Jesus' Final Visit to JerusalemSample

The Resurrection

Saturday evening, when the Sabbath ended, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome went out and purchased burial spices so they could anoint Jesus’ body. 53 Very early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, just at sunrise as the new day was dawning, the women, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went out to visit the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. On the way they were asking each other, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?”

Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it. His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint.

As the women came to the tomb, they looked up and found that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled away from the entrance.

So they entered the tomb, but they didn’t find the body of the Lord Jesus. As they stood there puzzled, two men suddenly appeared to them, clothed in dazzling robes.

The women were terrified and bowed with their faces to the ground. Then the men said to the women, “Don’t be afraid! I know you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen! Remember what he told you back in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and that he would rise again on the third day.” Then they remembered that he had said this. “Come, look, this is where they laid his body. And now, go quickly and tell his disciples, including Peter, that Jesus has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there, just as he told you before he died. Remember what I have told you.”

The women fled quickly from the tomb, trembling and bewildered, and they said nothing to anyone because they were too frightened.54 They were very frightened but also filled with great joy, and so they rushed back from the tomb to give the disciples the angel’s message—to tell his eleven disciples and everyone else what had happened.

Mary Magdalene ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, “They have taken the Lord’s body out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” Peter jumped up, and he and the other disciple started out for the tomb to look.

They were both running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He stooped and looked in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he didn’t go in. Then Simon Peter arrived. Stooping, he peered in and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, while the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrappings. Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed—for until then they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead. Then they went home again, wondering what had happened.

After Jesus rose from the dead early on Sunday morning, the first person who saw him was Mary Magdalene, the woman from whom he had cast out seven demons. 55 Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in. She saw two white-robed angels, one sitting at the head and the other at the foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been lying. “Dear woman, why are you crying?” the angels asked her.

“Because they have taken away my Lord,” she replied, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” She turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize him. “Dear woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who are you looking for?”

She thought he was the gardener. “Sir,” she said, “if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.”

“Mary!” Jesus said.

She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for “Teacher”).

“Don’t cling to me,” Jesus said, “for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

And as the women went, Jesus met them and greeted them.56 And they ran to him, grasped his feet, and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t be afraid! Go tell my brothers to leave for Galilee, and they will see me there.”

As the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and told the leading priests what had happened. A meeting with the elders was called, and they decided to give the soldiers a large bribe. They told the soldiers, “You must say, ‘Jesus’ disciples came during the night while we were sleeping, and they stole his body.’ If the governor hears about it, we’ll stand up for you so you won’t get in trouble.” So the guards accepted the bribe and said what they were told to say. Their story spread widely among the Jews, and they still tell it today.

Then Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and several other women found the disciples, who were grieving and weeping, and told them what had happened.57 Mary Magdalene told them, “I have seen the Lord!” Then she gave them his message. But when she told them that Jesus was alive and she had seen him, the story sounded like nonsense to the men, so they didn’t believe it.

Footnotes:

53 Each of the four Gospel accounts of the Resurrection focuses on particular aspects, based upon the writers’ audiences and purposes in writing, making it difficult to be certain regarding the order of events when harmonizing the accounts. What follows is the assumed chronological arrangement of the details of the four accounts, which should not be viewed as an absolute ordering of the events that occurred.

54 While Mark’s account ends in 16:8 with the women saying nothing in their fear, the other Gospels indicate that they did go on to share the news at least with Jesus’ closest followers (see next footnote).

55 The most reliable early manuscripts of the Gospel of Mark end at verse 8. Other manuscripts include various endings to the Gospel. A few include both the “shorter ending” and the “longer ending.” The majority of manuscripts include the “longer ending” immediately after verse 8. The first few verses of the “longer ending” (referred to as Mark 16:9-11) are included here. The remaining content of the “longer ending” (Mark 16:12-20) has been included in subsequent stories.

56 John’s account of the Resurrection focuses specifically on Mary Magdalene, while the other Gospels describe the experiences of the group of women. The precise timing of Mary Magdalene’s initial encounter with Jesus (relayed in John) in relation to this appearance of Jesus to the group of women is uncertain.

57 The shorter ending of Mark reads Then they briefly reported all this to Peter and his companions.