Life from a Tomb – A poem based on John 20

On the first day, early, still shrouded in night,
Mary came running, heart heavy, eyes tight.
Breathless, bewildered - stone moved and tomb bare.
“They’ve taken the Lord, they’ve moved Him from there.”

Peter pressed on, John raced ahead,
Two hearts in haste, by love and loss led.
John stooped to see, but held at the ‘door’;
In Peter strode, to the tomb’s hollow core.
Linen lay folded, the grave strangely neat –
No body, no Saviour, no death, no defeat.

Death had seemed certain, the grave sealed and cold.
Yet God had a story that now could be told.
The tomb now stood empty, the Christ goes ahead;
Not stolen, not lost - Jesus rose from the dead!

Mary’s weeping turns to meeting; the Teacher in sight;
Peter’s confusion gives way to new light;
John sees, and believes; bearing witness so we
Might see stones rolled from hearts; from bondage be free.
Crushed or enslaved? Lives locked in pain?
Believe also in Jesus: and have life in his name.

Christ’s vacant tomb is no tale of the past;
Its power breaks chains – its freedom at last!
The grave holds no victory, the darkness no claim;
Christ lives forever - Hallelujah, His name!

So rise from the tombs that you carry within -
From fear and from failure, from burden and sin.
Leave shame in the shadows, have hearts fully free,
And step into life where death cannot be.

Life from a tomb - hope born from despair,
Joy out of sorrow - new love we can share.
The stone has been rolled, the light pierces through -
The risen Christ calls, “I am alive for you!”

Revd Michael Hogg.