Powerpoint Pictures: Heart Monitor; Brain; Blowing Dandelion; Speech Bubble; People jumping

How do you know that you are alive? What are some signs of life in a person? [Heart is beating; Brain activity; Breathing; Talking; Moving].

Jesus was buried in a tomb and soldiers were left guarding it to make sure that no-one could steal the body.

Once the Sabbath was over, a group of women including Mary Magdalene, got to work preparing spices and perfume to put on Jesus’ dead body. Then early Sunday morning, they went to the tomb where they had seen Jesus’ body buried. They hoped that there would be someone there to help them roll the stone covering the entrance away.

When the women arrived at the tomb, they were stunned.

The guards had gone. The stone had been rolled away. And the body was missing.

These things were all signs of life.

What did Mary Magdalene do?

“She came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” (John 20:2)

Simon Peter and John (who was the other disciple) ran to the tomb, and they saw what Mary Magdalene and the other women had seen.

They wondered what had happened to the body.

Had the body been stolen? No. The guards were there to stop that from happened.

Did Mary Magdalene and the other women go to the wrong tomb? No. They had seen where Jesus was buried.

Did Jesus really die? Yes. Roman soldiers were experts in killing people and had made sure that Jesus was dead by thrusting a spearing into his side.

So what had happened to Jesus’ body?

Had He done what He said He was going to do? Had He risen from the dead on the third day? How would we know?