I am Mary Magdalene, and I was the first to see Him alive. Let me tell you about the morning that changed everything - the day death lost its power forever.
I had watched Him die. I was there at the cross when the soldiers drove nails through His hands and feet. I heard Him cry out, 'It is finished.' I saw them pierce His side with a spear, and blood and water flowed out. I watched Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus take His body down, wrap it in linen cloths with spices, and lay it in a new tomb carved from rock. I saw the great stone rolled across the entrance.
The Sabbath passed in a haze of grief. We had given up everything to follow Him. We had believed He was the Messiah, the one who would redeem Israel. And now He was dead, sealed in a tomb, guarded by Roman soldiers. All our hopes were buried with Him.
On the first day of the week, while it was still dark, I went to the tomb. Other women came too, bringing spices to anoint His body. But when we arrived, the stone had been rolled away. The tomb was open.
I ran to find Peter and John. 'They have taken the Lord out of the tomb,' I cried, 'and we do not know where they have laid Him!' The two disciples raced to see for themselves. They found the tomb empty, the linen cloths lying there, the face cloth folded in a place by itself. They did not yet understand the Scripture, that He must rise from the dead. They went back to their homes.
But I stood outside the tomb weeping. As I wept, I stooped to look inside and saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been, one at the head and one at the feet.
'Woman, why are you weeping?' they asked.
'Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.'
I turned around and saw someone standing there, but through my tears I did not recognize Him. I thought He was the gardener.
'Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?'
'Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away.'
Then He spoke my name: 'Mary.'
That voice. That single word. In an instant, I knew. 'Rabboni!' I cried - Teacher! I fell at His feet, wanting never to let go.
'Do not cling to Me,' He said gently, '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."'
I ran to the disciples with the most incredible news ever spoken: 'I have seen the Lord!' Death could not hold Him. The tomb could not contain Him. The stone rolled away not to let Jesus out - He had already risen - but to let us in, to see that He was gone.
He appeared to Peter, to the Twelve, to more than five hundred brothers at once, to James, to all the apostles. For forty days He showed Himself alive by many proofs, speaking about the kingdom of God.
Because He lives, death is defeated. Because He rose, we too shall rise. This is the hope that has sustained me ever since that morning: Christ is risen. He is risen indeed.