Day 26 – Jesus’ body is not there

Bible reading: John 20:1–9

The hole in the rock is empty

1 Early on the first day of the week, Mary from Magdala went to the hole in the rock. It was still dark. She saw that someone had removed the big stone from the front of the hole. 2 So she ran to where Simon Peter was. He was with the other disciple, the one that Jesus loved. She said to them, ‘Somebody has taken the Lord's body out of the hole. We do not know where they have put him!’

3 So Peter and the other disciple started to go to the place where Jesus' body had been. 4 Both of them were running. But the other disciple ran faster than Peter ran. So he reached the hole first. 5 He bent himself down and he looked inside the hole. He saw the pieces of linen cloth that were lying there. But he did not go in. 6 Simon Peter had run behind the other disciple. When he arrived, he went into the hole. He saw the pieces of cloth that were lying there. 7 Also, he saw the piece of cloth that had been around Jesus' head. This was not in the same place as the long pieces of linen cloth. Someone had put it carefully in a separate place. 8 The other disciple had reached the place first, and now he also went inside. He saw and he believed. 9 They still did not understand what the Bible already said. It said that Jesus had to become alive again after he had died.

20:9See Isaiah 53:10-12; Psalm 16:10; Hosea 6:2.

John 20:1-9 EasyEnglish Bible (EASY)

Reflection

Jesus was quickly buried nearby in a rock tomb on the Friday evening, before the Sabbath stopped all people’s work. Very early on the Sunday morning, Mary went to the tomb. She discovered with despair that the big stone in front of it had been moved. She ran back to tell John (often called ‘the special friend of Jesus’) and Peter, who was staying with him. Mary told them that grave robbers seemed to have stolen the body.

Race to the tomb

Peter and John then raced to the tomb. John, who was younger, got there first and looked in but did not enter it. When Peter arrived, he boldly went into the tomb. An amazing sight greeted them both. The strips of cloth that had been around the body of Jesus were still in place, along with the face cover folded up separately – but the body was gone. No grave robbers would steal a body and leave all the grave clothes untouched.

Faith begins to grow

It was like a cocoon when a butterfly has come out of it for a new sort of life. Faith begins to grow, at least for John, that an unbelievable thing had happened. Even death had not been able to keep the divine Saviour dead and buried. Of course, the ancient holy books had predicted something similar, but Peter and John did not know how to understand them.

Yet now, in front of their eyes, there was powerful evidence that Jesus had truly risen from the dead.