Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. (John 20.1 https://www.biblegateway.com NRSVA)
There are different versions in the Gospel of when exactly the discovery of the Empty Tomb was made. Mark says it was ‘extremely early’ but that the ‘the sun had already risen.’ Luke says that Jesus’ female followers came to pay their respects ‘in the deep dawn’ of Easter Day. The symbolism is obvious - sunrise and resurrection coincide, at least in their experience.
But Matthew says the women came to the tomb ‘late in the night after the Sabbath, towards dawn, and John is even more explicit. He says that Mary comes to the tomb ‘while it is still dark’.
I am writing this reflection six days before Easter Day, while I’m still very much in the dark about where we’ll all be when Easter Day comes. It seems to fit the uncertain times we’re living through that Mary too was in the dark when she got up on Easter Day and went - presumably with the other women, who don’t concern John - to the tomb.
This is the darkest Easter of my lifetime, perhaps of yours too, but nothing - and no darkness - can overcome the fact that the tomb was empty. As the women ran from the tomb Matthew tells us that Jesus approached them and said, ‘Don’t be afraid.’ In Matthew’s account the women hold onto his feet, but again, it seems peculiarly fitting to our time of ‘social distancing’ that, in John’s version, Jesus tells Mary, ‘Don’t touch me!’ His place now is everywhere -not just with his followers but with all who are suffering, throughout history.
(Translations taken from The New Testament Freshly Translated by Nicholas King)
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