Peter was afraid.

Drowning in fear and guilt, he hadn’t slept well since Jesus died.

As a rooster’s crow rang through the morning air, he covered his head in shame.

He remembered repeatedly saying he didn’t know who Jesus was (see Luke 22:57-62).

For a long while, hot, salty tears streamed down his face and into his thick beard.

However, as the hours passed, his tears ran out and he was reduced to shaking on his bed mat in the early morning chill.

A commotion at the gate got his attention. It was a group of women who knew Jesus well — Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James — all talking with animation and excitement.

Peter listened to them in amazement. He couldn’t believe his ears as the women told of going to Jesus’ empty tomb and how angels had told them He was alive!

For the first time in days, hope sparked in Peter’s heart.

He rushed outside.

When he got to Jesus’ grave and saw the stone rolled away, he slowed.

The morning light filtered in through the entrance. Peter’s eyes caught on the white linen cloths in which Jesus had been buried.

Jesus’ body was nowhere in sight.

“… and he departed, marveling to himself at what had happened” (Luke 24:12).

Jesus was alive!

This changed everything!