Putting Jesus on Trial (Part 6)

So far, in this series, have seen Jesus before the Sanhedrin, Jesus before Pilate, Jesus carrying his cross from the sentencing to Golgotha, Jesus being crucified, and the day of contrast between the disciples of Jesus and the enemies of Jesus. Now we arrive at Day Three following the death of Jesus. Something astonishing is about to happen.

Day Three

Come, let us return to the Lord;
    for he has torn us, that he may heal us;
    he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.
After two days he will revive us;
    on the third day he will raise us up,
    that we may live before him.
– Hosea 6:1-2, ESV

Biblical motifs are loaded with symbolism. Western society tends to downplay symbolism, dismissing it as, “Aww, it’s just a symbol,” but God doesn’t see it that way. The third day is repeatedly presented to us in scripture as a day of profound significance.

• Abraham traveled for three days¹ to reach Mount Moriah where he intended to engage in an act of gut-wrenching obedience by sacrificing his own son, Isaac, the son of promise. It was on the third day that the knife in Abraham’s hand was stayed, and the ram was provided as a substitute.
• When Moses asked to lead the Hebrew people out of Egypt to meet with, and worship God, he asked to make a three-day journey to do so.²
• It was on day three that the people, having consecrated themselves and washed their garments, saw the LORD come down on Mount Sinai with lightning, thunder, and an ear-piercing trumpet blast.³
• Jesus pointed specifically to the fact that Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days⁴ and that, following the same pattern, Jesus would be in the belly of the earth for three days.⁵.

With the biblical pattern of three days firmly entrenched in Jewish tradition as a time of God’s intervention, the people were culturally predisposed to expect that if God was going to act, he would do so on the third day.

The First Witnesses

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
– Luke 24:1-3, ESV

Here we have Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James arriving at Jesus’ tomb, expecting to perform some secondary burial rights. On the way, they discussed some logistical issues, such as who could they get to roll back the stone.⁶ They would certainly be unable to remove it, and if they asked the guards, they would likely be told to go pound sand. The golel weighed between two and four thousand pounds. It was seated in a deep, sloping track and designed not to open, but to stay shut.

When Mary and Mary arrived, what they found was not soldiers standing watch, but soldiers unconscious,⁷ the stone rolled away from the tomb’s entrance, an empty tomb.⁸ and dazzlingly bright angels there in the place of Jesus.⁹ This had to have been a moment of profound cognitive dissonance as the women tried to process what was happening now. The past three days had been filled with trauma and anguish, and now this!

Two possibilities immediately came to mind—grave robbery or desecration of the tomb and body of Jesus. The stone being unsealed was an act of treason against the Roman state, while the removal or desecration of the body was a matter of tremendous dishonor. Mary Magdalene concluded that the body had been stolen and reported its theft to the disciples.¹⁰

Don’t overlook the fact that it was women who were the first witnesses of the most profound event in human history and that this witness occurred in a time and culture that fully devalued their testimony. This was not mere social prejudice. The legal status of women within the patriarchal framework of Jesus’ day and culture was a structural component of that religious and societal landscape. The Jewish historian, Josephus, records that the testimony of women was not to be permitted, given the “levity and boldness of their sex.”¹¹

Rather than delegitimize the record of events, recording the witness and testimony of the marginalized women serves to reinforce the authenticity of the record. If the story were fabricated, the gospel writers would have written that men discovered the empty tomb. But that’s not how it happened. In defiance of the established social order, the gospel writers have demonstrated that truth is not dependent on social status.

Having found the body of Jesus missing, Mary Magdalene ran to tell Peter and John, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”¹⁰ It is not clear who the “they” is in Mary’s statement. Was she thinking of the chief priests? Joseph and Nicodemus? Who stole the body?

While it is not clear who Mary had in mind, what is certain is that unsealing a Roman-sealed tomb was an invitation for serious trouble, and perhaps even death. Furthermore, the removal of a tomb’s contents constituted the desecration of the tomb, the deceased body, and the defilement of one’s self.

The Tomb’s Contents

So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself.
– John 20:3-7, ESV

John records that the Othenia (linen strips) were “lying there.” This seemingly minor detail is a crucial element of the resurrection event. If, as the chief priests wanted us to believe, grave robbers had taken the body, they would never have invested the time or effort necessary to unwrap the body. It was wrapped with an abundance of spice, primarily to mask the odor of decay. We are pressing our way into through day three, and by now, decay was significant. Unwrapping the body would serve only to release the odor while, simultaneously, making the body much more difficult to carry.

Furthermore, a grave robber is not going to neatly lay out the Othnia and/or fold up the Soudarion (head covering). They are going to move with haste and carelessly toss the wrappings aside. John has deliberately included this comment to illustrate that the body of Jesus was not stolen, but that the linens were lying flat as though the body of Jesus passed right through them, leaving the resin-hardened spices and cloths behind.

True Power

When Jesus was being examined by Pilate, the two of them had this exchange:

“Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?” Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.”
– John 19:9b-11a, NIV-1983

Jesus has just acknowledged that Pilate had “power” or “authority,” while simultaneously informing Pilate that the power and authority he enjoyed and exercised was something granted him, bestowed on him from above. From the world’s perspective, there was no power greater than that of the Roman Signaculum. Pilate boasted that he had the power or authority to put Jesus to death. Jesus didn’t argue that point but, instead, made an even greater point.

I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.
– John 10:17b-18a, ESV

Where Pilate has the power to remove life, Jesus has the power to restore life to the dead, even when that dead body is his own. The resurrection of Jesus demonstrates a divine authority that far-exceeds any human power structure. Military strength, and political influence have no standing in the face of the Author of Life.¹²

You killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses.
– Acts 3:15b, ESV

The Cover-Up

And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men.
– Matthew 28:2-4, ESV

It is difficult to imagine how terrifying this scene was. The earthquake alone would be frightening, but to see this angel descending at the same time, an angel who was the cause of the quake, that would be enough to drain the blood from the sternest of faces and the most hardened of soldiers. When they did finally recover from their unconscious state, the tomb was empty, they were in terrible trouble, and they knew it.

Behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.
– Matthew 28:11b-15, ESV

As we have noted earlier in this series, breaking a Roman seal on this tomb was a treasonous, capital crime. Allowing a prisoner (even a dead one) to escape was no small matter. We saw this when the angel of the Lord led the apostle Peter out of prison.

Now when day came, there was no little disturbance among the soldiers over what had become of Peter. And after Herod searched for him and did not find him, he examined the sentries and ordered that they should be put to death.
– Acts 12:18-19a, ESV

The guards concluded the safest place to run following the wild earthquake, the blazing white heavenly messenger, and the empty tomb was not to their centurion, but to the chief priests who had put them there in the first place. They took the bribe offered by the chief priests and spread the story as they were instructed to do.

The Encounter

The last thing we will look at this week is the garden encounter between Jesus and Mary. Centuries of tradition have maligned this woman of whom we truly know very little, but what we do know tells us much.

We know that Mary carries no male identity. In Jesus’ time and culture, people were identified by their father (Simon, son of Jonah) or by their husband. Mary, rather, is identified by her city, Mary Magdalene, or Mary “of Magdala.” Magdala was a prosperous, wealthy city on the Sea of Galilee. It was famed as a fish-processing center.

The fact that Mary is not identified by any male relationship suggests she may have been a woman of independent means. She may have been a widow, or a savvy woman who managed well her own estate. We do not have to speculate much on this because Luke tells us straight up that Mary, along with Joanna and Susanna, directly bankrolled Jesus’ ministry.¹² We also know that, despite her social standing, Mary of Magdala was tormented by seven demons. Jesus cast those demons out of her, resulting in Mary becoming one of Jesus’ most devoted followers.

The correction that must be made regarding Mary is the infamous idea that she was a prostitute. Scripture never comes close to saying this about her. The idea of Mary as a prostitute was originally floated by Pope Gregory the Great in 591 AD, as he delivered a sermon in which he conflated Mary of Magdala with the unnamed “sinful woman” of Luke 7, and Mary of Bethany. Nothing in scripture suggests that Mary was a woman of fallen moral character or profession.

The encounter between Mary Magdalene and Jesus in the garden serves as another example of cultural subversion. In this encounter, Mary is hoicked from a place of grief and bewilderment and introduced to a relational restoration with her beloved Master. The timeline for what happened between Jesus and Mary is important to note. Mary and Mary had been to the tomb earlier that morning and found the tomb empty. They ran to tell the disciples and the disciples ran back to the tomb to see for themselves. The last thing we are told is, “Then the disciples went back to their homes.”¹³ We pick the account up from there.

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).
– John 20:11-16, ESV

The tomb being positioned in the garden of Joseph of Arimathea causes Mary, initially, to not recognize Jesus. It was early dawn, and a man working in a private funerary garden would logically be the garden’s caretaker. This brings us to the fascinating turning point of the entire resurrection narrative. It is a single word: “Miriam.”

Whether Mary’s failure to recognize Jesus was due to the low light, the tears flooding her eyes, or the glorified body of Jesus, I don’t know. But the one thing it took for Mary to recognize him was the cadence of Jesus’ voice speaking her name. Jesus calls his sheep by name,¹⁴ and to that call, Mary responds.

Mary most likely fell at Jesus’ feet, a common gesture of devotion and submission to a superior. Clinging to him, Mary’s heart raced as she desperately wanted the “old Jesus” back, not realizing the new nature of his existence and ministry. Jesus’ presence is no longer constrained to a physical location.

Similarly, Jesus sends Mary on a new mission. Just as she was the first to find the empty tomb, now she is the first to see the risen Lord, and she is about to be the first to proclaim that gospel message of a risen Jesus.

Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her.
– John 20:11-16, ESV

It is, perhaps, the most scandalous moment of the entire resurrection narrative that Mary is the one commissioned by Jesus to carry news of his resurrection to the men. This was clearly deliberate. The reason I recalled the timeline was to note that Peter and John had just been there and left. Jesus waited for them to leave to make his appearance to Mary. As Jesus constantly pushed back against the elevation of orthodoxy, once again he sidestepped the established traditional and cultural norms, establishing a new spiritual economy in which the reliability of the witness is decoupled from the societal status of the witness.

Mary’s encounter in the garden demonstrates that the resurrection is both immense, in that it overcomes death, and intimate, with Jesus calling his sheep by name. It teaches us that God can meet us in our mistaken identities, when we believe we are talking to a gardener, only to unveil for us a much deeper and profound reality.

Next week, we will look at why the resurrection of Jesus matters. It is much more than a story or an event. It is the core of our faith.

1. Genesis 22:4
2. Exodus 3:18, 5:3, 8:27
3. Exodus 19:10-11
4. Jonah 1:17
5. Matthew 12:39-40, 16:4, Luke 11:29
6. Mark 16:3
7. Matthew 28:4
8. Luke 24:3
9. Matthew 28:2-3, Mark 16:5, Luke 24:4
10. John 20:2
11. Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book 4, Chapter 8, Section 15
12. Luke 8:1-3
13. John 20:10
14. John 10:3