Encountering the Risen Christ: From the Empty Tomb to the Eucharist

1 Corinthians 15:19–26; John 20:1–18 

The Empty Tomb and the First Witness

Moments before the breaking of the dawn, on the first day of the Jewish week, a woman, Mary Magdalene, once possessed by demons, approaches Jesus’s tomb, along with other women—Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and others. They came to complete the burial preparations, for they were unable to finish Jesus’s burial because of the Sabbath. She sees the tomb and finds herself in a state of utter confusion. The large stone was rolled away, still bearing the Roman seal, as if to say, “Don’t touch! By order of Rome.” And the Roman guards were missing.

The apostles dismiss the women’s report as nonsense and do not believe them, and in so doing, reject Jesus’s own words, as he had predicted his resurrection. In those days, a woman’s testimony was not considered credible, and so in panic, she finds two male witnesses—Simon Peter and another disciple—to fulfil Jewish legal standards. She is the very first to proclaim the good news: the tomb is empty! Mary tells Peter and another disciple that someone had taken Jesus’s body out of the tomb—possibly tomb raiders—and neither she nor the other women who were present know where they have put him.

Peter had denied Jesus just a few days before and was still struggling to overcome the sense of guilt that was consuming him. Yet, he and his friend run off in haste to go and investigate. The other disciple gets there first. They went into the dark tomb. Except for the strips of burial linen cloth, the tomb was empty! They did not understand at this point what Jesus and the Holy Scriptures taught about his resurrection, but one thing was for sure—they were convinced that the tomb was empty. Dumbfounded and not sure what to do, the men head back to where they were staying.

Mary’s Encounter with the Risen Lord

In one of my favourite passages of Scripture, Mary finds her way back to the tomb. Filled with grief, she lingers there in the early hours of the morning. She bends down to investigate the tomb to be certain that Jesus’s corpse wasn’t there. Instead, she is surprised to find two angels standing in pure white, with garments that gleamed like lightning. They stood at each end of where Jesus’s body would have been—one at the head and the other at the feet. The angels provide Mary with a striking image: she had entered the most Holy of Holies, as we read in Exodus 25:17–20, where Moses was instructed to build a tabernacle, and in the Holy of Holies, he was to construct a mercy seat with two cherubim or angels on either side. Jesus is the true mercy seat and has opened the Holy of Holies to all of us who believe!

The angels notice that Mary is in tears and ask her why she is crying. “They have taken my Lord away, and I don’t know where they have put his body,” she responds. And as if she hears rustling behind her, she turns and sees a man. He too asks her, “Why are you crying, and who are you looking for?” Thinking him to be the groundsman, she says, “Please sir, tell me where you have put the body of my Lord.”

With eyes so warm and tender, and a voice so bright and comforting, he speaks her name: “Mary.” She instantly realises it’s Jesus, and with her heart lodged in her throat and tears of joy streaming down her face, she cries out, “Teacher!” Since his crucifixion, she had a deep and spiritual longing for Jesus’s bodily presence and she tries to embrace him, but he says, “Please do not hold on to me, I have not yet ascended to the Father. Rather, go and tell the others that I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”

Mary Magdalene received the first appearance of Jesus Christ because she needed him the most, and she has the unexpected and greatest honour of being the first to proclaim the resurrection of Christ. And so, she goes forth and proclaims to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord!”

The Profound Significance of Mary’s Witness

This story is profound for three reasons. The first is that the tomb scene shows a gospel mystery—that the role of the High Priest was fulfilled in Jesus Christ, and that everyone now has access to God the Father. Second, although Mary’s testimony was weak by cultural standards, it is theologically rich and strong. Lastly, her encounter with Jesus demonstrates the gospel’s personal nature.

Our faith is built upon a historical fact, not only on doctrine. As the Apostle Paul declares, Jesus’s resurrection is a guarantee of our future resurrection.

Firstfruits of the Resurrection: Our Future Hope

St. Paul develops this idea. He says, “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied” (1 Corinthians 15:19). In other words, if there is no resurrection, our Christian hope is in vain. He understands, correctly, that eternal life is an embodied existence, and therefore, there is no true eternal life without the resurrection of our bodies. Jesus’s resurrected body is the prototype for what is to come. Paul calls this the “firstfruits.” If he were writing to us today, we would call it a preview and relate it to a movie trailer… “here’s a taste of what you can expect.” Nevertheless, “firstfruits” does provide us with a beautiful image as well, implying that Christ is the beginning of a greater harvest—a pledge of a full harvest. Yet, as he makes clear, Jesus was raised to life by the divine power inherent within himself, and when we are raised to new life, we will be raised by his power working in us.

St. Paul makes an argument that through Adam all of us have sinned, and so he represents all humanity as the first man. Therefore, his sin has brought us death (cf. Rom. 5:12–17; Eph. 2:1, 5). But Jesus is like the new Adam—the faithful and obedient Adam that the first Adam was supposed to be—and so through Jesus’s life of obedience and faithfulness, he brings life (cf. Rom. 5:17, 21; 6:4; Eph. 2:5–6). We were once “in Adam,” but now those who believe are “in Christ,” and those who are in him will be made alive in the resurrection. Jesus did not come to restore humankind to the state of the first Adam; rather, he came to transform us into immortality.

The resurrection has an order: first, Christ was resurrected—that is what Easter Sunday is all about, and of course, Mary Magdalene was the first to witness it. Second, those who belong to Jesus will be resurrected at his second coming. Paul describes the nature of these bodies elsewhere in 1 Corinthians 15 as imperishable and glorious. He also describes them as “spiritual” (πνευματικόν). By spiritual, St. Paul does not mean disembodied or ghostly, but rather spiritual in terms of quality and virtue.

At the final resurrection and the second coming of Christ, he will give his kingdom to his Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority, and power—which could refer to all those earthly powers that promote evil as well as dark spiritual forces. Jesus will subdue all these under him, and the last enemy to be destroyed is death. Through his victorious resurrection, he has already conquered it.

Encountering the Risen Christ in the Eucharist

Our participation in the resurrected Christ—and the hope that one day we too will enjoy resurrected life—is a future event. However, it also shapes how we live today, because we belong to the kingdom of God and to the age to come. Our lives ought to reflect the values of resurrected life: hope, joy, justice, and mercy. As powerful as the atoning work on the cross is, Jesus died so that he might rise again—so that we, too, may be resurrected. That is the whole point of Easter, and the heart of the Christian message!

Part of living in the hope of the resurrection is sharing our faith and proclaiming this good news to others: the tomb is empty, and Jesus is alive—he is not a disembodied spirit, but he is one who lives in physical form at the Father’s side.

Jesus prevented Mary Magdalene from embracing him because he had not yet ascended to his Father. But now that he has ascended, he invites each of us to embrace and hold him—and even more intimately, to consume him. In the Holy Eucharist, as we celebrate the bread and wine mystically becoming the Real Presence of Christ in physical form, we kneel in the Holy of Holies to encounter the living God, Jesus Christ. Here, in a very real and tangible way, we participate in the resurrection of Jesus as he gives us his body and blood. At the Lord’s Table, we encounter Jesus in an even more intimate way than Mary did at the empty tomb—and as you receive him, may you hear him call your name.

AI Disclaimer:

This blog has been edited for grammar, clarity, and readability using AI-assisted tools (ChatGPT). The core content, theological insights, and personal reflections remain my original work. The image a of AI-generated portrait of a beautiful Turkish woman is by Puwadon Sang-ngern available from Vecteezy.