The First Easter Morning
Early in the morning on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Jesus' friend Mary Magdalene came to the tomb where his body had been buried. She saw that the stone was moved away from the entrance.
Quickly she ran to tell the other disciples. "Someone took Jesus' body! Where could they have put him?"
The men ran to the tomb. Looking in, all they saw was the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus' body. "What should we do?" one of them asked. "There's nothing else we can do," said another.
They started to get scared. "Who ever took Jesus' body may come looking for us. Everyone knows that we were his friends," one man said. "Maybe we better stay out of sight," another suggested. "If they find us, they may kill us, too."
So the disciples found a place in a house in Jerusalem where they could hide together. They locked themselves in.
When the men left, Mary was all alone outside the tomb. She began to cry. She missed Jesus so much! As she wept, she knelt and looked into the tomb – and what she saw completely surprised her!
Two angels dressed in white were sitting where Jesus' body had been laid. "Woman, why are you crying?" they asked her.
Mary didn't know what to make of this. She turned away, ready to go home – and bumped right into a man standing near the tomb! He spoke to her, "Woman, why are you crying? Have you lost someone?"
"Sir, I am looking for Jesus," she told him. "Do you work here? Did you take his body? If so, please tell me where you put him."
The man looked at her and smiled. "Mary," he said.
Mary knew that voice as well as she knew her own. It was Jesus! "Teacher!" she exclaimed. She grabbed onto Jesus, laughing.
Jesus smiled back at her. "Mary, you must let go of me. Soon I must go to be with God in heaven. Please – go and tell the others what has happened here."
And Mary did what Jesus asked her. She went to the disciples and told them the wonderful news: "I saw Jesus! He's alive!"
Questions to think and pray about:
I wonder if you have ever visited a place where someone's body has been buried. I wonder how you felt doing that.
I wonder if you have ever locked yourself in a secret place because you were scared. I wonder if it helped you feel less scared. I wonder what made you come out of that place.
I wonder if you have ever missed someone so much that it made you cry.
I wonder what Jesus' voice sounds like to you.