Bible Society of South Africa

Easter: Resurrection of the Lord

Gospel

The Empty Tomb

1Early 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. 2She 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!”

3Then Peter and the other disciple went to the tomb. 4The two of them were running, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and reached the tomb first. 5He bent over and saw the linen wrappings, but he did not go in. 6Behind him came Simon Peter, and he went straight into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there 7and the cloth which had been round Jesus' head. It was not lying with the linen wrappings but was rolled up by itself. 8Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in; he saw and believed. 9(They still did not understand the scripture which said that he must rise from death.) 10Then the disciples went back home.

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

11Mary stood crying outside the tomb. While she was still crying, she bent over and looked in the tomb 12and saw two angels there dressed in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been, one at the head and the other at the feet. 13“Woman, why are you crying?” they asked her.

She answered, “They have taken my Lord away, and I do not know where they have put him!”

14Then she turned round and saw Jesus standing there; but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15“Woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who is it that you are looking for?”

She thought he was the gardener, so she said to him, “If you took him away, sir, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.”

16Jesus said to her, “Mary!”

She turned towards him and said in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (This means “Teacher”.)

17“Do not hold on to me,” Jesus told her, “because I have not yet gone back up to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them that I am returning to him who is my Father and their Father, my God and their God.”

18So Mary Magdalene went and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and related to them what he had told her.

John 20:1-18GNBOpen in Bible reader

The Resurrection

1Very early on Sunday morning the women went to the tomb, carrying the spices they had prepared. 2They found the stone rolled away from the entrance to the tomb, 3so they went in; but they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4They stood there puzzled about this, when suddenly two men in bright shining clothes stood by them. 5Full of fear, the women bowed down to the ground, as the men said to them, “Why are you looking among the dead for one who is alive? 6He is not here; he has been raised. Remember what he said to you while he was in Galilee: 7‘The Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, be crucified, and three days later rise to life.’ ”

8Then the women remembered his words, 9returned from the tomb, and told all these things to the eleven disciples and all the rest. 10The women were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James; they and the other women with them told these things to the apostles. 11But the apostles thought that what the women said was nonsense, and they did not believe them. 12But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; he bent down and saw the linen wrappings but nothing else. Then he went back home amazed at what had happened.

Luke 24:1-12GNBOpen in Bible reader
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