The Romans generally reserved crucifixion for people at the bottom of society, like slaves and criminals. Their bodies were seldom claimed and the Romans usually didn’t bother to bury them. They were left to decay or be consumed by animals.

The Jews, however, buried their people the day they died, usually in a tomb prepared in advance. Jesus’ death was sudden and if his family had a burial plot, it was probably in Galilee.

Rather than leave Jesus’ body in disgrace, Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Jewish Ruling Council, stepped in. He went boldly to Pilate and asked permission to bury Jesus because he had a tomb he had carved out of rock for his own future use. Pilate was surprised that Jesus had died so quickly, but when a centurion verified his death, Pilate let Joseph take the body.

Nicodemus, another member of the Ruling Council, joined Joseph and they wrapped Jesus’ body in a linen shroud laced with burial spices and laid him in the tomb. Joseph was a secret disciple of Jesus who had not consented to the Council’s actions against Jesus, and Nicodemus had also come to visit Jesus secretly some years earlier. They did their best to care for Jesus according to proper Jewish burial customs.

After Jesus was laid in the tomb, Joseph rolled a big stone over the entrance to seal it shut. Then the chief priests went and asked Pilate to set a guard at the tomb for three days. They knew Jesus had promised to rise from the dead and they didn’t want his disciples to steal his body and fake a resurrection.

“‘Take a guard,’ Pilate answered. ‘Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.’” Matthew 27:65

Women Go to the Tomb

Mary Magdalene and one of the other women, also named Mary, followed the men to the tomb and sat down across from it to watch the burial. They planned to return the day after the Sabbath to attend to Jesus’ body properly.

They got up early Sunday morning and carried their supplies back to the garden where the tomb was located. Along the way they wondered who would help them roll away the stone that closed the opening to the tomb, but when they arrived it had already been rolled away.

“There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.” Matthew 28:2-4

The women were frightened when they found the angel still seated at the tomb.

“‘Don’t be alarmed,’ he said. ‘You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See, the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’” Mark 16:6-7

Peter and John Run to the Tomb

The women came back and told the gathered Apostles and disciples what they had seen. The men didn’t believe what the women said because it seemed like nonsense to them, but Peter and John couldn’t resist going to see for themselves.

“So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first . . . 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.” John 20:3-7

When the two men went into the tomb and saw the empty grave clothes, they believed Jesus had left his grave, but “They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.” John 20:9

Peter and John returned to where they were staying with the other disciples, but Mary Magdalene stayed outside the tomb crying.

Mary Magdalene Sees Jesus

“As she wept, [Mary] 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.” John 20:11-14

Jesus asked Mary the same question the angels had, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” John 20:15

Mary thought the man was a gardener who had removed Jesus’ body for some reason so she implored him, “‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.’” John 20:15

Then Jesus said Mary’s name and she recognized him. “She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, ‘Rabboni!” (which means ‘Teacher’).” John 20:16

Mary reverted to her heart language of Aramaic when she saw Jesus. It was the language of Galilee and people who spoke it were instantly recognizable – as Peter had been in the courtyard of the high priest when Jesus was on trial. Jesus and Mary shared the intimacy of their native language when they greeted each other.

Jesus told Mary not to hold on to him. He was finishing his time on earth and going back to his Father soon.

“Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” John 20:17

Mary went to the disciples with the news, “I have seen the Lord!” and she told them what Jesus said.

More Women See Jesus

In the first hours after his resurrection Jesus and the angels appeared only to his women followers. The women were doing women’s work, going to attend to Jesus’ body, so perhaps they got to see Jesus just because they showed up.

However, Peter and John ran to see for themselves and found only an empty tomb, no angels and no Jesus. For a while they had to be satisfied with the reports and instructions the women brought them. In his sovereignty, God chose women to be his first witnesses to the greatest event in history.

The Guards Report In

The soldiers stationed at Jesus’ tomb suddenly had nothing to guard. An angel rolled the stone away and the next thing they knew the tomb was empty. Some women came and verified that Jesus’ body should have been there, but it was gone.

The guards went to the chief priests and reported everything that had happened. In their distress, the priests met with the Jewish elders and agreed to pay the soldiers a large sum of money to lie about what had happened.

“‘You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’” Matthew 28:13

This was an implausible story. Guards didn’t sleep while they were on duty, and if they had, the noise of Jesus’ disciples rolling away a huge stone at the tomb would have woke them up. Nevertheless, the story gained traction and years later there were still Jews who believed it.

It’s hard to imagine what it was like for Jesus to be freed from the grave. His mission on earth was complete and now he had the joy of revealing his resurrection to his friends. It almost seems playful the way he chose who to greet and the ways that he did it.

On September 24 in the One Year Chronological Bible we read “The beginning of the good new about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God.” Mark 1:1 Tomorrow we finish reading the Gospel accounts of his story.