Deciphering the resurrection story

St John in his Gospel relays the story of Jesus’ resurrection with precision and clarity, and displays a lovely eye for detail. And he gives us a story of detail and incident. But some of those details needs a little unpacking.

     Firstly, Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene, who mistakes him for a gardener. Maybe she doesn't expect to see Jesus and struggles to explain why a man should be there at such a time. Jesus says to her, ‘Do not touch me’ — a phrase that has confounded scholars for millennia. There’s a simple explanation: the Bible was first written in Greek, and the slightest difference in the shape of one letter transforms the phrase into Jesus’ trademark, ‘Do not be afraid’. So, even after the trauma of crucifixion and resurrection, his first thought is for Mary and her fear.

Peter and John run toward the tomb, by Eugène Burnand

      Next, Peter and ‘the disciple whom Jesus loved’ (presumably St John himself) run toward the tomb. Peter sets off first but John gets there first. John is a young man and Peter is middle-aged if not older. So John is faster. Finally Peter reaches the tomb and enters it before John does. The Gospels and traditions alike all paint a picture of Peter as a hasty, impulsive man so, true to form, he lunges forward without thought of safety or even etiquette. He wants to see into the tomb, see its secrets and meaning.

      So Peter and John enter the tomb, and see a pile of abandoned grave-clothes ‘as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head’. The cloth was still lying in its place, apart from the linen’ like an afterthought.

      But it’s no afterthought. To this day a Palestinian craftsman shows his satisfaction with a completed work by taking a cloth and wiping his brow with it. He then places that cloth before the work. And Jesus the master carpenter placed a face-cloth in front of a task he thought satisfactory.

      But what is the task? To answer that question, consider the plinth on which Jesus’ body lay, a catafalque hewn from the bare rock. On it, the disciples saw two angels. The image reminds us of the ark of the covenant, a gold-plated box made to contain the two stone tablets of the Law that God gave to Moses. On its lid were two angels: God was thought to dwell in the space enclosed by their outstretched wings.

      As we combine these images, the Scriptures invite us to see that Jesus was pure God again, for our sins had distilled from his body at the moment of his resurrection.