“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!’ ” (John 20:1-2).
Mary Magdalene had good reason to love Jesus because of what He had done for her. Jesus had driven seven demons out of her (Mark 16:9). She came to the tomb that morning because she found it difficult to let go of the One who had delivered her from her misery.
She was among those who had followed Jesus to the Cross, risking their own safety. Now she had followed Him to the tomb. She came to see Jesus’ body, not a risen Lord. It is obvious that she had limited understanding. He had said He would rise again but none of His followers expected that to happen. Mary had given up hope but she still loved Him. That first resurrection morning not a single person in the world expected to see Jesus alive again.
The book of Acts details the fact that the disciples came out of hiding and changed the world because they knew Jesus was alive. Saul the persecutor became Paul the world’s greatest missionary because he discovered that Jesus is alive. We, as believers, can face anything that comes our way because we know that Jesus is alive. He defeated sin when He died on the Cross and defeated death when He rose again. Nothing can keep Him from bringing victory to every one of us.
There are many things about Jesus we don’t understand. He is more awesome than we can fully comprehend. But we know this—Jesus is alive and that’s all we need to know in order to trust Him with our lives.
