and believed. Let us return now to verse 9: “For as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead”.