Sunday, April 20, is the Resurrection of the Lord. Mass readings: Acts 10:34a, 37-43; Psalm 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23; Colossians 3:1-4 or 1 Corinthians 5:6b-8; John 20:1-9.

After Mary Magdalene came to the tomb in the early morning and saw the stone removed from the tomb, she ran to Simon Peter and John, as the Gospel recounts. 

Though Mary Magdalene saw direct evidence of the Resurrection, she says, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.”

So Peter and John run to the tomb — and John got there first, hurried by hope. 

What do they see?

“When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths [lying] there, and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place.” The Greek text describes the clothes as κείμενα (keimena) — lying there, as if the clothes simply “deflated” in place. The most expensive cloth, called the soudarion, lies separately.

What does this mean?

It’s not robbers — for they would have taken the valuable cloth — it’s evidence of the Resurrection.

When John enters the tomb, the text says that “he saw and believed.” He believes that Jesus is risen. 

Yet the text also adds, “they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.” St. John leaves this scene as a believer, though his faith is not as fully perfected as it will become.

What about us? Do we believe? Do we run to proclaim the Risen Christ?

Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed!