It was still early in the morning that fateful Sunday, and the disciples were huddled in their secret room. Several of them had been to the tomb and discovered it empty and were shaking with fear, uncertain what had happened. Then came a knock on the door.
"Open the door, it's me, Mary Magdalene!!"
Peter opened the door and let Sister Magdalene in. "Where have you been? We lost you down by the tomb."
"I know," Mary said quickly, "but listen....I have some BIG NEWS!"
"We know already," Andrew said, "The tomb's empty."
"No, not that, well not just that," Mary said. "There's something else, something REALLY BIG I just found out." Mary recalled in her mind her amazing encounter with the risen Jesus. He told her to go to the disciples and tell them to wait, for he was to come to them, but also he instructed her not to tell them yet that he has risen, as a test of their faith. Mary was filled with so much excitement, she wanted to tell them, but all she could do was tell them to wait for some AMAZING news.
"Well, what else is there to know?" said Peter. "Hurry up, I'm heading back home to Galilee to forget this whole thing."
"No, wait! Listen, I can't tell you exactly what it is, but just in an hour or two something REALLY AMAZING is going to happen."
Thomas piped up. "Oh I know, we're gonna be seeing the Son of Man coming on the clouds in great power and glory! It's gotta be that! It's just what our Lord foretold and nothing can be BIGGER NEWS than that!" And with that, Thomas rushed outside to go to the Temple Mount to watch for the Son of Man's arrival, and Bartholomew and Andrew went with him.
"Naw, it's not going to be that," Peter said, "He told me to go to Galilee, and obviously whatever is going to happen is going to occur there. Adios, amigos!!" And with that, Peter went off in a hurry.
Simon the Zealot thought otherwise. "Obviously, it has to be revenge against the rulers who put our beloved Jesus to death! What could be more just than that. They have been so wicked, and now they will be exposed and punished for their sins. That's why they stole the body from the tomb, just to incite us to action. I must now go off to take part in their downfall. May Jesus our Lord be avenged!!" Andrew went off with him as well, to take arms against the Roman occupiers and religious authorities.
Mary stood there in shock seeing everyone overreact to her news, and follow their own interpretations. "Please, John son of Zebedee," Mary said, "Surely you have enough sense to know what I mean."
"Yes, I think I do," he told her, "Everyone has been foolish. I know for a fact that my friend Joseph of Arimathea had plans to rebury Jesus this afternoon in secret, so as to prevent his followers from taking his body as a relic and worshipping it. I now see that he actually did this in the middle of the night, with angelic help, to second-guess anyone else who wanted to take the body for himself. I understand, then, what you want to tell us. For you too encountered him, and know that I am going to meet him in an hour to lay Jesus to rest in a permanent sepulcher."
"That's not quite what I had in..." Mary said, but before she could finish her sentence, John put his finger on her lips and said, "Shhhh, don't say it, for I already know." And with that, he went off on his donkey to find Joseph of Arimathea, who lived outside of Jerusalem.
Mary now was alone in the secret house. All she did was hint to everyone that she had some BIG NEWS that she could not yet tell, but unfortunately each person interpreted it their own way and went off following their own hopes and illusions. Several moments later, there was a knock on the door.
It was Jesus.
"Where did everyone go?" he said, shaking his head.