1But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared.
First day of the week – Sunday… this is why Christians observe worship of Christ on Sundays instead of what is traditionally believed to be the Sabbath which is Saturday. As Christ informed the Pharisees, that HE was Lord of the Sabbath and that the Sabbath was created FOR Him… so should we see this day of resurrection as a day that celebrates Jesus who is Lord of the Sabbath… Sunday’s are NOT sacred because of the day, but Sunday’s are sacred to Christians because of what we celebrate on this day… we celebrate JESUS on this day!
At dawn they went to the tomb, taking spices they had prepared…
Who went? See verse 10 [read v.10 here]
Why were they going to the tomb with spices? If we look back to v.50-56 in chapter 23 we can see that Jesus died as the Sabbath observance began, and these ladies had prepared spices to anoint Jesus’ body, but were prevented from doing this because they were observing the ‘no work’ prohibition… and they rested on the Sabbath.
Can you imagine how LONG that day must have been for them… it was possibly the longest Sabbath observance they had ever endured. Oh how their hearts were breaking… after what they had seen in Jesus and then what had happened to Him… their thoughts had to be that ALL hope was lost…that Jesus was gone!
Think about this in a modern day circumstance… how many times do we find ourselves believing that all hope in a situation is lost… that defeat is certain… that evil has won… I know we have all been there at one time or another.
These women showed great love for Jesus in that even though they were distraught and had more than likely lost hope… we find them getting up early on a Sunday morning to go down to the tomb and anoint Jesus’ body with spices and ointments… they were performing a labor of love in the face of what they believed to be certain defeat…
We too face those situations… how do YOU respond? Do you respond in love for your Savior? Or do you throw in the towel and hang your head in self-pity? We can learn a lot from the love of these women.
2And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
An amazing discovery! However, I can imagine their hearts sinking when they came upon the tomb with the stone rolled away. What had happened? Who could have done this? Why would they do this? Where is Jesus’ body?
Has God ever brought you to a place in your walk with Him and you simply did not understand or could not comprehend what he was trying to do… only to realize later that He had been pointing you to that particular time all along? The next few verses reveal this to these women…
4While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 5And 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?
"Why do you seek the living among the dead? Basically what these angels were saying was “Why are you looking for a dead man?
Seems like a totally insane question to the rational human being. After all they were in a grave yard [so to speak] and they were looking inside a TOMB specifically made to hold dead people… so why would these men ask that blatantly insane question…
I can imagine that they thought to themselves, “Why do you THINK we are looking for a dead man… it was just this past Friday when we saw our Lord Jesus the Messiah, whipped, beaten, ridiculed and mocked. We saw him crucified on a cross… and a spear pierced into his side… we saw Him take his last breath… we saw the dead body… we helped to wash it… we help to carry it into this VERY tomb!”
These women were totally out of sync and did not understand what was happening…
6He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise." 8And they remembered his words,
These men then FINISH their question/statement… Why are you looking for a dead man? Jesus is NOT dead! He is risen just like He told you would happen… remember? Back in Galilee when He told you?
At that point, things begin to click for these women… they being to see what is happening… or what SEEMS to be happening… they may not have fully understood but they did believe!
We often find ourselves in that same spot… God leads us to a place and we don’t understand, then He speaks to us and tells us, DON’T you remember what I said? Don’t you remember what I have told you? And we begin to look back and recall those spiritual markers in our lives that have led us to where God now has us… and then things begin to click and we begin to believe… we may not fully understand, but we believe!
9and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10Now 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,
So with a glad heart these women race back to where the disciples are staying and they tell them what has happened… Jesus is ALIVE! He is risen! We saw 2 men in shining white garments… He is alive!
11but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.
…an idle tale… or better translation, a fairy tale or NONSENSE… these women have LOST their mind! These women have been overstressed and have snapped!
I can just hear it if this happened in the South… those hearing the women’s story would say, “Bless their hearts”… which is code for they are NUTS… they are CRAZY… they have LOST IT!
But the women must have had a sincere tone and insistent flavor to their comments because it causes Peter to go check it out…
12But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.
Peter races to the tomb and finds that it is JUST as the women describe it… and Peter is amazed, but still very confused! He had saw Jesus die… and even if He is alive, Jesus had heard Peter deny him…
There are times when people are going to absolutely believe we have lost our minds because we believe that God will do or has done something miraculous in our lives! Many scoff at Christians who pray for miracles… but we can see that even believers at times can be skeptical…
These women labored in love and wanted to honor Jesus in their actions. God revealed to them something wonderful and terrific… great news to be shared… they took that wonderful news to others who did not believe them!
Today we are called to labor in love for our Savior… to honor Jesus! God has revealed to us great and wonderful news in the Good news of the Gospel and we have been tasked to share that news with others… we need to understand that there will be those who will NOT believe our testimony, but there will be those who will… and to those who do… truth is revealed and salvation is offered!
Let us NOT forsake our labor of love for our Savior!
