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John 20:1-18

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. Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. 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.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. 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.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”). 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.’” 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.

By: Canon Georgette Forney

The Weekend That Changed the World!

This is the title of a wonderful book by The Rev. Dr. Peter Walker, Professor of Biblical Studies at Trinity School for Ministry. Professor Walker walks the reader through the details and evidence from Thursday through Sunday of Holy Week. Professor Walker’s commentary of the Resurrection is brilliant.

Finally, the Resurrection did not just teach the disciples about Jesus, or about the future. It also taught them about God. It was the supreme moment of his revelation. In particular the Resurrection could be seen as the great moment when God had demonstrated his power and overcome evil. It was his moment of victory.

In raising Jesus to life God clearly had revealed once and for all his capacity to work in the realm of nature and human life. He was a God of power and had “put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead” (Ephesians 1:20)

Yet it was more than this, too. Because the Resurrection was an event integrally involved with the pain and the evil of the cross, it also spoke of God’s judgment upon evil. It spoke too of his loving and creative capacity to absorb human evil and to turn it into the means of divine blessing.

The Resurrection therefore shows us three great attributes of God; his power, his judgment, and his love.

A young woman contacted my office recently. She has had six abortions and cannot fathom that God cares for her. As a sinner, these great attributes of God scare her and make her want to turn and run for the hills! But when these attributes are presented to her within the context of the Resurrection, they become the path for her to find redemption.

And it shows us how this weekend that changed history can change her story and many others.