On that first Easter morning, Mary Magdalene felt lost and alone. She had loved Jesus with a holy passion, but now Mary’s deep affection for her beloved felt estranged. Then suddenly her fortunes changed! Outside that Empty Tomb, on that first day of resurrection, she became the first to witness the salvation of the world. According to the Gospel of St. John,
[The Risen] Jesus said to Mary Magdalene, “Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, Mary 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 Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher).
Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because 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 she told them that he had said these things to her. (John 20:15-18)
Mary Magdalene was no stranger to deep darkness, to horror that arises from within, which as you well know is not easily fought. Earlier in his ministry, Jesus drove away seven devils that had seized Mary (Mark 16:9, Luke 8:2). And from that profound suffering arose significant healing of physical and emotional distress: Perhaps psychosis or delusion, or lack of identity and loss of self-esteem; more so profound misery than immorality or wickedness, as some suggest. We are quick to brush off talk of devils, the dreadful things of evil that Jesus encountered, experienced, and conquered. But the Lord understood firsthand that the power of darkness isn’t just the idle gibberish of foolish imagination.
The dark evil that Mary witnessed on that Good Friday felt too cruel, and the dawn of the third day hence brought no relief. Her devils had returned, and in their path stood no one to sequester them. Even the beloved body of Jesus – beaten, broken, and stone cold in death – had been snatched away! Mary yearned to find him, to treat him tenderly, even though he could not feel her love. Or so she assumed. But she became the first.
Through a dense fog of disappointment and heartache, Mary Magdalene is the first to see beyond puzzling emptiness to resurrection fullness: the Lord more powerful, more beautiful than ever before. No wonder, then, that Mary longs to cling to him, to hold him endlessly, so that devils and darkness will never-ever come again. But for the moment, she must loosen her grip, because Mary Magdalene has work to do. To her alone is entrusted the delivery of an important message to a bunch of silly, frightened men. The greatest and strangest of human language was Mary’s to speak that day: “I have seen the Lord.” Let us join our voices in prayer –
Thank you, blessed Lord, for holy vision that allows us to see you clearly in both the expected and the unexpected. Hear our gratitude for all healing of body and mind, for your piercing light that dispels the darkness of our troubles. We take responsibility for failing to perceive you, and we confess our wayward notions that you have left us to fend for ourselves. Spirit of the living God, blot out the iniquity of thinking that we are separated from the Lord’s abiding presence. Inspire our worship of the One who is God of all Creation.
We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you. Your cross and resurrection give life to the world.
This is the Good News of the Gospel: We are seen and saved, loved and claimed; forgiven, loved, and freed. Thanks be to God!
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On that first Easter morning, not everyone is eager and excited to proclaim, “I have seen the Lord.” Simon Peter had surely peered into the Empty Tomb. But it would take time for him to join the likes of Mary Magdalene in proclaiming resurrection: Weeks, in fact, for him to believe in more than just the absence of Jesus’s body from the place where it ought to have been. Not until he returns to his pre-apostolic job as a fisherman would Simon Peter finally trust in the Lord’s actual bodily resurrection.
How distracted he must have been! Out there on the Sea of Galilee, muscling in slimy nets brimming with fluttering fish, while also carrying the heavy weight of sorrow and shame for his weak-kneed behavior in the turbulent hours before the Crucifixion. Simon Peter had denied his Master – not once, not twice, but thrice! Simon Peter had betrayed the trust he’d sworn to keep – even if doing so meant dying with Jesus! Then, in a moment of wonder, well-nourished on a breakfast of fish and bread roasted over a charcoal fire, Simon Peter knew that all was forgiven – and that the Lord indeed would entrust him with even greater things. Again according to St. John’s Gospel,
When the disciples had finished [the shore breakfast that Jesus had prepared for them along the Sea of Galilee], Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” A second time Jesus said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him a third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.” (John 21:15-17)
The man who now three times professes his love for Jesus spent most of his life known simply as Simon. None other than the Lord himself tacked on the “Peter,” which means “Rock.” “Now I say to you that you are Peter, [the Rock], and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it” (Matthew 16:18). Problem was, Simon often stood less so solidly as a rock of faith and more so inclined to a rocky discipleship. Simon Peter – Rocky Simon – frequently spoke without thinking, and he often got it all wrong. His speech was, in the truest sense of our modern phrase, cringe-worthy.
“You mustn’t go up to Jerusalem to suffer,” Peter sternly rebukes Jesus, as the Lord turns his face toward the Cross (Matthew 16:21-23).
“Let’s put up tents and stay on this mountain,” he naively suggests a week later during the moment of Jesus’s dazzling Transformation. (Matthew 17:1-13)
“Don’t just wash my feet. Wash me all over,” he wantonly orders Jesus during their Last Supper. (John 13:6)
“All the rest may run away, but I never will,” he vows as the Cross looms large. But run away he did! (Matthew 26:33)
That first Easter morning finds Rocky Simon equally impetuous. He’s first to go barging into the Empty Tomb, and his impulsiveness continues that morning when chef Jesus cooked up breakfast. Rocky Simon jumps half-naked from his fishing boat into the Sea of Galilee, so he’d be the first to greet Jesus on shore, coming at last to realize that God’s Good News comes not only for the Jewish people but for all of God’s creation.
Oh how well do you and I understand mistake and misinformation – and the foolish behavior they always spawn! One minute you’re speaking and acting with what feels like full knowledge and authority, and the next minute you’re wishing things had been left unsaid or gone undone. We regret hurtful words that won’t go away. We feel embarrassment worming its way into places of repentance. Wounded self-esteem rather seems like sorrow for sin.
And so it goes for Simon Peter in his aching heart of hearts. When he last saw Jesus in the old life – before Rocky bolted lickety-split from the Lord after the Last Supper, Jesus looked upon him with such sorrowful eyes that all Peter could do was run away and weep bitter tears of despair. Sobbing like that is not easily quieted. Yet Rocky Simon – with his painfully awkward mix of solid ground and sinking sand – gazes hungrily into the eyes of Jesus and receives the unexpected nourishment of unconditional love.
How often have you dared not gaze into the eyes of Jesus – dreading judgment and fearing rejection, only to be surprised by the Lord’s compelling invitation, which draws you into the assurance of forgiveness, into the sharing of life that is forever new. In love he calls you by name: “Mary.” “Peter.” And in love he sends you forth. Love is challenged, so that love may flourish. Let us again lift our voices in prayer –
How blessed we are, merciful God, by your gift of repentance, by the Spirit’s conviction of brokenness and assurance of pardon. In every new opportunity, in all fresh starts, we experience the joy of resurrection. We confess our unwillingness to confess the ways in which we again and again fall short. We make excuses. We worry more about what others think than about our offenses again them and you. Help us cling tightly to your absolute love that forgives sin, debt, and trespass – asking only of us our honest regret and sincere resolve to do better.
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! And Christ will come again!
Amen! Bless the Lord! How blessed we are, merciful God, that you entrust us with greater things!
Pastor Grant M. VanderVelden shared this message on the Sixth Sunday of Easter, May 10, 2026, at First Presbyterian Church in Waukon, Iowa, USA. Commentary and reflection by Raymond Chapman inform the message.