St. John records the beauty of the resurrection in the twentieth chapter of his Gospel and indicates an outstanding lesson for Christendom. The persistence of Mary Magdalene led her to be the first to see the risen Saviour. When she found the stone rolled away from the sepulcher, she ran to get Peter and John. They came and went into the tomb, but they found it empty except for the graveclothes. Then they returned to their homes; but Mary stayed, and thus was the first witness to Jesus' resurrection.
The account says of the two disciples, "As yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead." John 20:9; Jesus had told them that this very thing would occur; but the glorious teaching and inspiring example they had received seemed now merely academic, for they abandoned their expectancy and went home.
Mrs. Eddy says of the unbelieving Jews: "To such materialists, the real man seemed a spectre, unseen and unfamiliar, and the body, which they laid in a sepulchre, seemed to be substance. This materialism lost sight of the true Jesus; but the faithful Mary saw him, and he presented to her, more than ever before, the true idea of Life and substance." Science and Health, p. 314;
