Easter Sunday:

The stone had been rolled away.

(Mark 16:4)

“As it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave” (Mt 28:1). That’s how it all began. They were joined by some of the other women who had helped place Jesus’ dead body in the tomb. They wanted to return as early as possible, bringing some spices to freshen things up and to honor the dead—like we do when we bring flowers to the grave of a loved one.

“Who will roll away the stone for us” they wondered. I suppose they hadn’t thought it through. They just went. When they arrived, they saw that “the stone had been rolled away” (Mk 16:4). It had to do with an earthquake. Creation itself has been astir since Golgotha when a strange darkness descended and the earth shook splitting rocks and opening tombs. And now, sometime during the dark of night, an earthquake opens The Tomb. Creation itself seems to know.

The women enter with their spices only to find the tomb empty: “Someone has taken him out of the tomb,” they tell Peter and John, “and, we do not know where they have laid him” (Jn 20:2). Peter and John ran to check it out and discovered it was true—the tomb is empty.

Through fear and trembling, doubts and questions, wonder and astonishment; the women along with the disciples eventually sort it out. The tomb is empty because “He has risen from the dead” (Mt: 28:6). That changes everything.