In John 20:1 we realize that there were according to the other gospel accounts perhaps as many as three other women that came with Mary Magdalene early that Sunday morning but Mary was the first to arrive and then ran back to tell Peter and John then came back with them. The first thing we realize in this story is that Mary was not hoping for a resurrection, she was looking for a body which she assumed had been stolen. The word in the Greek translated “early” in verse 1 is a word that means “4th watch”.
The Roman soldiers had set the night up into four watches:
•The 1st watch went from six to nine
•The 2nd watch went from nine to twelve
•The 3rd watch went from twelve to three
•The 4th watch went from three to six in the morning
So Mary left while it was still dark and made her way to the tomb with the other ladies at sunrise. Jesus didn’t first appear to Caesar or Caiaphas, He first appeared to Mary. The rabbis had a saying, “It is better that the words of the Law be burned, than be delivered to a woman.” But clearly our Lord didn’t agree with that opinion! The woman, Mary, who was part of those that were last at the cross is now first at the tomb. Of further prophetic significance is that this was the first day of the “Feast of first fruits” so Jesus became the first fruits of those who are to be raised from the dead and chose a woman to celebrate that! Mary may have came to find a dead body in the dark but Jesus made sure that she was not left in the dark!