4.17.22 Luke 24:1–12
1 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women went to the tomb, carrying the spices they had prepared. 2 They found that the stone had been rolled away from the tomb. 3 When they went in, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men stood by them in dazzling clothing. 5 The women were terrified and bowed down with their faces to the ground. The men said to them, “Why are you looking for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but has been raised! Remember how he told you while he was still in Galilee 7 that the Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again?” 8 Then they remembered his words. 9 When they returned from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the rest. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles. 11 Yet these words seemed to them like nonsense, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over to look in, he saw only the strips of linen cloth. He went home, amazed at what had happened.
On Easter Morning a Simple Question, With a Glorious Answer, Challenged and Changed Everything
Just this past week we were cleaning the back of our garage. One reason for doing this was because there was a mousetrap missing beside the freezer. I assumed there was a dead mouse around somewhere close. We eventually found it. It’s one thing to look for a dead mouse, but another thing to look for a dead person. When we were at a class reunion last year, one of our classmates wasn’t answering his phone and none of us had seen him for a few hours. That wasn’t like him. We were afraid he may have had a heart attack, so we gained access to his room to see if he was in there. Thankfully, he was alive and well, resting by the lazy river in a different part of the hotel. But it was kind of scary to think there might be a dead body in a hotel room.
Now think about the women on Easter morning. They knew what they’d find at the graveyard. It was still pretty dark out, and they were going to the graveyard by themselves to ask for the tomb to be opened so they could put some more spices on Jesus’ body. Nicodemus had already wrapped him in 75 pounds of myrrh and aloes, but the women didn’t think that was enough: not for Jesus. So they would have to either unwrap Jesus’ dead body and wrap it back up, or even just wrap it in more spices. I’m not sure they thought this through. I would never want to do something like that. Think about the spiritual ramifications of all of this as well. If Jesus was still dead on Sunday morning, it would mean He was a fraud. A part of me would have wanted to unwrap Him and expose Him for the fraud he was rather than show Him any type of love at all.
But these women had no seeming vindictiveness in them. Only compassion. They couldn’t just forget all of the GOOD things Jesus did for so many people. He had healed one of them of demon possession, and you don’t forget something like that. They had seen Him heal so many sick people and raise the dead Himself. They had heard His beautiful sermons. They had seen Him even die with grace and mercy and forgiveness. In spite of the ramifications of what His death may have meant, they still wanted to honor Him even in His death. They couldn’t just shut that off, even if Jesus would turn out to be a fraud. I can’t imagine what that walk would have been like on Sunday morning.
Maybe you can. Maybe you’ve had to get yourself up for a funeral, knowing what you’re going to see and face that day. Standing for hours by the dead body of someone you loved very dearly. Sharing memories. Shedding tears. Maybe that death hits you especially hard at Easter time. A day that is supposed to be bright and full of sunshine has deep shades of darkness and sadness because of death. Maybe you’ll go out to the graveyard too today. Buy some flowers. Put it on a grave. Look at a picture. Get a tear in your eye. No matter how much sorrow you feel, it doesn’t bring them back. It can’t. Maybe that’s why some stay home on Easter. It’s just too sad for them.
The women had every reason just to stay home that Easter morning. But they went anyway. And what a blessing for them that they went! They found not only an empty tomb, but two ANGELS as well! (Isn’t it interesting how these heavenly messengers are involved in some of these key moments during Jesus’ life, his birth, his resurrection, and his ascension?!?) But let’s forget about what the women SEE in the tomb. It’s their CONVERSATION that changes everything for the women. Listen to that simple question, challenging their whole reason for being at the tomb. “Why are you looking for the living among the dead?”
What was the answer to that? First of all, the women WEREN’T looking for the living. They were looking for the DEAD. They thought Jesus was still dead. But the angels were indirectly telling them, “Jesus is NOT among the dead, He is among the LIVING!” Forget about the fact that it was impossible. Forget about the fact that He was beaten to a pulp and bloodied beyond recognition. Forget about the fact that they SAW water and blood come pouring from His side and SAW Him breathe His last. Three days later, He was ALIVE. He wasn’t dead. They were looking in the wrong SPOT because they were looking for the wrong THING.
On Friday, we came here to look at a dead Jesus. It was appropriate and important. We needed to see Him dying on the cross. But today, we come looking for a LIVE Jesus, because Jesus is alive. And that’s important also because His resurrection affects the way that we look at life and death in the here and the now.
When Tom Peil died years ago, Gizmo their dog kept on whining and whining, looking for Tom. So Nancy put a pair of his old pants, some of the last ones he had worn, on his chair. When the dog just smelled his pants, he laid down at the feet of the chair and stopped crying. Just a sniff of what he remembered kept him from crying, temporarily pacifying the dog for a little bit of respite from the cries. It was hard enough for Nancy to deal with the empty chair, but then she had to try and deal with Gizmo too!
The resurrection is so much more than just a whiff of misdirection, an empty suit with fading scents of life gone by. It is a completely different place to look for those who die. Gizmo found comfort in a pair of pants, but we find comfort in different clothes. When our bodies and souls are clothed with Jesus in baptism, through faith we are connected with Jesus and bound to Him, having been put to death with Jesus and raised with Him, as if we were there too at the cross and the empty grave. Jesus promised us, “Because I live, you also will live.” (John 14:19) So if Jesus is resurrected and in heaven, so will we go with our souls. What is better? Just as Jesus has been raised from the dead, so will our bodies be raised from the dead, brand new. Instead of saying so and so died, we could also say “he lives.” Or we could speak very Biblically, as Jesus and Paul speak and say, “He’s sleeping in! He’s going to get up soon!”
Sometimes it’s hard for this to sink in. Try to learn a new Math formula, and you sometimes have to do it again and again to finally figure out how it works, how to solve the problem. Sometimes it is easier to see how it works when you are given the complete ANSWER and you can work BACKWARDS. Then it makes more sense as you see how the answer was calculated.
So it is with the women. The angels speak to the women and teach the lesson that Jesus taught them again, but this time AFTER the fact. He is not here, but has been raised! Remember how he told you while he was still in Galilee that the Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again?” Then they remembered his words. By referencing Galilee, they seem to be saying to the women, “He’s been saying this for a WHILE, and He’s been saying it CONSISTENTLY. He said He would die and rise from the dead, and now LOOK! He’s done it!”
It was that memory trigger that did the trick. This was a perfectly planned event that made PERFECT sense, and now in hindsight they could see it more clearly. It was absolutely NECESSARY for Jesus to do this in order to save the world. Jesus said He would be lifted up. He was lifted up on the CROSS to pay for the sins of the world, as Isaiah 53 prophesied. Jesus said He would be raised in “three days.” Sunday was three days. This is how God said that He would conquer death. God, with the flesh of humanity, would come back from the dead. This is not gibberish, as the disciples thought. This is divine LOGIC at its best!
In 2018, 12 boys and their soccer coach were trapped in a cave in Northern Thailand. The waters were rising and time was running out. They were going to bring down oxygen tanks fitted for the little boys, but even with the oxygen they would have panicked and probably drowned on the way out, not properly breathing through the masks. One of the professional divers was a doctor too. He suggested that the only way they could rescue the boys would be to sedate them and put them to sleep with the oxygen masks on, dragging them out one by one. It took a great amount of trust on the part of the authorities and the boys to allow them to be sedated. But once they were sedated, they were all pulled to safety. They all woke up on the other side, ready to live a normal life again.
God compares death to that sedative that puts us to sleep in Christ. We might wish we could all be like Elijah and go to heaven in a chariot of fire and a whirlwind. But God said, “the wages of sin is death.” The waters of death are rising on us every day. Instead of getting rid of death, He found a way to conquer it. And more importantly, He found a way that we wouldn’t have to suffer the fires of hell, through the punishment of Jesus on our behalf. So we all face death. Sometimes it is slow and painful and expected. Other times it is quick and unexpected. But however it works, God promises that we come out alive and end up in heaven through faith in Christ. Don’t try to swim your way to heaven. In Baptism He has found a way to swim His way to us and rescue us. Faith says, “Yes, Jesus. You come and rescue me. You carry me out of this world.” When you die in Christ, your salvation is promised, by grace alone, by Jesus’ life and death for you, where His angels carry your soul to heaven when you die, and your bodies then await the great resurrection. You have God’s WORD on this to calm you in the face of death.
When the women finally got back to tell the disciples what they had seen and heard, they sounded hysterical or delirious. So the disciples had a choice. Either dismiss them as crazy, or get up and see. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb. There was some risk involved with this, right? But there he goes again! Peter’s always the impulsive one. The first one to want to walk on water to see Jesus. The first one to argue with Jesus about dying on the cross. The first one to strike with the sword in the Garden. And here? The first one to run. What did he find? A few strips of cloth, neatly folded. But that’s it. No Jesus. Not yet. But even then, the Word says, He went home, amazed at what had happened. Amazed. It’s the same word used by the disciples later on in the chapter when Jesus appeared in the upper room, as the disciples were filled with joy and AMAZEMENT. It’s usually referring to a happy and surprised joy. How? All by the word of the women, an empty and abandoned grave, and a few strips of cloth.
In the middle of a dead and dying world, we only have what might seem to be some strips of cloth to go on yet today. Some bread and wine in the Lord’s Supper. Some water in baptism. But the WORDS connected with them - they’re amazing! Baptized into the death of Christ. Raised with Christ. Eating and drinking of the body and blood. It seems impossible. But through faith, we run to church and we run to the sacrament, because we BELIEVE that what God says is TRUE! When we receive a box of ashes or see the body lowered into the tomb it all seems so final. What do we have but Jesus’ words? But they are oh so powerful! The Holy Spirit convinces us. This body will rise, brand new! Why look for the dead among the living? What more could we ask for? The tomb is empty, He is risen. 1 Thessalonians 4:14 We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. More than scraps of an empty pants leg. More than familiar sniffs of a life gone by. A brand new body without sin and without decay. Eternal joy and hope in Christ.
Going to a graveyard can be a very dark and sad thing. But if the women and the disciples hadn’t gone to the graveyard, in spite of their fear and sadness, they wouldn’t have been surprised to see the empty tomb, the angels, the strips of cloth, and they wouldn’t have been challenged with a question that changed their perspective on everything.
Death is in front of us every day with the war in Ukraine. The pictures are horrendous of what is happening to innocent civilians. It’s not fun to see. I can only imagine how sad it is to experience.
Right now in China they are trying to lock up the residents of Shanghai in hopes that they can protect them from Covid-19, keep them from dying. Do what they may, one way or another, death is coming. It can make you scared. It can make you angry. It can make you desperate.
But we have to ask ourselves, what are we ultimately so afraid of? Is it something we need to run from? With Jesus, death can make you RELIEVED. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Why? Because Jesus has come through it alive, and He’s with you here today, speaking words of comfort to you. He’s promised to come and take me back home to be with HIM, in heaven. Sin has been conquered. Jesus has already died for them. Satan has been defeated. He has nothing to accuse you of, for Jesus was accused for you. And death? It’s as good as dead too, folded up neatly, left in the grave of Christ.
So instead of running from it, we are forced to look death in the face. Yes, it’s ugly. But when we walk up to it, tell it to open up its mouth and peer down its throat, we see that Jesus has been in there too. He’s come back alive, and He’s got life and salvation. He’s just waiting to come back out at the final resurrection. Like Peter, we leave amazed, with a completely different perspective, because Jesus Christ is not dead. He is risen. He is risen indeed! Just as He said. Alleluia. Amen.
