Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen
The text for this meditation is written in the 24th Chapter of the Gospel according to St Luke: Verses 1–12:
But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb,3 but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 5 And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.”8 And they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, 11 but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marvelling at what had happened.
Every year, we hear the story of the resurrection of Jesus. When you hear a story often enough, it is easy to gloss over many of the details of the story. We’ve heard the story so often that we think there is nothing new to learn. All kinds of people come to an empty tomb. One or more angels informs them that Jesus has risen. Everybody lives happily ever after. The End.
As is the case for all the writings of the Bible, it’s not that simple. There is always more to learn.
One of the things I didn’t notice for a long time was the timing of everything. If we flashback to Friday, you may remember that Jesus died in the middle of the afternoon. Before Joseph of Arimathea could lay Jesus in His tomb, he had to obtain an audience with Pontius Pilate to get permission to remove the body from the cross. Then He and the other friends of Jesus had to actually remove the body, transport it to the tomb, and prepare it for burial. This all takes time. Ordinarily, that would not be a problem, but in this case, the next day was a Sabbath. Even the work of burying a dead body was strictly forbidden on the Sabbath. There was no way to get that all done in time and do a halfway decent job of placing Jesus in the tomb. You see, the Sabbath starts at sundown, and Sundown and the Sabbath just came too quickly. The timing of Jesus’ death guaranteed that the friends of Jesus had to return on Sunday morning in order to properly care for the body of their dead friend. By arranging the timing on Good Friday so that the burial had to take place in a hurry, the Lord assured that there would be plenty of witnesses at the empty tomb on Sunday. And, in fact, all four Gospels tell us that the empty tomb was a pretty busy place from about the time that the sun came up until the middle of the morning.
Think of it. The first Easter was a swirl of activity and emotion. The women came to the tomb with spices and find that the tomb is open and the body of Jesus is gone. Then men show up who’s appearance resembles lightning, and the men said to them, (Luke 24:5–7) “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.”
These men knew these women even though the women have never seen them before in their lives. And in the midst of all of this commotion, where do the messengers direct their attention? They directed their attention to the words of Jesus. The Holy Spirit inspired Luke to point out that everything has happened exactly as Jesus said it would. As we make our way through the Gospel accounts, we regularly read that Jesus was teaching his disciples, saying to them, (Mark 9:31) “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.” The angels got Jesus’ message exactly right.
There is something else that you notice when you get into the nitty-gritty details of the day of resurrection, you start to notice trends and patterns in the way Jesus showed Himself to His people.
After a bit of study, it becomes evident that Jesus wanted His followers to believe in His resurrection because of His promise … that His promise to rise was more authoritative than His actual presence. The angels said as much; “Don’t you remember His promise to rise from the dead? When God makes a promise, He keeps it. Why are you looking for Him here in the place of the dead?” …. Even though His followers had not yet seen Him, they should believe that He is alive based on His promise alone.
Slowly the truth of the situation began to sink in. For these women, remembering the Lord’s words brings them more fully into reality. With the words of Jesus, they begin to understand the strange new world that surrounds them. Empty graves and men with the appearance of lightning. Angels who have been with you all of your life. These things start to make sense: Jesus had talked about a heavenly kingdom. The world is God’s, and God’s kingdom has come. What about the pain of the crucifixion? Was this all a mistake? No! Jesus had told them: His betrayal and death were part of God’s will. God so desired to save all people that He gave His Only Son to bear the punishment for their sin.
And now, punishment is gone. Divine vengeance is over, and the open grave gives a glimpse of heavenly joy. Angels talk to humans. Humans speak to one another, sharing a message that saves every man, woman, and child. “God loves you. In love, He gave His life for you. And now He lives and reigns eternally.”
The women could not keep this kind of news to themselves. They had to share the things they had seen and heard. The Holy Spirit brought the promises of Jesus to their minds. He had promised to rise from the dead and now He had risen just as He said.
The Resurrection of Jesus Christ certainly demonstrates His power and authority.
Over the years, mediums claim to communicate with the dead, I certainly am not convinced, think of it what you will, but I see that stuff as dodgy, even evil. But now here we have someone who not only promised to rise from the dead, but actually pulled it off. This alone makes Jesus unique in all of history.
Furthermore, this resurrection certified once and for all that Jesus has defeated sin, death, and the power of the devil. As God promised in Eden, the seed of the woman has crushed the serpent’s head. This fact alone is reason to rejoice over this victory. But there is more.
Jesus promised to rise from the dead and He kept His promise. His resurrection means that there is nothing that can stop Him from keeping His promises. I can make a promise and subsequently get sick or have a flat tyre or have any of a number of other difficulties. Every fibre in my being can be dedicated to keeping my promises. But we are human with all our frailties, and so it is possible that circumstances beyond my control can stop me.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ clearly demonstrates that there are no circumstances beyond the control of Christ. Not even death can prevent Him from keeping His promises.
Jesus promised to rise from the dead. Now hear some of the other promises that He made. (John 5:24) “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” (John 10:27–29) “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” (John 11:25–26) “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die” (John 14:1–3) “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”
Friends, these are but a few of the promises that Jesus has made. These are but a few of the promises that we can rely on Jesus keeping because even death cannot hold Him or prevent Him from keeping His Word to You.
I don’t have to tell you that we live in a society where Christianity comes under great scepticism, where materialism and success have taken priority in the hearts of many. Journalism trends to afford the Christian Faith very little credibility and preys on Christians who publicly fail. In saying this, can I make the point that the same journalists fiercely protect the rights of faiths such as Buddhism, Islam, Hindi, etc. I have no problems with that, but for the people of these faiths, every aspect of their daily lives is entwined in their religious beliefs. Can I also add that on countless occasions, I have had the experience of people who have gone through their lives denying any allegiance with Christianity, ask me to pray for them when they have been in times of dire anxiety.
My point is that God created us as spiritual beings, we all have deep spiritual needs. People of other faiths have no hesitation in publicly living out their spirituality, you know it’s quite OK for Christians and those feeling in need of the peace, wisdom and guidance that comes only from God through the risen Christ to do the same.
When God sent His Son to die for us, it was because he loves us. When Jesus promises to be in our lives, he is begging us to put aside our cultural pride and accept him in our lives to our lasting benefit. God has a place in eternity for us, Jesus has opened the path to eternity; he has bestowed the gracious gifts of the water and the word in Holy Baptism and Jesus body and blood in Holy Communion, that we may hear his promises as written in the Holy Scriptures and believe.
Christ’s promises teach us that a day is coming when He will return to raise all the dead back to life. If you or I had to face that day based on our own good works, we would fail. For no one is able to earn salvation. But Christ has promised salvation to us based on His perfect life and His sacrificial death. He has promised that those who have the Holy Spirit’s gift of faith will rise to eternal life. For it is by faith that we receive the benefits of Christ’s work. We can have absolute certainty of our eternal salvation, not because of anything we have done, but because we have the promise of Christ. And not even death can stop Him from keeping His promises. For He has risen from the dead just as He said He would. Amen
The peace and love that comes from the risen Christ live in your hearts and minds that your faith can lead you on a journey with our Lord and Saviour into eternity. Amen
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