On the third day after Jesus was crucified, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James and Jesus, came to prepare the body for its final burial. Mary is crying, and all she can say is "This has got to be the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. Mary Magdalene coming up behind her, exclaims "I'm wondering how are we going do move that enormous stone!" Mary shakes her head. "You know very well that the stone is not what I'm talking about; I would never have believed these last three days. I don't what to think. But then I never have understood. From the beginning. From the angels to the prophecies; old Simeon at the Temple once told me that a sword would pierce my soul. I thought of that when that spear... Just a week ago they were calling him the Messiah; a few days later they were a bloodthirsty mob."
Mary Magdalene, asks "But how could they do it? He never hurt anybody in his life!" "Well, not anyone who had even the faintest idea what he was talking about. But look! What happened to the stone?" replies Mary. "And Who is THAT?" Mary Magdalene, not sure what she is seeing: "Who are you, and what have they done with Jesus?" Whoever has just appeared, replies, "Why are you looking for a living man among the dead? He is not here; he has risen, as he said. Go and tell his disciples!" As a totally astonished Mary backs out toward the gate, "Yes, we need them ..." as she runs out of the garden.
Mary Magdalene lags behind, looks into the tomb, and begins to cry. The being in white sitting on the stone asks her, "Why are you crying?" Mary Magdalene, blubbering and sniffing, can only say "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I don't know where they have laid him." She hears someone else behind her who asks "Why are you crying? Who are you looking for?" All she can say is "Sir, if you have taken him away, tell me where, and I will go and get his body."
And then she recognizes Him, as He calls out "Mary!" She falls at his feet, and reaches out for Him. He steps back, and answers "Don't touch me; but go to my brothers, my disciples, and tell them that I am alive." She looks around, looks back at the empty tomb, and runs away.
Jesus tells us "You, also, go tell what you know about me, what you have experienced with me. And I am with you, to the end of the age."
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