But very early on Sunday morning the women went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. They found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. So they went in, but they didn’t find the body of the Lord Jesus. Luke 24:1-4.
It took a while to sink in–the empty tomb and the folded grave cloths, neatly stacked on the shelf of the tomb. They must have gone through a rolodex of explanations: grave robbers, over-zealous disciples who didn’t want the Romans to have the body, and whatever else came to mind.
That they were all fearful or confused or both. How do you explain the empty tomb? However, an empty tomb was the best news they could have received. What Jesus promised them had indeed happened as Matthew recorded. “Jesus told his disciples that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and… suffer many terrible things… be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead.” Matthew 16:21.
Later, the apostle Paul told the Corinthian church that the Resurrection was the keystone of faith. Everything, he told them, rests on the truth of that event–resurrection. By walking out of the tomb, Jesus proved that Death no longer had a strangle hold on humanity.
N. T. Wright says that our biggest problem starts on Easter MONDAY, normally a time when pastors sigh with relief that Lent and Easter are past and go on holiday. He continues that Easter Monday ought to be the start of an eight-day festival, with champagne served after morning prayer with lots of alleluias…” Why? Because Jesus is resurrected and everything is changed. Celebration of Hope by N. T. Wright, page 256.
Resurrection is stunning. If we even begin to understand what it means, then our thoughts, hopes, aspirations, and expectations change radically.
Prayer: O Resurrected Jesus. This Easter we are reminded of the way in which you defeated sin and death by the act of walking out of the tomb. And by the way that your life stood in the place of our sinful broken lives, absorbing the cost of our sin. We pray that we will never take this for granted or become blithe to its significance for us. Amen.