A friend’s bumper sticker captured a whole lot of truth: “Jesus is alive.  Deal with it!”  

Image created by author based on a bumper sticker

It’s good for a smirk, but the point hits deep.  If Jesus is alive, everything changes.  If you like or don’t like it, it doesn’t matter.  He’s still alive.  The truth stares us in the face with life-changing power.

The resurrection of Jesus is recorded in all four Gospels.  It’s the lynchpin of Christianity.  I’ve often quipped that the logo of Christianity should be an empty tomb.  Without the empty tomb of Jesus, there is no Christianity. 

Here’s the phenomenal truth of the resurrection from John 20:1-10:

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.  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!” 
So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb.  Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.  He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen.  Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed.  (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)  Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.  

John 20:1-10
New International Version

Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene walked to Jesus’ tomb.  What was she doing there?

All four Gospel accounts (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) also mention women being the first to the tomb and the first to see Jesus alive.  But Mary Magdalene was an unusual person to mention specifically by our human author, the Apostle John.

In John, she’s only mentioned at the crucifixion and here.  Luke tells us that early in Jesus’ ministry, Mary from Magdala in Galilee was set free from seven demons.  From then on, she followed Jesus as a disciple.  She was even at the crucifixion when the male disciples—soon to be called the Apostles—fled.

Now, this faithful woman was going with other women to tend to the burial provisions of Jesus’ body.  The rush of the impending Sabbath (Saturday) made the traditional treatment of the body impossible before they had to put Jesus in the borrowed tomb (from Friday).

Image courtesy of Adobe Stock

When she first encountered the empty tomb, she left in sadness and fear to tell Peter and John.  She thought Jesus’ body was stolen.  There were burial rights held by the Jews and Romans.  It would have been severe taboo for someone to have tampered with the body.  Not only had Jesus been crucified, but now His body was stolen.  It was a rough day for them.  

Peter and John (our human author) run to the tomb, and young John makes it there first.  But whether fear, bewilderment, or something else, John was led to stay out of the tomb.  It must have been a strange sight to see the scene of a body snatcher, but the wrappings were left in the tomb.  Strange scene!  

Peter charges in and sees the strips of linen—used to wrap Jesus’ body—lying there.  With it was the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head.  There are two key pieces to observe here:

  • First, unlike Lazarus, Jesus did not come out of the tomb wearing His grave clothes.  He wouldn’t ever need them again.
  • Second, Jesus’ resurrection was unique in that His body passed through the cloth and the spices used for his burial and embalming.

Then John joins Peter at the scene of the crime.  Now two men had seen the empty grave clothes, and according to Deuteronomy 19:15, their testimony was admissible in the Jewish courts.  Peter and John could now attest to the resurrection.

At this sight, young John put the pieces together: Jesus, on whose chest he leaned back at the Last Supper, who told John to take care of His mom, who was buried in this borrowed tomb had risen from the dead.  And John believed without seeing the Risen Lord (yet).

Whatever they believed, Peter and John didn’t realize this was a massive confirmation of everything Jesus said and did.  And apparently, they thought there was nothing more to be gained here at the tomb, and they went home.

The Sunday that changed everything started rough, but it was changing in an earth-shattering way.

No matter what happens in our lives—good or bad—remember the bumper sticker: “Jesus is alive.  Deal with it!”