From the Lectionary for Easter Sunday 2026 (Easter A):

John 20:1-9 (NRSV Updated Edition)

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’s head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed, for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead.

~

"Happy Easter to you all! I'm going to comment on the Gospel for the day, St John's Gospel 20, 1 to 9. Some are frustrated that they only give us 1 to 9. It's only the first half of the diptych in which Mary Magdalene asks a question, and in the second half she gets our question answered. But this is what the Church asks us to look at today, so I'm  going to go through with you step by step. It is the beginning of, I think, the most wonderful page of literature that we've ever had. It's the account of creation; for the Christian account of creation is not in Genesis, the Christian account of creation is in John 20. Genesis is the background necessary to understand what's really going on.

"Anyhow, “It was early on the first day of the week". Actually, it was early on day one, that's what it says: day one, the beginning of creation. And it was still dark. In other words, it was before God had made light. When Mary of Magdala came to the tomb, she probably didn't come alone because when she goes to see the disciples she says 'we'. And the other Gospels all refer to her and two other women who went to the tomb. But it seems as though John probably reconstructed this from the witness of Mary Magdalene, Mary of Magdala, and that she is the person who is described here, her vision and her understanding of what's going on.

"She arrived and she saw that the stone had been removed. It doesn't say, she looked in. Her first reaction is to assume skullduggery because she goes running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved; and she says, “They've taken the Lord out of the tomb and we don't know where they have put him.” Where they have put him? She asks this question, she explains this longing with anxiety first to Peter and the Beloved Disciple talking about 'they' - perhaps implying that it was some soldiers or some tricksters who did this. Later, but not in today's Gospel, she'll say  the same thing to two angels. And then very shortly after she'll actually say the same thing to Jesus, but she says not 'where they have taken him away' - 'you have taken him'. In other words, she is going through a process of understanding what's gone on which is going to culminate in the empty tomb turning into the Holy of Holies that is now open forever.

"But let's get back to our text. So “Simon Peter set out with the other disciple to go to the tomb. They ran together but the other disciple running faster reached the tomb first.” Okay, a younger man. “He bent down and saw the linen cloths lying on the ground but did not go in.” Okay, good move. Why? He could see that something had happened but he was a priestly family. You'll remember that he joined at the suggestion of John the Baptist [...] who was a priestly  family. And he was himself clearly in with high priestly circles since while Jesus was being tried he was able to go in to the sanctuary, while Peter had to stay outside. So we're talking about quite an interesting reversal here. So he is a member of a priestly family and should not enter into a tomb where there had been corruption because that would have prevented him from exercising any priestly function. It would have been seriously wrong for him as a priestly person to go into a place where there had been corruption - the corruption of death. So he doesn't go in, he waits.

"Peter who was following now came up. And here we have another while rather beautiful piece of Johannine irony: Peter trundled along later, presumably a slightly more middle-aged man, and he went right into the tomb. [...] He goes in and he saw the linen cloths on the ground and also the cloth that had been over his head, which John the Beloved Disciple hadn't seen. This was not with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself. Okay here we're into something  really quite interesting. The linen cloths on the ground is the first sign that we are not dealing with a thief. Why? Well, you remember that immediately before Jesus is buried, a very large number of spices are produced: myrrh and aloe, and Jesus's body is rubbed down with these, and then wrapped in the linen. Now these spices formed quite a thick resin or gum. In other words, it wouldn't have been at all easy just to remove linen cloths. They would have been sticky and  weighed down, it wouldn't be an easy thing for a robber to do. And, in fact, why would a robber bother to take off the cloth especially if they were sticky? So the first sign that something odd is going on are cloths left on the ground. It suggests that the stickiness wasn't part of a funeral rite, that in fact those spices might have been part of the rite of how the Holy One came forth from that Holy of Holies because the same spices were used for the high priest emerging from the Holy Ones who had become an angel.

"So here we have these apparently resin-less cloths on the floor. And then Peter notices the napkin laid to one side. In other words, it's been placed, deliberately rolled up, and no longer necessary. This is an extraordinary thing. The Holy One has been in the place. He has borne within himself, he's taken his blood into the Holy of Holies. And is no more. He has left behind the earthly garments. He has rolled up, because there's no further use for the head covering. It's that that allows the other disciple to enter. He also went in, he saw and he believed. Well, what did he believe? In the first instance, he  must have realized that there was no corruption in the place. He must have realized what it says in Psalm 16, and I quote: “Therefore my heart is glad and my soul rejoices, my body also dwells secure; for thou didst not give me up to Hades nor let thy godly one, thy Holy One see corruption.” In other words, [the disciple] could see that this had been a place with no corruption. What did he believe? He believed that God had not let his Holy One know corruption. That Jesus had returned to heaven.

"“'til this moment they had failed to understand the teaching of scripture that he must rise from the dead.” Well again that's very odd. What does it mean? Here it seems they did understand something. They understand that Jesus, who had always said he'd come from heaven, and now went back to heaven without knowing corruption. But the extension of the  cross to the tomb was himself giving himself up to death in the holy place. And that he was no longer visible. I suspect that their assumption was: “Okay, that's happened.” I think that they would have been astounded to think that in fact, he was going to rise and appear as a human to them, for quite a long time after this, explaining what he'd been about.

"In other words, from John's and Peter's point of view, already the promise had been fulfilled. And what they were not expecting was the dramatic illustrations of what had really been going on, which would start to come alive over the next few hours, actually - along with Mary Magdalene and then later that evening with the disciples all gathered in the upper room. Because the longing of the Lord to be with his disciples, those he loved, and to show them himself, and to manifest himself, was so great that he kept on doing it, just trying to convince them, to teach them, to allow them to see what happened. If you like, it is this extra spillover which is so wonderful - the utter aliveness of God made visible to us. And it's these appearances which we're going to be following over the next few weeks as we live through the Easter season."

- James Alison, from video "Homily for Easter Sunday, Year A" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DmNOgsx3Do)

~

"[W]e come to the moral details of the life of Resurrection. Already we have see them; the faith, hope, and love of the Christian ecstasies are the moral demands of our faith, but now we see clearly that before they are demands they are gifts. What need we to add? Only this: Christ rose not as a Jew nor a Gentile, not as a man nor a woman, not as a free citizen nor as a slave, not as an intellectual nor as a nincompoop; Christ rose as a human being, and the transformation he wrought takes all the human race into a new world of simple, shared humanity.

"This simple, shared humanity is what we all crave because it brings everything we ever thought or knew we wanted or needed: peace, justice, joy, respect, healing, and helping; beauty, delight, fullness of being and a good death. We see in the rising Jesus that that there really is a power of creative life to do all this for us. Why then should we let the limits of our minds, the paucity of our expectations, the cowardice of our ambition, the fear of our peers, cause us to deprive ourselves of the life that flows like clear, cool water from the transformed body of Jesus? Why should we not call upon him in faith and draw near to him in love, and enter there the house of hope.

"As a planet we are approaching a point of “singularity;” there are three conceivable kinds of singularity, a bad one, an ambiguous one and a good one, and each one is already underway. The bad one is the triumph of the decay already underway in the environment, melting icecaps, choking cities, poisoned water. The ambiguous one is the Kurzweilian transformation by human ingenuity bringing forth machines that are more human and more devious that our humanity ever could be [...] and displacing us.

"The good moment is the moment of the Resurrection of Jesus, when the power that created the universe recreated it from within, from its most precious point, the point of perfect humanity, and is abroad in the world as faith hope and love. If you wish to save the environment, to enhance the human future this is the power you need. It is the “good singularity” where the miracle of new creation occurs.

"So, you are concerned about the human future, you care about the planet? Worship Jesus in faith, hope and love! Only then will you become an effective conduit of transforming creativity; without this power of life to battle the death star you will go down railing and regretting; with it you will see the triumph of our God who did not create this world for death but for life, to fail but to succeed, to mourn but to rejoice."

- Robert Hamerton-Kelly, from a sermon titled "The Good Singularity", March 23, 2008 (source no longer available)

[For analysis and discussion on all the lectionary texts for Easter Sunday (Year A), see https://girardianlectionary.net/reflections/year-a/easter-a/]