The morning at the tomb began as the day that the reality sank in for Mary Magdalene and the other disciples that it was all over. Jesus had been placed in the tomb and the only thing left to do was finish the burial customs that the Sabbath has halted. However, things didn’t turn out as Jesus’ followers expected. Instead of a body, they found and empty tomb and burial clothes. Instead of their day ending in the deep feeling that life would inevitably return to what it was before they had learned at the feet of Jesus, it would become the day that the rest of their lives truly began. When Mary first heard the words of the stranger she encountered at the tomb, “Who are you looking for?” she was sure it was the gardener, but when He called her name, she knew. It was Jesus, her teacher, the one who found her broken and tormented by demons. But He was different, there was something more to the Jesus that stood before her. On that Easter morning, Mary Magdalene, Peter, John and the rest of the disciples would realize that the promises of Jesus Christ had been fulfilled. Death had been defeated, sin was no longer holding the keys to life and eternity, Jesus was alive, fully alive, both fully human and at the same time fully God!
