An Easter Meditation

This Easter morning, I thought I would read from John this morning, His personal account of the Resurrection. Its found in John 20:1-18 NIV:

[1] "Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. [2] So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
[3] So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. [4] Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. [5] He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. [6] Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, [7] as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. [8] Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. [9] (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) [10] Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.
[11] Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb [12] and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. [13] They 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.”
[14] At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. [15] He 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.”
[16] Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).
[17] Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ”
[18] Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her."

...And continuing on, later that day.

John 20:19-23 NIV
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” [20] After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. [21] Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” [22] And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. [23] If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

I was thinking about how confused they must have been initially, for they did not, and had not understood what Jesus had told them about rising again. Death through crucifixion is not one that people mistake, or make mistakes about concerning whether a person died or not. In their minds, Jesus was gone, beaten bloody, and dead in the most horrifying way possible. They weren't expecting this Resurrection. Even when confronted with the reality of the situation, they were unable to grasp the reality.

When reading verse 20, I am thinking that they were afraid of the Jews, because they figured they would get blamed for rolling the stone back and stealing Jesus body, which ultimately did happen (Matt 28:11-15), and were just plain out of their minds. They didn't spend much time at the tomb, just enough to verify Jesus body wasn't there. They were running in damage containment mode, panicked, afraid and unable to do anything that related to ministry. They were letting their emotions override everything.

In the same way that the Jews didn't recognize Jesus as the Messiah, when He honestly answered their question during His trial, they didn't recognize His resurrection when confronted with the reality. They were expecting something different, some other outcome to all that Jesus had told them. They completely missed the point and missed the angelic experiences because they were too quick to panic, or try to contain the situation.

I appreciate Mary's heart, she desperately missed the Lord, and so she went back to the place she last saw Him, even though she knew He was dead, just being close to a dead Jesus was better than the alternative. She wasn't willing to run away in panic, but rather lingered and waited. I think there is great wisdom here, if we desperately need Jesus we should maybe go back to the last place we experienced Him, and linger for the reality is this - Jesus is alive! He does love us! He cares about our situation! He will come! He is faithful! He bled and died for us, and we are precious to Him.