This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad. (Psalm 117)
We are most familiar with John’s vivid account of Easter morning because he was the only Evangelist who witnessed the empty tomb first-hand. He recounted what he actually saw and did, while the authors of the other Gospels had to rely on oral tradition.
All four Evangelists attempted to describe something that had never happened before in history. They had to use mere words to convey the indescribable. Central to all the Easter narratives are the empty tomb and the missing body of Jesus, which the women had not been able to properly prepare for burial after his death, due to the start of the Jewish Sabbath at sunset on Good Friday. So, they came on Sunday morning, after the Sabbath, to finish the task.
John then states simply, “He saw and he believed. Till this moment they had failed to understand the teaching of scripture, that he must rise from the dead.”
We must share this moment with John, when he sees the fulfillment of and understands the teachings of scripture: Jesus, the Crucified One, is no longer dead but is Risen and Alive.
