"Early on Sunday morning while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been taken away from the entrance. She went running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and told them. ‘They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!'

Then Peter and the other disciple went to the tomb. The two of them were running but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and saw the linen wrappings, but he did not go in. Behind him came Simon Peter, and he went straight into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there and the cloth which had been round Jesus' head. It was not lying with the linen wrappings but was rolled up by itself. Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in; he saw and believed.”  (Jn.20,1-8)

REFLECTIONS.

• Appearing to his Disciples on Easter Sunday, Jesus showed them his hands and his side: the marks of the Good Friday. There is no Easter Sunday without Good Friday. The Jesus of Easter is the same of the Jesus of Good Friday. If we are united to Jesus, we too will rise from the dead.

• It was the custom in Palestine to visit the tomb of a loved one for three days after the body had been buried. It was believed that for three days the spirit of the dead person was flying around the tomb; but on the fourth day it departed because the body had become unrecognisable through decay. Jesus' friends could not come to the tomb on the Sabbath, because to make that journey, it would have broken the Law.

• When Mary Magdalene arrived at the tomb she was amazed and shocked. She thought that the Jews had taken away Jesus' body from the tomb: not satisfied with killing him on a Cross, they were inflicting further indignities on him.

• She returned to the city to seek out Peter and John. When they came to the tomb, John looked in but went no further. Peter, with his typical impulsiveness, not only looked in, but went in. They were amazed at the empty tomb.

• Then something struck them: the grave clothes. These did not appear as if they had been put off or taken off; they were lying there in their regular position as if the body of Jesus had simply evaporated out of them. The Gospel refuses to describe a triumphant departure of Jesus as his readers would have preferred.

• The Risen Lord was only seen by those who believed: Peter, John, Mary Magdalene and the other women who looked for him would see him. The soldiers and rulers who did not believe in him, they were not seen him alive, risen from the dead.

• The Lord is seen alive in our world only by those who are looking for him with sincere and humble heart, full of faith.