The Story of the Empty Tomb (John 20)

It was awful what they did to Jesus. His enemies did all they could to destroy him, and they believed he was now dead and gone forever. But they were dead wrong! The devil had his say, but now God will have his say. On the third day after Jesus died on the cross, some woman came to his tomb very early in the morning. They wanted to pay their respect and anoint his body with sweet smelling spices. They had hoped to find someone to roll away the stone from the opening of the tomb, but when they arrived the stone had already been rolled away and his body was gone. The women thought someone had stolen his body, and Mary Magdalene ran to tell his disciples. Actually, no one had stolen Jesus’ body. He had risen from the dead just as he said he would. An angel came down from heaven to roll the stone away so people could look inside and see that the tomb was empty. When Mary Magdalene found Peter and John, they ran as fast as they could and came to the tomb and went inside. John saw the grave clothes of Jesus still in the empty tomb, and he believed that Jesus was no longer dead. Peter and John then returned to their own home, but Mary Magdalene came back to the tomb. She was very sad and really crying. She looked inside and saw two angels, and they asked her why she was crying. She then turned away from the tomb and saw Jesus standing, but she did not recognize him. Maybe it was because she was so sad and still crying. Jesus then called out her name and said, “Mary.” She turned and looked on him and said, “Master!” Peter and John saw the empty tomb and the grave clothes Jesus left behind, but Mary saw him face to face. Do you think her sad tears went away when she saw Jesus?