DO YOU know who the woman and the two men are? The woman is Mary Magʹda·lene, a friend of Jesus. And the men in white clothing are angels. This little room that Mary is looking into is the place where Jesus’ body was put after he died. It is called a tomb. But now the body is gone! Who took it? Let’s see.
After Jesus dies, the priests say to Pilate: ‘When Jesus was alive he said that he would be raised up after three days. So command that the tomb be guarded. Then his disciples can’t steal his body and say that he has been raised from the dead!’ Pilate tells the priests to send soldiers to guard the tomb.
But very early on the third day after Jesus had died an angel of Jehovah suddenly comes. He rolls the stone away from the tomb. The soldiers are so afraid that they can’t move. Finally, when they look inside the tomb, the body is gone! Some of the soldiers go into the city and tell the priests. Do you know what the bad priests do? They pay the soldiers to lie. ‘Say that his disciples came in the night, while we were asleep, and stole the body,’ the priests tell the soldiers.
Meanwhile, some women friends of Jesus visit the tomb. How surprised they are to find it empty! Suddenly two angels in bright clothing appear. ‘Why are you looking for Jesus here?’ they ask. ‘He has been raised up. Go quickly and tell his disciples.’ How fast the women run! But on the way a man stops them. Do you know who it is? It is Jesus! ‘Go tell my disciples,’ he says.
When the women tell the disciples that Jesus is alive and they have seen him, the disciples find this hard to believe. Peter and John run to the tomb to look for themselves, but the tomb is empty! When Peter and John leave, Mary Magʹda·lene stays behind. That is when she looks in and sees the two angels.
Do you know what happened to Jesus’ body? God caused it to disappear. God did not raise Jesus to life in the fleshly body in which he died. He gave Jesus a new spirit body, as the angels in heaven have. But to show his disciples he is alive, Jesus can take on a body that people can see, as we will learn.
