20 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. 2 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.” 3 Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. 4 The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, 7 and the cloth that had been on Jesus’s head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed, 9 for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples returned to their homes.
11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb, 12 and she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. 13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” 14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, “Do not touch 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.’ ” 18 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 20:1-18 (NRSVue)
It’s Resurrection Sunday—the day Christians around the globe remember that Jesus conquered sin and death by rising from the dead. After the long, slow ache of Lent and the piercing loss of Good Friday, Easter Sunday breaks forth in genuine celebration. The death of Israel’s Messiah is overturned. Defeat becomes victory. But as much as Christians cherish the good news of this day, I suspect that many fail to realize just how world-shattering and world-remaking this day really was and is.
Perhaps the last thing you feel you need right now is another earth-shattering event. Wars and rumors of (tariff) wars, deportations, massive layoffs of government workers, and a plunging stock market have many people truly concerned about our collective future. The shifting landscape of international relations–where allies can be rebranded as enemies overnight–is truly unsettling. Natural disasters add insult to injury. When I speak of how the resurrection of Jesus is world-remaking, I mean it in the best sense: the reversal of bodily decay, the defeat of exploitative expressions of power, and the restoration of agency to those who have been oppressed. Let’s consider three ways the resurrection of Jesus changes everything (in a good way).
Not Just Jesus
When Paul writes to believers in the ancient city of Corinth, he directly addresses the ways that they have failed to live by the implications of the Gospel. Their community was riddled by competition, marked by sexual licentiousness, and divided by alternative ways of living. Paul insists that Jesus’ resurrection ought to transform the community in all these areas by motivating believers to love one another well. Easter is not a major event that naturally gets smaller and smaller in the rearview mirror. It signals a different future, which should reorder the present.
According to 1 Corinthians 15, Jesus’ bodily resurrection is not the moment at which death is conquered for a single individual. It is the first of many such moments—the beginning of something radically new. Christ is the “firstfruits” of resurrection. No one plants a pear tree to get just one juicy pear. The first pear is a harbinger of an abundant harvest. Bushels of pears are yet to come.
The apostle Paul writes that the resurrection of Jesus is not a one-off act of overcoming death. The vindication is not merely personal. It’s powerful enough to reverse the curse brought about by human sin so that all of us can experience life. The future that the Bible envisions is not one with disembodied souls floating in the clouds, but with feet walking on terra firma. We, too, will rise again, our bodies reconstituted for life in the new creation. The hope of Easter applies to us and it is meant to transform the way we relate to one another.
Not Just Heaven
The resurrection of Jesus initiates more than just an internal sense of well-being or a promise of a life after this one. It’s also thoroughly political. The systems of this world wield the sword against all who challenge their rule. When Jesus rose from the dead, every worldly abuse of power was put on notice: rulers who are not aligned with God’s priorities face the certainty of judgment. In Christ, those swords will be confiscated, and authority returned to the One who gave it in the first place. The resurrection functions as the announcement of the defeat of the powers that be, representing a change in regime. In Paul’s words,
“Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” (1 Corinthians 15:24-26 NRSV)
The end, of course, is also the beginning. The defeat of death is a victory for us all—a key to unlock the gates into the new creation in which this material world is renewed in a way that liberates the captives and inaugurates life as we were always meant to experience it.
The book of Isaiah offers a stunning vision of God’s kingdom that offers a foretaste of this new creation reality. Described as a “new heavens and a new earth,” this kingdom will be characterized by delight rather than death, joy rather than tears. The metrics will be optimal: no infant mortality, no lives cut short, no economic exploitation, no wealthy class built on the backs of poor laborers. The prophet describes a society where every member experiences dignified labor,
“They shall not build and another inhabit;
they shall not plant and another eat;
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
They shall not labor in vain,
or bear children for calamity;
for they shall be offspring blessed by the LORD
—and their descendants as well.”
(Isaiah 65:22-23 NRSV).
The blessings of the LORD’s kingdom are not purely spiritual. They are inherently practical. They transform life expectancy and employment practices. The kingdom over which God rules is soaked in Shalom and absent of violence.
Not Just Men
Mary Magdalene weeps at the empty tomb, thinking that it represents insult to injury, a stolen body of the Savior she had loved. But when Jesus’ resurrected body steps out of the tomb into the garden the whole story of the Bible begins anew. Jesus disrupts her weeping, calling her by name. He commissions her to tell his brothers that he is ascending to the Father (John 20). His ascent is no mere stage exit; it signals his readiness to take his place on the throne, ruling over all things. His heavenly rule should send tremors through all those who conspired to put him to death. All who are opposed to God’s rule on earth suddenly find themselves on the losing team.
Mary’s simple testimony sends shock waves through the room where Jesus’ other disciples have gathered: “I have seen the Lord!” (John 20:18) Her testimony echoes that of John the Baptist at the beginning of John’s gospel: “I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One” (John 1:34). Both are eyewitnesses of his majesty, and they cannot help but spread the news.
The tragedy of Mary’s scene, and many more to follow, is that the men who had followed Jesus “did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense” (Luke 24:11). These men are still trapped in a closed system that depends upon titles and degrees. Their world works in prescribed ways where male disciples follow male religious and political leaders who teach them how to become men of influence. Theology and proclamation were men’s work: male priests, male scribes, male rabbis, male disciples, male governors, male philosophers. The name of the game became an attempt to protect the status quo. But Jesus wasn’t having it.
When Jesus chooses Mary Magdalene to announce the most important news of human history, he disrupts these social expectations and power dynamics. By sending Mary, Jesus signals a new creation reality that upends assumptions about male power and begins the process of restoring the collaboration between male and female that God has always intended. Men and women are the image of God (Genesis 1:27). Men and women are told to rule over creation (Genesis 1:26). Neither is told to rule over the other.
And Jesus initiates this powerful reset in a garden.
Not Just Then
If we want to experience the full effect of Easter, we must recognize that it’s not just about Jesus. The resurrection changes everything. The wonder-working power that raised Jesus from the dead is the same power that will raise to life all who place their faith in Jesus. This new life is not just about heaven; it sends ripples through the cosmos as it signals the dismantling of worldly kingdoms built on exploitation and invites us to participate instead in a social order that reflects God’s intentions for the flourishing of all creation. It’s not just for men; Jesus’ first act in the new creation is to restore all people to our proper place as partners in proclamation.
The life of Jesus means death will no longer have the final word. The death-dealing power dynamics of politics are upended, making space for all people, all nations, and all creation. This news made waves in the first century and it is still making waves today, as lives are transformed one by one and new communities take shape in every corner of the globe made up of people who worship the risen Lord and wait for his return.
