Something happened.
Mary Magdalene was the first to arrive at the tomb, very early in the morning – expecting, as was the custom, to be able to anoint Christ’s body. Imagine her shock, then, when, arriving at the tomb, the guards who had been placed there were no where to be found. The 1.5 to 2 ton stone had been “taken away”. And, except for His grave clothes, the tomb was empty.
Mary ran to get Peter and John who ran back to the tomb. Peering in the tomb, first John, then Peter, saw the grave clothes lying there and, in John 20:7, we learn, “the handkerchief that had been around His [Jesus] head, [was] not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself”.
Peter and John soon left the area.
But “Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping, and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. Then they said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ She said to them, ‘Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.’” –John 20:11-13
When she said this, she turned around and saw Him standing there.
He asked, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?”
At first, she didn’t recognize Him. She thought He was the gardener. She answered, John 20:15b “Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away.”
It was only when He called out her name, “Mary!”, that she recognized a resurrected Jesus.
Later, on the road to Emmaus, Jesus joined two other disciples who were walking along, talking about the events of the past few days. They, too, didn’t recognize Him – that is, until He broke bread with them in Emmaus. It was then their eyes were opened.
It was Him. It was the resurrected Jesus.
In time, before He ascended back into heaven, He appeared before hundreds of others. Paul gives us a list of who Christ appeared to after His resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15.
Why are you weeping. Whom are you seeking? He is not here, He has risen, just as He said He would.
Blessings.