He saw and he believed!

Easter Sunday Year C 17th April 2022 

Gospel John 20: 1–9

It was very early on the first day of the week and still dark, when Mary of Magdala came to the tomb. She saw that the stone had been moved away from the tomb and came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved.

‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb,’ she said, ‘and we don’t know where they have put him.’

So Peter set out with the other disciple to go to the tomb.

They ran together, but the other disciple, running faster than Peter, reached the tomb first; he bent down and saw the linen cloths lying on the ground, but did not go in. Simon Peter who was following now came up, went right into the tomb, saw the linen cloths on the ground, and also the cloth that had been over his head; this was not with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in; he saw and he believed. Till this moment they had failed to understand the teaching of scripture, that he must rise from the dead.

Jesus and Mary (Titian)

Gospel Reflection from St Beuno's Outreach

Perhaps, like Mary, I came to my place of prayer before dawn, ahead of the busy-ness of the day. But at whatever time I come to pray, I might be able to imagine myself in the quiet of the garden, alongside her, peering into the darkness of the empty tomb.

As I become still, I read the text, and then ponder.

What do I notice going on within me? To where am I being drawn?

Mary, thinking the body to be stolen, does not consider that Jesus has been raised from death. In her alarm, she has failed to understand the teaching of the scripture. When Peter goes into the tomb he sees only loss, the absence of a body. The other disciple, seeing beyond this, feels the stirring of belief in the presence of the Risen One.

What, in my life at the moment, is marked by absence and loss?

What, when seen with the loving eyes of a disciple, is filled with Christ’s presence?

What does the resurrection of Jesus say to me about death, suffering, conflict, loss ...?

I remain in the empty tomb, speaking to the Lord from the heart. Glory be ...