Early on the first day of the week, wile it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!"
So Peter and the other desciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head. The cloth was folded up by itself, seperate from the linen. Finally, the other diciple, wo had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He was and believed. (They still did not understand from scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)
Then the diciples went back to their homes but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?"
"They have taken my Lord away," she said "and I don't know where they have put him: At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
"Woman," he said "why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?"
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him."
Jesus said to her, "Mary"
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic "Rabboni!" (which means teacher).
Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God"
Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: "I have seen the Lord" and she told them the He had said these things to her.
John 20: 1-18 NIV
Jesus went on to appear to the Disciples, Thomas, made a Miraculous Catch of Fish [I love that story] Reinstated Peter [ who had betrayed him and had to be devastated]
"Then the eleven diciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Juss came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given me. Therefore go and make discples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. Matthew 28: 16-20
That's what I will be celebrating on Easter Morning...
