Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray with Me”.

I like those mystery novels where the detective exhumes a body and discovers lead weights instead of a corpse. What happened to the body?

Something like Mary Magdalene’s experience at Jesus’ tomb. The entrance stone was rolled away. The tomb was empty. What happened to the body?

When she reported “The Case of the Stolen Body” to Peter and John, they ran to  investigate. They found burial clothes, but no body. 

John jumped to his own conclusion. This was no grave robbery. This was a resurrection! 

What would be more appropriate for Jesus? He called himself the resurrection and the life. He’d raised others from the dead. And you expected his grave would hold him? 

Mary, still not understanding, stayed at the tomb weeping. Bad enough that Jesus had been crucified. Stealing his body was unthinkable. 

When she looked again, two angels sat where the body belonged. They asked, “Why are you crying?” (John 20:15). 

And then behind her, a gardener asked the same question, “Why are you crying? Who are you looking for?” 

Through her tears she said, “If you’ve taken him, tell me, and I will get him.” 

The gardener said, “Mary!” and she recognized him as Jesus (20:16).   

Let’s pray. 

O Jesus, what did your resurrection mean for Mary? What does it mean for us? 

We could wish it means we will not die. But those you raised from the dead, like Lazarus, died a second time and were buried. And they haven’t been heard from since. 

In your story, Jesus, you only died once. And then you were raised. Now you live with God, and your Spirit lives in us. 

We believe your resurrection, reported in the gospels. We believe your disciples who spread the word. We believe you live in us today. We believe your resurrection promises that we will be raised too. We wait for your coming again.  

Amen.

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube.