Gospel: John: 20: 1-9

 

The day after the Sabbath, for Christians it is the first day of the new week, the beginning of the new time, the memorial day of the resurrection called "the day of the Lord".

 

Mary Magdalene, the woman present at the foot of the cross visits the sepulcher, early, while it was still dark. The lack of light it seems to prepare for the contrast the darkness - lack of faith and light - welcoming of the Gospel, of the resurrection.

 

The stone had been “taken away” from the tomb: the Greek verb is generic: the verb to "take away" recalls Jn 1:29: the Baptist points Jesus out as “Lamb who takes away the sin of the world". This stone, "taken away," from the sepulcher, reminds that death and sin have been "taken away" by the resurrection of Jesus. 

 

Mary Magdalene runs to those who share her love for Jesus and her suffering. She wants to share with them this final pain of the outrage committed against His body. We see how Peter and the "beloved disciple" and Mary Magdalene are characterized by a special love that unites them with Jesus: it is indeed reciprocal love that makes them capable of sensing the presence of the Jesus.

 

The other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved: is someone who appears in this Gospel and he appears at every decisive moment of the passion and of the resurrection. Since the fourth Gospel never speaks of John the apostle, and keeping in mind that this Gospel recounts details clearly known to an eyewitness, the "disciple" has been identified with John the apostle. 

 

“They have taken the Lord out of the tomb”, the title "Lord" implies an acknowledgement of divinity and evokes divine omnipotence. That is why this term was used by Christians for the risen Jesus. “We do not know where they have laid Him” and these words are implicit reference is to the words of Jesus Himself when He says that it is impossible to know where He was going.

 

“They both ran”, this shows the anxiety that these disciples were living through, and the fact that the "other disciple" stopped is more than just a gesture of respect towards someone older; it is the tacit acknowledgement that Peter, within the apostolic group, held a place of pre-eminence. It is, a sign of order in communion. 

 

Peter, crossing the entrance of the sepulchre, discovers the proof that no theft of the body took place: no thief would have wasted time to unfold the body, spread the cloths in an orderly fashion and then to roll up the napkin in a place by itself. 

 

Peter…saw…the other disciple…saw and believed: at the beginning of the story, Mary Magdalene also "saw". Although some translations use the same verb, the original Greek text uses three different verbs (theorein for Peter; blepein for the other disciple and Mary Magdalene; idein, here, for the other disciple), allowing us to understand that there is a growth in the spiritual depth of this "seeing" that, in fact, culminates in the faith.

 

Even for those who had lived close to Jesus, it was difficult to believe in Him. For them, as for us as well, the only gateway that allows us to cross the threshold of authentic faith is knowledge of the Scriptures in the light of the events of the resurrection.