Come and See for Yourself

Mary Magdalene: It was early morning. I, Mary Magdalene along with Mary, the mother of James, was determined to anoint his body. He, Jesus of Nazareth, had been crucified two days earlier. As was our custom we had rested on the Sabbath; now we wanted to honor him by anointing his body which was in the tomb owned by Joseph. We left our home quietly, quickly, looking…

Peter:  It was early morning. I, Peter, sipped tea with the others. We took small bites of bread left over from the Passover feast we had enjoyed with him several days earlier. We were tired, fearful of what to do. Jesus, the rabbi we had been with the past three years had been killed on a Roman cross two days earlier. We sat together recalling stories of our time with Jesus; it was our way to honor him.

Mary Magdalene: An early morning storm quickly came and went causing the air to be crisp and clean. The sunrise was amazing as the clouds quickly disappeared. As we approached the tomb, we were amazed: the stone was rolled back from the entrance.

And then we saw him! An angel. Dressed in white, bright as lightning – an angel was sitting on the stone! The Roman guards cowered in fear and amazement. They crawled away and fled. We came closer – looking for him. The voice of the angel quieted our fear saying: I know who you are looking for. He is not here. He has risen. Come and see for yourself. The tomb is empty. Go, tell his disciples: “He has risen.”

Filled with joy we turned to leave. We picked up the hems of our skirts to run. The familiar voice stopped us dead in our tracks. “Good morning!” he said. It was Jesus! Somewhat giddy, laughing and crying we talked with him. It was sacred, time seemed to stop as we talked about all that had happened the past few days. His instructions interrupted our desire to stay with him. “Go to my friends, tell them to meet me in Galilee. I’ll meet them there.”

Peter: The forceful knocking and their early morning giddy voices interrupted us. “We have seen him! He is alive! He is risen!” they were yelling as we opened the door. John and I looked at each other. We had to see with our own eyes. We left the others to look for him. Our eyes darted back and forth as we rushed to the tomb, we looked for him.

The tomb was just as the women had said. Other than the strips of linen John and others had used to take him to the tomb it was empty. John and I looked at each other. “The women are right!” We laughed shaking our heads in amazement. He must be alive as they had said. We ran back to tell the others, “He is risen!”

Mary: He is risen!

Peter: He is risen indeed!

(Mary Magdalene and Peter’s memories of the first Resurrection Sunday are loosely based on Matthew’s account. The reading was shared as a Call to Worship at Sonnenberg Mennonite Church, April 21, 2019 by Michele Patterson and Henry Beun.)