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The Resurrection Of Jesus (John 20:1-10)

 I suppose Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early Sunday while it was dark to make sure everything was alright. Or at least as good as it could be, considering your Teacher and friend was dead.

Or so she thought.

She saw that the stone was rolled away, and she figured quite reasonably that someone must have stolen the body. So she goes and tells St. Peter, and St. John was also there. Those two guys ran to the tomb, and St. John got there first. At a human level, he might be bragging, but considering that this is the word of God, there must be a reason why we are being told that St. John got there first, but he did not go in. He waited for St. Peter, and he let him go in first. Many Church Fathers and teachers see in this a deference to Peter's office as the head of the apostles.

Pious tradition holds that a woman named Veronica gave Our Lord the face cloth that St. John finds neatly folded, next to the linens that Jesus was wearing.

St. John says that he "saw and believed." They've come a long way, and they've got some way to go, to trust Jesus as his Lord and Savior. And in this, St. Peter and St. John are a lot like all of us.

St. John makes another one of his notes, to the effect that everybody understood all of this better, after they had some time to think about it. In that way, St. John can serve as an example to us, also.

I think especially for people who have gone to church for a while, we can get used to the idea of someone rising from the dead. In a certain way, it's a gift of faith, because as faith grows, we no longer doubt the things that seem unbelievable, if God says they are true. On the other hand, there is some part of me that doesn't want to get comfortable with the idea of someone rising from the dead. That's a good instinct as well, because we have all faced death, and we will face it again for ourselves. It is not the normal way of things, for people to die, and then to rise to life again. In the case of Jesus, it is the Father's way of backing up everything Jesus said and taught, not only about the Father, but but everything Jesus taught about himself, as well.

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