Mary Magdalene Speaks to the Risen Christ

Luke 24: 1 - 12
Matthew 28: 1 - 10
Mark 16: 1 - 8
John 20: 1 - 18

On Easter morning, the women who followed Jesus went to his tomb to prepare his body properly for burial. The burial preparations had been sketchy and hurried on Good Friday, because there was so little time between Jesus' death and the beginning of the Sabbath at sundown. No work, especially anything involving a dead body, could be done on the Sabbath under Jewish law.

Preparing Jesus' body to be buried was the last kind act these women could do for the teacher they had loved so much, and who they knew loved them as well.

But after this week of experiencing every emotion they knew, from the gladness of Palm Sunday through the sadness and confusion of Good Friday, these women were faced with nothing: a blank space, an empty tomb.

As soon as Jesus was crucified, Luke began to call the disciples (the students or learners) the apostles (the people sent forth - sent forth in mission to tell about Jesus' life and death).

1. Which women went to Jesus' burial place?

[Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and other women followers of Jesus went to the tomb.]

2. What did the women take with them?

[The women took special burial spices with them.]

3. What did the apostles do when they heard the women's story?

[The apostles didn't believe the women, so they did nothing.]

4. Who got up and ran to the tomb to see if the story was true?

[Peter ran to the tomb.]