Special Easter | Happy Easter | by the Perspectives Team

JOHN

I still remember Mary Magdalene running up to Peter and me shouting that they had taken the Lord out of the tomb and she didn’t know where they had taken him.
Peter and I ran towards the tomb not knowing what we would find.
The tomb was indeed empty except for the linen cloths. What was strange was that the cloth that covered Jesus’ face was rolled up in a place by itself.
I had spent the Friday before watching with Mary, Jesus’ Mother, my Lord, and my friend, dying the most horrific death, it was a terrible ordeal for me, just think what it was like for her.  I had held her and comforted her and took her home when it was all over. Jesus had given her to me and me to her, so that we could both be there for each other. We both loved him, you see.  The following night and day were spent in a daze, we were both numb with grief and despair.
How could I now go back to Mary and tell her what had happened?
We were huddling in the house where the disciples were hiding, fearing a backlash from the authorities. When suddenly Jesus was with us. The marks of the crucifixion visible the gash on his side still gaping. 
We watched him in amazement. He spoke to us and he said these most wonderful words.  Peace be with you. As the Father sent me so I send you. And then we remembered, we remembered!

Mary Magdalene
 
As Mary Magdalene stood at the foot of the Cross, watching Jesus die, we can only imagine the depth of her pain. We don't know anything really of her background, but we come across her in Luke's Gospel as part of the group of women who accompanied Jesus and His disciples, helping to care for them and support them. We learn here that she had been set free by Jesus from 7 evil spirits that had bound and tormented her.
Before meeting Jesus, her life would have been troubled and fraught with many sorrows, with no prospect of hope. Everything changed with meeting Him! Suddenly, she was valued, loved, whole, with a purpose and a future; she was set free from all that had tormented her. She knew that Jesus had the answer to life for her and for all mankind, and followed Him gladly.
But what had happened to the One she loved, the One in whom her hope and that of the other disciples lay? Where would she go from here? What was her future? She could remember again the darkness and the terror of the past. Surely it would not mean a return to that!
With these thoughts in mind, despair encompassing her, she went to the tomb early in the morning after the Sabbath.
That Easter Sunday morning, everything changed again dramatically. The empty tomb brought further perplexity, but no alleviation of the despair and loss, if anything, it only increased the hopelessness, because now there wasn't even a body on which to focus her grief. Yet moments later, an encounter with a gardener brought transformation - Jesus was alive, risen from the dead, and life was gloriously worth living again!
Pondering this the next day, at least three things must have dominated Mary's thinking:
 
Firstly, the wonder of the fact that Jesus should have chosen her, not just a woman, but a woman previously possessed by evil and despised by decent people, to be the first to meet the Lord after His resurrection.
Secondly, that there was absolutely no doubt in her mind that Jesus had risen and was alive; He had spoken her name, and nobody else spoke it in that way, with such love, tenderness and approval!
Thirdly, that she had a new purpose and direction in life; not to embalm a dead body and to go into mourning, but to tell others about the Man who changed her life for ever. Firstly, to tell Peter and the other disciples, then anyone else who would listen, so that their lives could be transformed too.

PETER

Bold and impulsive, that was Peter.  Originally a fisherman, Peter was one of the first to be called by Jesus to follow Him. He was also the first of the disciples to confess his belief in Jesus as the Messiah.
He has gone down in history as the one who, when challenged by servant girls, fearfully denied Jesus three times, having told Jesus, that if it came to the crunch, he would die for Him, hence his impulsive reputation!  When the cock crowed, and the memories of his denial of Jesus, flooded back, how he wept.  Peter denied Jesus by his words and also his action.
However, following the news of Jesus’ resurrection, Peter was one of the first to run to the tomb to see if it was true that Jesus who was crucified was now alive, and He was and is!  Peter appears to have been the first of the Twelve to whom the risen Jesus showed himself to be alive.
Jesus encouraged Peter to “feed His sheep”. Following the Resurrection and Pentecost, Peter was bold in words and action in the manner he fearlessly proclaimed Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord. Peter stands as a reassuring example of Christ’s forgiveness for those who know they have failed Him, and the way Jesus Christ can graciously restore and use such people for His glory. Peter went from fear to fearless, and so can we!

Cleopas:

I was in the Doctor's the other day. You know Dr Luke? I like going to him; he's such a good listener!  You know,  he's the one who collected all the stories he could find, about the life of our Saviour, and put them in his books. We are in the first one, about the birth and life of Jesus, the Word of God made flesh, the Gospel (that means, the Good News). There's a second one, which is called the Acts of the Apostles. It's not counted as a Gospel, although it carries on the same story. Acts of the Apostles tells about the spreading of the Good News, which is in fact, the understanding which Jesus himself explained to us so patiently on that long walk home to Emmaus, of all the prophecies and predictions which were made in holy scripture, about the promised Messiah, and what they mean for us now, today.

We thought he was going to come to save our people, Israel, from political oppression by Rome. But he showed us we had got that story all wrong; what he came to do (and he did it) was release us from the snares the Devil had set for us, and put us on the right path to reconciliation with the father, Jahwe, who had sent him to us for our salvation. And when we asked him in to share a crust with us and to keep talking – please ! - that was when we suddenly realised the truth he had been trying to get us to catch on to : that understanding doesn't come from hearing it in your head : it's putting it into Acts ; living what you believe, sharing the burden (or, in this case, the joy!).

So, when he broke the bread and then vanished, what we wanted there and then was, not to stop at home and feast on the memory, but to rush back to tell the others back in Jerusalem all that we had seen and heard, and eventually understood : « HE IS RISEN ! » . And I dare say you can imagine, it wasn't entirely unexpected, when we got to the Upper Room and the others were already all assembled (excepting Thomas, if I remember  right), suddenly : Jesus was with us - AGAIN ! In our midst, ready to share with us whenever we assemble in His name. What an evening, what a story !

You can imagine how happy Dr Luke was, when we told him about that precious moment, that Happy Day ! But of course, I'm sorry! you must know that already. It's all in his book, isn't it ? Anyway, Happy Easter !