Resurrection: The Way is Open

“Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed. … ” (John 20:1 ff.)

On Easter morning those who came to the tomb where the body of Jesus had been laid discovered two fundamental truths about Resurrection. The first is that God opens the way to the reality of Resurrection. The stone blocking the entrance to the tomb had been rolled away; the way was open.

Notice that the disciple who arrived first at the tomb waited, then followed Simon Peter in. When he saw the linen wrappings that had bound Jesus’ body lying there, he believed. He knew Jesus had been raised from the dead.

The disciple more importantly was able to see between and beyond the linens on the ground to the revelation of Resurrection. As Barbara Brown Taylor aptly notes, “I must be willing to look between things and not always at them, since a direct gaze often misses what may be glimpsed at the corner of the eye. The space between two branches may become more promising than the branches themselves. … ” (The Preaching Life)

The second fundamental truth is that those who are willing to walk through the openings God gives us are the ones who will find themselves in the place of Resurrection. Yes, the disciple who arrived ahead of Peter waited, wasn’t sure, looked in but did not go in. It wasn’t until he went through the opening that he saw and believed.

In this Easter season may we hear and hold onto the promise that the One who removed the stone to open the disciples’ way to Resurrection does the same for us. And though we may linger for awhile at the entrance, may we in faith say “yes,” to go into areas God continually opens to us. In doing so we will discover for ourselves that we are in the very places where Resurrection occurs.