It was evening on Easter Sunday. Joe and Haley were sitting at the kitchen table, and Joe was reading the Easter story from the Bible. He said, “Haley, pay attention to this next part of the story because one of the main characters is a young woman named Mary Magdalene! Why don’t you try to pretend that you are Mary Magdalene and try to imagine the feelings she had on that first Easter morning! Joe started reading in Matthew chapter 28 and John chapter 20,
(Matthew 28) “Early on Sunday morning, as the new day was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went out to visit the tomb. Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it. His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint. Then the angel spoke to the women. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come see where his body was lying. And now, go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and he is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there. Remember what I have told you.” (John 20) She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, “They have taken the Lord’s body out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” Peter and the other disciple started out for the tomb. They were both running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He stooped and looked in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he didn’t go in. Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrapping lying there, while the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrapping. Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed—for until then they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead. Then they went home. Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in. She saw two white-robed angels, one sitting at the head and the other at the foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been lying. “Dear woman, why are you crying?” the angels asked her. “Because they have taken away my Lord,” she replied, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” She turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize him. “Dear woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who are you looking for?” She thought he was the gardener. “Sir,” she said, “if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.” “Mary!” Jesus said. She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for “Teacher”). “Don’t cling to me,” Jesus said, “For I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them that I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God, and your God.” Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them, “I have seen the Lord!” Then she gave them his message.
Haley thought about what Joe had said. She wondered what it would have been like if she had been Mary Magdalene. Haley decided to find out! When she went to bed that night, she set her alarm for 5 o’clock in the morning! It seemed like Haley had hardly fallen asleep when the alarm clock rang. She woke right up because she was excited, she was going to pretend that she was Mary Magdalene on that first Easter morning! Haley said to herself, “I need to be quiet, so I do not wake Joe. On the first Easter, Mary had to be quiet too because there were a lot of people asleep in the house where she was.” Haley carefully got out of bed and started to dress, but when she pulled on her jeans the legs were tangled. She could not see the tangle because it was dark! Haley lost her balance and crashed to the floor! She almost landed on Daniel, Daniel squealed in terror and jumped across the room and ran into a bookcase, causing a bunch of books to fall on the floor! Of course, they woke Joe up, and he was not happy! When Haley and Daniel finally got out of the house, she noticed that even though it was dark, the birds were already singing! This upset Haley, she was trying to feel the sad emotions that Mary Magdalene must have felt that morning, but the birds sounded so happy. Haley wondered why the birds sounded so happy; maybe they were happy because they trusted God instead of worrying.
Haley started across the field toward the Black River. Dew covered the ground, and before she was halfway across the field her feet and the lower part of her legs were soaking wet! Then it happened! Haley was walking down a small hill just before the river and her feet slipped out from under her! Haley fell to the ground, rolled down the hill, and almost went into the river! Now all of her clothes were soaked with dew and she was cold! Haley said to Daniel, “I wonder if Mary Magdalene had this much trouble walking in the dark, trying to get to the tomb? When that earthquake happened, I bet Mary fell down too, got covered with dew, and was feeling very cold and scared!”
,Haley tried to imagine what it would have been like for Mary Magdalene to see the tomb with the stone rolled away and then see the angel dressed in white with a face that shone like lightning! Haley said, “It was still dark and that angel must have lit up the whole area, no wonder the soldiers fainted and no wonder Mary did not understand the angel when he told Mary that Jesus had risen from the dead!”
It was getting lighter now, and the water on the river was calm without a ripple on it. Daniel had gone down to the river to look for some food. Haley watched the river and it looked so peaceful and the birds were singing happily, but Haley did not feel peaceful or happy. She was cold and miserable, she sat down on the wet ground and wrapped her arms around her knees and tried to get warm. She was feeling so miserable that she began to cry. Just then Daniel came quietly up from the river, Haley did not see him coming until he was right next to her. Suddenly Haley saw an animal right beside her, her eyes were blurry because she had been crying, so she did not recognize Daniel. Haley thought the animal was a small bear! Haley screamed as loud as she could! She jumped to her feet and began kicking at the animal! Haley kicked so hard that she lost her balance and fell again! This time when she started to roll she did not stop before she got to the river. She went into the river with a loud splash! Daniel just sat there and watched her, he was astonished by the way she was acting!
Just as Haley was getting out of the river, she heard another noise! It was the sound of a motor! Joe was coming through the woods on their 4-wheeler. He saw Haley was dripping wet and just shook his head and said, “I have got to get you home and dried off before you get sick, then I want to hear how you managed to fall into the river!”
Later at home, when Haley was warm and dry, she told Joe all about her adventure with Daniel that morning. She said, “Now I understand how Mary Magdalene might have felt on that first Easter morning. She was so sad. The earthquake probably made her fall down, so she was also bruised, wet from dew, and so cold. The angel scared her so much that she did not understand the good news that the angel was trying to tell her. I never understood before; why she did not recognize Jesus when she saw him, but now I think I understand that too. She had been crying and her eyes were blurry. When I was crying, my eyes were so blurry that I thought Daniel was a bear! But the most important thing I learned this morning is that after all that craziness, Jesus told Mary Magdalene to tell the good news to the disciples and that is exactly what she did! I know that God wants me to tell people the good news about Jesus too, and that is what I am going to do!
Application:
Spread the Good News! Tell your friends, family, and others that you meet, the good news about Jesus dying to pay for their sins, and then rising from the dead! Give them the chance to ask Jesus to forgive their sins and come into their life!
“He is risen from the dead, just as He said would happen.” Matthew 28:6b
“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13