Telling the Beads Bead 16 - Episode 1 The Tomb was Empty

Bead Sixteen   Alive

B16 - E1 The Tomb was empty

In the early hours of Sunday morning, which was the day after the Sabbath and the first day of the week, the city of Jerusalem was shaken by an earth tremor. The small group of women who had planned to go to the tomb as soon as they could to anoint the body of their beloved Jesus were awakened by the sound. Mary Magdalene had been unable to sleep and had decided to make her way ahead of the others while it was still dark but when she arrived at the tomb, she was shocked to see that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance.

Completely mystified, she wondered if the tremor could have been the cause, unaware as she was that shortly after midnight, at the moment it occurred, the guards had felt the earth shake beneath their feet and were terrified to see two figures who appeared like lightning and moved the stone before their very eyes, the stone which they had been charged to protect!  When the figures disappeared, they checked the tomb and saw that it was empty.

Shaking in fear and frightened to death, they ran back to the chief priests to tell them what had happened. An assembly of the council was hastily called together to come up with a plan. It was decided that the guards should be given a large sum of money and told to say that the followers of Jesus had come in the night and stolen his body while they were asleep. “If Pilate comes to hear about it,” the men were promised, ‘“we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble,” and this was the story that spread around.

Mary went up to the tomb and looked inside fearfully. When she saw it was empty, in confusion and disbelief and uncertain what to do next, her first thought was to find Peter and John and tell them what she had seen so she ran back to find them. Peter had hidden himself from everyone in his grief at his denial of his beloved Lord so John had spent a long time searching for him and comforting him as best he could. He encouraged him to join the others in the upper room where many of them had fled for shelter and protection. 

On reaching the house, Mary ran upstairs and knocked on the locked door. As she entered the room, her words came tumbling out. “Come quickly,’’ she said, ‘’the tomb is open. Our Lord’s body has gone!” but no matter how much she insisted, no one could accept the possibility of such an idea, so Peter and John decided to go to see what had happened for themselves.

Initially, they ran together but John, being the younger of the two, outran Peter and arrived there first. He bent down and looked inside and saw that the burial sheets had been folded up and were lying there but he didn’t go inside until Peter arrived and entered the tomb first. Peter also noticed the folded sheets and the cloth that had been laid over the face of Jesus which was not lying with the sheets but was rolled up separately. 

John followed Peter into the tomb and as soon as he saw that everything Mary had told them was true, things began to fall into place. The body of Jesus had gone. Grave robbers wouldn’t have stopped to remove burial sheets from a body, let alone fold them. Everything that Jesus had been telling them for months had come about. He had died but must now be alive.

The prophecies in the scriptures which he had known from his childhood onward about how the Messiah would suffer and die and then come back to life had come true. Amazed at what they had seen, the two of them went back straightaway to tell the others but were met with the same complete incomprehension and disbelief that they had felt themselves until they saw the empty tomb and the folded sheets.

Mary Magdalene had followed behind Peter and John as they made their way to the tomb. She stood weeping outside at first then bent down and looked inside and was shocked to see two figures whom she recognised as angels, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying. They asked her why she was crying and she answered, “My Lord’s body has been taken away and I don’t know where it is.”

By this time, the sun had risen and the three other women were on their way to join Mary Magdalene. As they walked along, they were wondering who might be there to roll the stone away from the tomb for them but when they arrived, they were astounded to see that it had been moved. They went to look inside and saw Mary there, As soon as she heard their voices, she turned around and beckoned them to come in.

They entered the tomb together and when they saw the angels clothed in their dazzling white robes they were overawed and fell to their knees but the angels spoke kindly to them. “Don’t be afraid. If you are looking for the body of Jesus who died, it isn’t here. He has come back to life. Come and see where he was lying.”

Moving further inside the tomb, they could see it was empty. The angels said, “While Jesus was in Galilee, he told you that his enemies would have him crucified and that he would come back to life on the third day, didn’t he.” The women began to recall the words and to understand what had happened. The angels continued, “We have been sent to bring you this message. You must go and tell Peter and all the disciples that Jesus is alive!”

With a growing sense of joy, and yet still fearful and in shock, the women left the tomb. They stood for a while discussing what to do next. It was decided that Mary Magdalene would run back to take the message to Peter and the others while the three women made a tour of the garden to see if they could see any signs of Jesus himself. Mary left them, happy to be able to spread the joyful news.