The Eighth Day
John 20:1–18 — The Empty Tomb
Join us as we sit with the Church Fathers in John 20:1–18, where, before dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene finds the stone rolled away. We explore why the Church Fathers called this the eighth day — the day of the new creation — the folded grave-clothes, the garden, and the moment when weeping turns to recognition at the sound of a single word: her own name.
“In this episode, we follow the Church’s lectionary — slowly, in context, and in conversation with the Church Fathers.”
The Passage
1Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. 2Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.”
3Peter therefore went out, and the other disciple, and were going to the tomb. 6Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths lying there, 7and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself. 8Then the other disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he saw and believed.
11But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping, and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the tomb. 12And she saw two angels in white sitting. 13Then they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.”
15Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” She, supposing Him to be the gardener, said to Him, “Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away.” 16Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to Him, “Rabboni!” (which is to say, Teacher). 17Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.’”
— John 20:1–18, New King James Version
Episode Breakdown
It is “the first day of the week,” before dawn. The Sabbath had bound even grief — Mary could not come while the Law forbade it, so she waited out the long Saturday and ran the moment it was past. That phrase, the first day, is the hinge: counted on from the previous Sabbath it is also the eighth day, the day after the seven days of creation, the day a new creation begins.
The setting is a garden, and Mary, weeping, supposes the risen Christ to be “the gardener.” She is more right than she knows. The first Adam met God in a garden and hid; here the new Adam meets the weeping woman and calls her by name.
vv. 1–10 — The empty tomb. Peter and the beloved disciple find the grave-clothes lying and the napkin folded by itself. St. John Chrysostom reads it as quiet proof: a thief would never have unwound the myrrh-soaked linen and folded the cloth. The order in the tomb is the order of One who has risen.
vv. 11–15 — Mary weeping. The men go home; Mary stays. Twice she is asked, “Why weepest thou?” and twice she answers only that her Lord has been taken away.
vv. 16–18 — “Mary.” She knows Him not by sight but by His voice speaking her name, and answers, “Rabboni.” Then she is sent — the first witness of the Resurrection, the apostle to the apostles.
The Church Fathers saw in the eighth day the icon of the age to come. The seven days are the week of this creation; the eighth is the day beyond the week — eternity breaking into time. This is why the Church gathers on Sunday, and why so many baptismal fonts are built with eight sides: to rise from the water is to be born into the eighth day.
“Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended” is not a rebuff but a redirection. The way to hold the risen Christ is no longer the way of the grave and the spices; it is to receive Him as He gives Himself — ascended, glorified, given to the Church.
The first day of the week is a type of the life to come; for that life will be one day not cut short by any night, since God is the sun there — a sun which never sets.
St. Theophilus of Antioch · on the ResurrectionWhile the men returned, the weaker sex was fastened to the place by a stronger affection; and the eyes which had sought the Lord had now nothing else to do but weep.
St. Augustine of Hippo · Tractates on the Gospel of John, 121Mary stays at the tomb when everyone else has gone home. Her grief is not yet faith — she is looking for a corpse, not a risen Lord — and still it is to her, the one who would not leave, that He comes. Love that lingers is not wasted, even when it does not yet understand.
Take with you: The Risen Christ still meets us not in spectacle but in being personally called by name. He knows your name in your weeping — and having met Him, like Mary, “go to the brethren.” The first thing the Resurrection does is make a witness.
~11 min read
Full Transcript
Pavly: Welcome back to Whispers from the Ages. I’m Pavly —
Ramez: — and I’m Ramez. Today we’ve come to the morning that changes everything: the first day of the week, before dawn, with Mary Magdalene running to a tomb she expects to find sealed.
Pavly: So let’s start with that little phrase John keeps repeating — “the first day of the week.” Because the Fathers heard something in it we usually walk straight past…
Ramez: For them it’s the eighth day — the day after the seven days of creation. The Resurrection doesn’t land on an ordinary morning. It lands on the first day of a new creation.
— The full transcript continues for the length of the episode. Download the complete script below. —
Sources & References
- St. Augustine of Hippo — Tractates on the Gospel of John, Tractates 120–121
- St. John Chrysostom — Homilies on the Gospel of St. John, Homilies 85–86
- St. Theophilus of Antioch — on the first day as the day of the new creation
- Scripture — John 20:1–18 (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.