Lingering Witness

Lingering Witness

John 20:1 – Now very 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 moved away from the entrance. 2 – So she 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!”

Verse 3 – Then Peter and the other disciple set out to go to the tomb. 4 – The two were running together, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 – He bent down and saw the strips of linen cloth lying there, but he did not go in. 6 – Then Simon Peter, who had been following him, arrived and went right into the tomb.  He saw the strips of linen cloth lying there, 7 – and the face cloth, which had been around Jesus’ head, not lying with the strips of linen cloth but rolled up in a place by itself.

Verse 8 – Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, came in, and he saw and believed. 9 – (For they did not yet understand the scripture that Jesus must rise from the dead.)

What was going through their minds?  The last moments?  The mystery of the empty tomb?  John outran Peter – but Peter immediately ran inside first – why?

I know my story is not the same as Peter’s and John’s but when my Dad died 11 years ago.  I wasn’t there in Canada. I was here in the Dakotas.  Immediately after my Dad suddenly died of a heart attack my mum called and begged me to come home. She was in shock.  I was scheduled to do a wedding that day and there was no one to take my place.  While I was officiating the wedding, my wife bought my plane ticket, packed my bags and as soon as the wedding was over I was on a plane heading home. 

My siblings had seen our Dad far more recently than I but I made it home first.  I had not seen Dad for about a year. 

I walked through the door just hours after Dad’s death and things were not as I remembered.  I got there so quickly but not quick enough to turn back time to see him when he was alive.

John outran Peter, but it was not fast enough to turn back time and prevent Jesus from dying on the cross and now His body was missing – John believed Mary’s report – but then they both left – not understanding that the missing body was a resurrected body.

Sometimes we just lack a little understanding – understanding that would help us grieve a little less and hope a little more. While we were not there to see Jesus die on the cross and rise from the grave we can, on a day like today, go back in the scriptures – to where it all happened and linger at the empty tomb – to see Jesus.

Thank-you for lingering with me today.  We cannot turn back time to fix what we did wrong.  But we can be grateful that Jesus went to the cross and rose again in order to fix our future.  Let’s be witnesses like John and Peter – John, who stayed at the cross long enough to become family (John 19:26,27) and Peter, who ran to the tomb looking for redemption.

Jesus appeared to John, Peter, and the disciples – they were afraid because of the Jews – But Jesus took care of that fear and gave them peace. He gave to both John and Peter the assurance that He would be with them till the end.  John, to a ripe old age blessed with the Revelation of Jesus Christ, and Peter, reinstated to live and die like His Lord and Master and filled with the Spirit to proclaim the gospel like never before. Both were commissioned to follow Jesus – no matter what directions their lives would take.

That’s us today – claiming the best news ever of Jesus Christ. Let’s embrace the cross, gaze upon the empty tomb and know that even now Jesus does not condemn but asks us all to believe in Him – that He will come again and receive us to Himself that where He is there we will be too!