I woke up to Mary Magdalene yelling my name. What was she doing here? This was where the men were sleeping. She had no business being here, let alone waking me up. And besides, it was still dark outside.

“Peter, Peter, wake up. He’s alive!”

“Alive? Who?”

“Jesus, he’s alive. He wanted me to tell you.”

“Who? What? Mary, calm down. He’s not alive. He’s dead. You know he’s dead. You saw them bury him.”
“I know. That’s why Mary and I went back to the tomb this morning. We wanted to prepare his body before we left for Galilee.

“When we got to the tomb, the stone blocking the door had been moved, we went in, and his shroud was lying on the shelf where they had laid his body. It was just lying there, not unwrapped, not folded, just laying there, as if his body was still in it, but it wasn’t.

“We thought someone must have stolen his body. But who would do such a thing.”

“Mary, calm down. You must have gone to the wrong tomb. On Friday, you were pretty emotional when you saw them put him in the tomb. Maybe you got confused.” Even as the words were coming out of my mouth, I realized my mistake.

“Don’t tell me to calm down. I was not any more emotional than you were, and I’m not confused.

“When we came out of the tomb, a young man was there. We asked him if he knew what happened to Jesus’ body, and he said, “He is not here. He is risen.” And then he told us to come and tell you, and then he just disappeared. We started back to tell you, and there he was.”

“There, who was? The boy you were talking to? I thought you sad he disappeared.”

“No, there Jesus was. And don’t tell me I imagined it. Mary was there as well. He told me to tell you guys to meet him back in Galilee, that you would know where. And Peter, he specifically said to make sure you got the message.

Before she could finish, I started to get out of bed, and we both realized that I wasn’t dressed yet.

“I’ll wait downstairs.” She said with a grin.
“That would be nice. I’ll be right down.”
I was pulling my robe on and gathering my sandals when I heard John say, “Peter, what’s up? Where are going? It’s still dark out.”
“Mary was just here, she told me that when she went to the tomb, it was empty and then she saw Jesus, and he talked to her.
“That’s crazy. Jesus is dead.”

“I know. That’s why I told her to calm down.”
“You didn’t tell her to calm down? What were you thinking?”

“Apparently, I wasn’t. But she had the other Mary with her, and they both spoke to him. I need to see for myself.”

We rushed downstairs, where Mary was waiting for us, “We need to get everyone up so we can have
 breakfast and can get on the road. Jesus said he’d meet us all in Galilee. It’s not safe to stay here.”
“We’re not going anywhere until I see for myself that his body isn’t where it’s supposed to be.”
John and I had raced each other since we were kids, and never once had I ever beaten him, but I did that morning. Following Mary’s directions, we found the tomb right where she said it would be, and it was empty, except for the shroud, which was right where she said it would be. It didn’t seem right to leave it there, so I folded it and took it with us.

When we got back, everyone was up, and Mary was telling his story again. I could tell by their looks that they didn’t believe her any more than I did.

 “Guys, his body is gone. This is all that is was there.” I showed them the shroud I was carrying, “I don’t know what happened, but Jesus isn’t there.”

“I told you.” His mother, Mary interrupted me, “I told you it wasn’t over, but you wouldn’t believe me.”

“I don’t know what to believe, but I know we can’t stay here. When the authorities find the empty tomb, they’re going to blame us. Mary said we are supposed to meet him in Galilee, so we need to head home.”

Thomas just shook his head, “You can’t seriously believe any of this. I don’t care if the tomb was empty. I don’t care if his body somehow magically disappeared from the shroud. I don’t care who or what these two lunatics think they saw. Jesus is dead, and until I can reach out and touch him, I’m not getting my hopes up.”

“It doesn’t matter what you believe or don’t believe. You can’t stay here. It’s not safe, so you might as well come with us.”