John 20:1-18

1Early on the first day of the week, Mary from Magdala went to the hole in the rock. It was still dark. She saw that someone had removed the big stone from the front of the hole.

2So she ran to where Simon Peter was. He was with the other disciple, the one that Jesus loved. She said to them, ‘Somebody has taken the Lord's body out of the hole. We do not know where they have put him!’

3So Peter and the other disciple started to go to the place where Jesus' body had been.

4Both of them were running. But the other disciple ran faster than Peter ran. So he reached the hole first.

5He bent himself down and he looked inside the hole. He saw the pieces of linen cloth that were lying there. But he did not go in.

6Simon Peter had run behind the other disciple. When he arrived, he went into the hole. He saw the pieces of cloth that were lying there.

7Also, he saw the piece of cloth that had been around Jesus' head. This was not in the same place as the long pieces of linen cloth. Someone had put it carefully in a separate place.

8The other disciple had reached the place first, and now he also went inside. He saw and he believed.

9They still did not understand what the Bible already said. It said that Jesus had to become alive again after he had died.

10Then the disciples returned to the place where they were staying.

11But Mary stood outside the hole in the rock. She was crying. While she cried, she bent herself down to look inside the hole.

12She saw two angels there. They were wearing white clothes. They were sitting where Jesus' dead body had been. One angel was sitting where Jesus' head had been. The other angel was sitting where his feet had been.

13They asked her, ‘Woman, why are you crying?’ She replied, ‘They have taken away my Lord. I do not know where they have put him.’

14When she had said this, she turned round. She saw a man who was standing there. It was Jesus, but she did not recognize him.

15Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you crying? Who are you looking for?’ Mary thought that he was the gardener. So she said, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away somewhere, please tell me. Tell me where you have put him. Then I will go and I will take him away.’

16Jesus said to her, ‘Mary.’ She turned towards him and she said in the Jewish language, ‘Rabboni!’ (This means ‘Teacher’.)

17Jesus said, ‘Do not hold on to me because I have not gone up to the Father yet. But go to my brothers, the disciples. Tell them, “Now I will go up to my Father. He is also your Father. He is my God, and he is your God.” ’

18Mary from Magdala took this message to the disciples. She went to them and she said, ‘I have seen the Lord!’ Then she told them the things that Jesus had said to her.