+GOSPEL: John 20:1-18
This morning begins with confusion: the stone has been moved and the tomb is empty. Disciples
arrive, then angels, and finally Jesus himself. Out of the confusion, hope emerges, and a weeping
woman becomes the first to confess her faith in the risen Lord.
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to
the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and
went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to
them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have
laid him.” Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The
two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb
first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not
go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen
wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the
linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached
the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand
the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their
homes.
But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into
the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been
lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you
weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where
they have laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing
there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you
weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to
him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take
him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew,
“Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I
have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am
ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ” Mary Magdalene
went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he
had said these things to her.
After the gospel is read, the following is said responsively:
P: The gospel of the Lord.
C: Praise to you, O Christ.
