Jesus Rose on the First Day, and Went to Work

What Did Jesus Do?

Jesus Rose on the First Day, and Went to Work

Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early…
John 20.1

John begins his Gospel by tell us that Jesus, the Word, was present and active in the beginning (see John 1.1-5). The prologue to John is rooted in the first chapter of Genesis, where we read the details of what the Logos (“Word”) did in the beginning, which was to spend a week creating materially all that the Father spoke. Then the Word, along with the Father, rested. Now, as John starts to wind down his narrative of the life and ministry of Jesus, we are told that on the first day, after three days in the tomb, the Word was back to work, so to speak.

The creation, which had stood in need of redemption ever since the Fall (see Genesis 3), was about to get an “extreme makeover.” The One who had made all things in the beginning was about to begin to “make all things new” (see Revelation 21.5). Of course the work of re-creating, like the work of creating, had to begin on the first day.

The work of redemption had been completed on the cross, Jesus himself pronouncing the benediction, “it is finished” (John 19.30). Now, the Son would take up the work only a resurrected Savior and Lord could accomplish. It was not something that could be accomplished lying down. So, when Mary Magdalene arrived at the garden, she discovered that the stone that had sealed the tomb had been rolled back (John 20.1). Jesus was not there, for, having completed the work of redemption of a fallen humanity that had borne the image of the first Adam, he had risen to undertook the work of re-creating, of re-generating, the race of Man in the image of the last Adam, a very life-giving spirit (see 1Corinthians 15.45).

Not understanding, fearing the work of grave robbers, Magdalene raced to summon the disciples, Peter and John, to be precise, who in turn raced back to the tomb. When they found the tomb empty, just as Mary had lamented, they were confused, though John asserts that he saw and believed (John 20.8), and, uncomprehending, Peter and John turned and went back to their homes (John 20.9). Before we chide the apostles, let us again say that this day was not simply the first day of the week, but the first day of a whole new order of creation. No one had any knowledge or experience with radically redeemed and renewed life—with resurrection life. No one had yet encountered the Risen One.

But Jesus was risen, and on the third day since the crucifixion, as he himself had foretold. The work of the Resurrected Christ, and of his Church, was beginning on this, the glorious first day of not just a week, but of an Age.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4