Lectionary blog for April 20, 2025
Resurrection of our Lord, Easter Day
Acts 10:34-43; Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24;
1 Corinthians 15:19-26; John 20:1-18
As a teenager, I worked as a bank teller and had to participate in robbery trainings. One of the things that sticks with me, decades later, is that after getting the robber out of the building (we don’t want hostage situations) we couldn’t speak with anyone until the police arrived. Humans tend to harmonize accounts, to forget the details of what they observed, so different witnesses are often merged into a cohesive narrative. In order to preserve what we witnessed of the robbery (I was never held up, but a few colleagues were), we were supposed to keep what we saw and heard to ourselves until the police could record our accounts. I love the ways that the Gospel accounts preserve foundational witnesses and don’t necessarily merge all the witnesses into one narrative. John and Luke (in writing Acts) give us multiple foundational perspectives of a shared fact: Jesus rose from the grave.
In John we have the stories and experiences of at least six people who witnessed the empty tomb. First, and most importantly, we have the apostle to the apostles, Mary Magdalene. She came to the tomb and, finding that the protective stone had been removed, ran to tell Jesus’ chief disciple, Simon Peter, as well as the disciple Jesus loved (nice one, John …). Then they all returned to the tomb at different speeds.
John notes that he was the fastest to run to the tomb but dutifully waited outside until his more prominent elder arrived. He saw the same things that Peter did: the discarded linen graveclothes, the rolled-up face covering, and the abandoned shelf where Jesus’ body had been laid. He “saw and believed” (John 20:8). But what he saw and believed is unclear, because they did not yet understand that Jesus must rise from the dead (9).
Peter’s experience was the same as John’s, and by this account he was the first to enter the empty tomb. Peter saw the same graveclothes that John did, but there is no account that he saw and believed—at least not yet.
The witnesses create a rich mosaic of different pieces joined together to portray a whole picture: Jesus conquered the grave and rose to life for the sake of the world.
Mary’s experience at the tomb was entirely different. She saw the same graveclothes that the men had seen, but she noticed something that they didn’t. She saw two angels sitting where Jesus’ head and feet had been.
And the angels noticed something as well: Mary was weeping. In the moment of triumph of the kingdom of heaven over sin and death, the servants of heaven who beheld God face-to-face were concerned with human emotion. Why are you crying? At that movement of concern and empathy, Mary turned and beheld Jesus, without recognizing him. Jesus joined the angels in their concern for her emotional state, also asking why she was crying. Then, with a flash of recognition, Mary saw that her rabbi had defeated death and returned to her. Jesus commissioned her as his witness to his disciples to tell them all that she had seen and heard.
A few months later, God commissioned Peter to go tell the gentiles all that he had seen and heard about Jesus. By then, Peter’s witnessing narrative had been concretized. Jesus is Lord of all (Acts 10:36). God anointed Jesus with the Spirit and with power (38). Jesus went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, because God was with him. After he was murdered, God raised him up on the third day. And God appointed Jesus as judge of the living and dead (42). All the prophets testified about him, and everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins (43).
Luke’s account of Peter’s foundational presentation of the Gospel has none of John’s poetic Christology. No Word being God and with God. Instead, Peter tells of a Jesus who traveled around, doing good and releasing those who were oppressed. God raised Jesus from the dead. This is the person that God sets up as the judge of the living and the dead. Peter wanted the gentiles to know right at the beginning of their inclusion in the Jesus movement that the Messiah did good for people, conquered death and will judge the world.
I love the multitude of voices and perspectives in the Bible. Mary sees angels. John sees and believes. Peter takes his time but then witnesses to the gentiles about Jesus’ mission. They create a rich mosaic of different pieces joined together to portray a whole picture: Jesus conquered the grave and rose to life for the sake of the world.
