The resurrection

grows out of · raised in three days

The saying is only intelligible after the resurrection, which John notes the disciples remembered later.

grows out of · the first day

The old week ended in rest; the new one begins on the day after the Sabbath with an empty tomb, and the church's gathering shifts with it.

points forward to · firstfruits

Paul calls the resurrection the firstfruits: the first piece of the new creation showing up inside the old one.

points forward to · the first day again

John sets the resurrection in a garden on the first day of the week, with language that keeps looking back at Genesis 1 and 2.

grows out of · the pit and the throne

A pattern that runs through Scripture: descent into a pit or prison, then unexpected exaltation with the power to rescue others.

grows out of · the sign of Jonah

Jesus offers his generation only one sign: as Jonah was three days in the fish, so the Son of Man will be three days in the heart of the earth.