The tomb was empty. In the early morning darkness of that first Easter, there was only confusion for Mary Magdalene and the other disciples. But as the daylight spread, they saw the dawning of a new creation.

At first they didn't understand the Scripture, today's Gospel tells us. We don't know which precise Scripture texts they were supposed to understand. Perhaps it was the sign of Jonah, who rose from the belly of the great fish after three days (see Jonah 1:17). Or maybe Hosea's prophecy of Israel's restoration from exile (see Hosea 6:2). Perhaps it was the psalmist who rejoiced that God had not abandoned him to the nether world (see Psalm 16:9--10).

Whichever Scripture it was, as the disciples bent down into the tomb, they saw and they believed. What did they see? Burial shrouds in an empty tomb. The stone removed from the tomb. Seven times in nine verses we hear that word --''tomb."

What did they believe? That God had done what Jesus said he would do--raised him up on the third day (see Mark 9:31; 10:34). What they saw and believed, they bore witness to, as today's First Reading tells us. Peter's speech is a summary of the gospels--from Jesus' baptism in the Jordan to his hanging on a tree (see Deuteronomy 21:22--23), to his rising from the dead. We are children of the apostles, born into the new world of their witness. Our lives are now "hidden with Christ in God," as today's Epistle says.

Like them, we gather in the morning on the first day of the week--to celebrate the Eucharist, the feast of the empty tomb. We rejoice that the stones have been rolled away from our tombs, too. Each of us can shout, as we do in today's Psalm: "I shall not die, but live." They saw and believed. And we await the day they promised would come--when we, too, "will appear with him in glory."

Readings:

Acts 10:34, 37--43

Ps 118:1--2, 16--17, 22--23

Col 3:1--4

Jn 20:1--9



- Scott Hahn is the founder and president of the Saint Paul Center for Biblical Theology. He is also the bestselling author of numerous books including The Lamb's Supper, Reasons to Believe, and Rome Sweet Home (co-authored with his wife, Kimberly). Some of his newest books are The Creed, Joy to the World and Evangelizing Catholics.