"20 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. 2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” 3 So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going towards the tomb. 4 Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, 7 and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9 for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples went back to their homes.
11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. 12 And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. 13 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.” 14 Having said this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 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.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). 17 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.’” 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her."
John 20:1-18
The account of the resurrection of Jesus is of course the climax of John's record of the gospel. There is so much significance in it that it is difficult to know what particular aspect with which to begin. We shall seek to interpret and expound it in the context of John's presentation of the message of the gospel. It would be possible to take the chapter verse by verse, as a story taken out of its context, but we would lose by so doing, for John has been building up a coherent picture, and its structure and framework hold together in such a way that we are obliged to think of the resurrection in relation to all that has gone before it. In one of our earliest Notes at the beginning of this study we suggested that John's point in recording the various signs is to display and underline the difference Jesus makes to life. This, in fact, has been the key to John's thesis, and all the miracles he records exemplify this idea. Now, in the message of the cross and the resurrection, John traces this spiritual dynamic - the difference Jesus makes - to its source, as if to say: 'This is why Jesus makes such a difference to life: the power which makes the difference resides in the death He died and the victory He accomplished.' The cross and the resurrection belong together; the one is really meaningless without the other; indeed, we could go so far as to say this: the power of the cross is the power of the resurrection, and these are not two different entities. Here, then, is where we see the climax of the drama John has presented to us, and the full significance of the gospel. The power that makes such a difference to human life is a power that has broken through death and destroyed all death's power in human life, breaking the tyranny which since the Fall has coloured and oppressed the whole life of man.