By Benjamin Stubblefield, Ph.D.
Visiting Assistant Professor of Christian Studies, University of Mobile
Resurrected
Luke 24:1–12
I remember men in seersucker. Women in bright colored dresses. Plastic eggs cushioned in that fake, green plastic grass in those thin wicker Easter baskets. Cadbury chocolate. Mom and Dad letting you eat some of it for breakfast, even before church! The very happiest of church services. Extra-special music. Extra-loud singing. Extra-long preaching, with some “Amens!” and “Glory!” thrown in from the deacons.
Sure, every Sunday is a Resurrection celebration. But there’s always been something special about the day on the calendar when we remember the Nazarene who put death to death. Luke’s dramatic account captures that sense of wonder, unfolding excitement and thrill of hope as the disciples begin to marvel at the empty tomb.
Return (1–5a)
As is often the case in Luke, Jesus is faithfully served by women. They are the first to arrive to the tomb to tend dutifully to Jesus’ cadaver (see also John 19:38–40) and will be the first messengers for the Resurrection (v. 9).
The women, concerned over how they could move the stone (Mark 16:3), “found” the stone moved. Curious, they enter the tomb but do not “find” Jesus’ body.
Then they are stunned by a vision of two men dressed in heavenly garments. And they are what any of us would be: terrified. They do what any of us would do: bow facedown. In that way, our sisters are our example.
It is clear that the women do not yet know what has happened to
Jesus. What is clear is that they know that God is up to something, and they are in a proper posture of humility to learn and obey whatever He has for them.
Similarly, perhaps God is working in our lives in ways that we, like these women, have yet to understand. Are we, like them, readying ourselves to trust and obey?
Remember (5b–7)
The angels mildly rebuke the women and explain that Jesus has done exactly what He told them He would do.
We can speculate as to why the disciples failed to make sense of the empty tomb on their own. Perhaps the meaning of it was concealed from them (9:44–45); perhaps they forgot Jesus’ earlier instructions about it (18:31–33);
or, more likely, perhaps the whole notion of a physical resurrection was so bizarre that it was an implausible conclusion.
Even these faithful women had a hard time believing the outlandish claim of Christ that He would literally rise from the dead.
But the word of our Lord did not and will not ever fail. Do you believe that? That His promises to you of abundant life, eternal fellowship and the new heavens and the new earth, are “Yes” and “Amen”? We may struggle to believe it from time to time but let the sign of the empty tomb legitimize all God’s promises for you. For “the Living One” is faithful, and He will do it.
Report (8–12)
I know it’s difficult to convince our lost world to believe in the Resurrection, but it was just as difficult to convince Jesus’ best friends.
The women begin to share the news, but they are met with incredulity, even from the apostles. With the exception of Peter, who appears still skeptical, those closest to Jesus “would not believe.” Nonetheless, our sisters bore witness to what they had seen and heard. They were faithful, even if their listeners were “slow of heart to believe” (v. 25).
And that’s our calling as well — to go and tell all people what we have heard and what we know: that there is an empty tomb in Jerusalem, and its former occupant sits now, very much alive, at the right hand of the Father.
Amen. Glory. Hallelujah. Happy Easter. Let’s worship as they did at Bethany, “with great joy” (v. 52).
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