THE EMPTY TOMB IS A PLACE OF LIFE
MATTHEW 28:1—10 APRIL 20, 2003
Matthew 28:1-10
1After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.
2There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 4The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.
5The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ’He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you."
8So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. 10Then Jesus said to them "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me."
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Dearest Fellow-Redeemed and Saints in the Lord:
Today we take another trip to a place of the Passion--the empty tomb. We can be just as excited as the women were, anxious to see what was going to be at the tomb. As we heard in our text for today, they found what they did not expect. What we find is that the empty tomb (and on this Easter Sunday we come to the last place of the Passion) is not really the end of the places of the Passion; it is just the very beginning of the story. The empty tomb because it is empty is a place of life…more than just life…it is eternal life. In the gospel of John (it would be a good chapter to read when you get home) we have the chapter of Jesus being the Good Shepherd of the sheep. JOHN 10:11 tells us, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. I am the good shepherd.” He refers to eternal life and that’s what you and I are going to talk about today. This empty tomb is a place of life. We’re going to learn again for ourselves what it means to have the full life, not just a life filled with earthly blessings, but also a life filled with the fact that Christ has been raised so that you and I and every believer will be raised with Him. We consider this resurrection fact as Matthew tells us
THE EMPTY TOMB IS A PLACE OF LIFE
I. Come and see
II. Go and tell
I. Come and see
These women could hardly wait. The law said, ‘No work on the Sabbath’, so when Jesus was crucified, He was quickly taken down from the cross and placed unprepared in a tomb because it was the Sabbath. They were not to work. 1After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. At dawn on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. We are told in the original that at the very first hint of light they went. It was then that the Sabbath was over and they could work. They could go to the tomb and finish preparing the body of Jesus. That was not going to happen.
2There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. Once again, we have nature testifying to the power of its Creator by a violent earthquake. The angel comes down and rolls back the stone. We heard in Mark (16:1-8, today’s Gospel Lesson) as the women were going there, they were wondering how they were going to move the stone. When they get there the stone is rolled back already. We note the reaction of those who were there. 3His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 4The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. You can imagine they were frightened. They weren’t scared to death, but in a sense, they were scared stiff as our text says. They were scared and lying around like dead men. They were scared of this holiness of God that was before them. The angel of the Lord rolled back the stone (this stone which took several men to roll it into place).
Now the women arrive. We hear the message of the angel. We’re told; 5The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. Certainly the women did not expect to find anyone at the tomb. The women thought they would be the first ones there. The women thought that maybe the guards would be there. The women thought that the tomb would be sealed with a stone. The women thought they would not see an angel. When they saw the angel, the angel said, ‘Do not be afraid.’ Do not be afraid—they were certainly frightened because all the things they thought, did not take place. It was almost the opposite. Then the angel goes on and says, ‘I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here.’ For an instant, their hopes were probably dashed to the ground because the angel knew what they were looking for. They were looking for Jesus who was crucified--the last time they saw their Savior. Jesus was on the cross and as He breathed His last He said, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.’ They saw Jesus as He was taken down from the cross and hastily laid in the tomb. The angel said, 6He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Jesus had told His disciples that He would go and suffer and die and be put to death but on the third day He would rise again from the dead. The angel reminded the women of that. ‘He has risen, just as he said. Come and see…’ Come and see that, just as Jesus spoke, so it was done. Just as Jesus said, so He came back to life. Come and see. Jesus is risen.
That invitation holds for us today. There are those that would say that Jesus did not come back to life because it doesn’t make any sense. Everyone who dies, dies. They are buried and that’s it. They assume that Jesus, who died on the cross, was buried and that was simply the end. His body decayed and that was all there was. Other still think that maybe His disciples stole His body. That was a rumor that started very early. It was one that was spread by His enemies because they thought that by this rumor they could explain away Jesus’ resurrection. As rumors go, they never ever die, do they? They may even be very wrong yet the rumor still continues. From the time of Jesus’ resurrection through the early Christian church until the very day in which we live, there are still those who deny Christ came back to life physically. The angel reminds us He is risen! We heard a bit in our second lesson today (1 Corinthians 15:19-26). (That’s another very good chapter to read—the Resurrection Chapter—1 Corinthians 15.) At the end of chapter 15, he talks about the victory we have. Before that, Paul talks about this: “If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith”(1 CORINTHIANS 15:13,14). If Christ had not come back to life, what life would you and I have at all? We can’t have life to the full as Jesus said He came to give it to us. If Christ has not come back to life then you and I have nothing at all to look forward to.
Today we KNOW, we know as a confidence and as a blessed certainty of our faith, that Christ is risen. ‘He is not here,’ the angel says to us. Come and see! Come and see that the tomb is empty. That empty tomb is a place of life, a place of eternal life. You and I know that because God, in His infinite love for us, in reality reached down and made us believe. We were born into this world with a sinful nature and because of that we are enemies of God. We don’t go out of our way to find anything out about salvation because we’re enemies of God by birth. But God in His grace works faith in our hearts. Through baptism and the washing of the Word, He makes us believe. As He makes us believe, we rejoice in our salvation. Paul writes to Timothy and he reminds us: “God’s grace has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel”(2 TIMOTHY 1:10). That’s what you and I know and believe by God’s grace…that life and immortality are ours because of the gospel.
Certainly when Jesus was laid to rest in the tomb, the devil thought for an instant that he was the champion. As we will confess shortly after the sermon in the Apostles’ Creed, we are reminded that in between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, Jesus descended into hell. He went there to stand before Satan so that Satan could see that he (Satan) was conquered, not Jesus. When Satan saw Jesus there, he also saw that sin would not have a great control over God’s believers anymore. When Satan saw Jesus standing there, he realized too that death had been defeated. We’re assured, as scripture tells us, “For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him”(ROMANS 6:9). If death has no mastery over Jesus, death has no mastery over you or me or any other believer in His resurrection. It is from death that we enter into life.
The empty tomb is a place of life. The angel invites us to come and see. As we come and see the place where Jesus lay, then also like the women, the angel tells us to
II. Go and tell
And the angel says, 6He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7Then go quickly and tell his disciples…That was their mission on that first Easter Sunday. As they came, saw and realized that ‘yes, what the angel was saying was true, that also they had to go and tell the disciples what had really happened. What Jesus had told them was true, what the angel had told them was true, what they had seen was true. Christ has risen from the dead. The message of the angel, “tell his disciples: ’He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’” The women came and saw. They were going to go tell the disciples. The disciples, once they began to believe and understand that the women weren’t making up this story, would also go and see. They would go together and see this truth just as Jesus said.
Who announced that first Easter message that ‘He is not here.’? The angel did, didn’t he? He says, ‘See, now I have told you.’ We are given the reaction of the women. 8So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. They were still a little bit scared. They had expected to see Jesus. They had brought spices and other things to prepare His body. They were filled with great joy knowing that the angel did not lie, knowing that the empty tomb did not lie. As they were on their way to the disciples filled with great joy, 9Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. If they could be filled with greater joy, they would be. They weren’t going to let Jesus get away were they? They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. We are told they put their arms around His legs and grabbed him.
What does Jesus say? We hear very familiar words once again. 10Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid.” He knew that wasn’t what they expected. He knew they might be frightened. Then He said, “Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me." The message didn’t change. ‘Go and tell.’ The message didn’t change—go and tell the disciples that they will see me. The angel spoke it, Jesus spoke it. The women went and told this message filled with Easter joy.
That’s the joy that you and I have in this life. Sometimes we forget that Easter joy. You know, Easter really is a special Sunday. (I regret having to say that.) It seems to be that everyone is a little more joyous. Yet we know, as believers, Easter joy is not just limited to this Sunday, but it is to be part of every Sunday. This Easter joy is to be part of everyday of our life. That is all the more important in this day and age when there is not so much joy around us, or so it seems. In our first lesson from Isaiah (25:6-9), Isaiah said there would be great joy. Joy for the simple fact that we have come and seen. We have come on this Easter Sunday and we see that the tomb is empty. We’ve come and seen Sunday after Sunday and realize that the tomb is still empty but God’s promises are not empty. They are filled with fulfillment for us. Isaiah says in his first lesson for us that we will enjoy the richest of banquets. “In that day they will say, ‘Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the LORD, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation’”(ISAIAH 25:9). Let us rejoice and be glad in our salvation today, every Sunday, and even every day.
Our heritage can make it difficult to be joyous and glad all the time. But our loving Lord says by faith we have come to see that that tomb is empty. It is a place of life. You and I have life to the full. Oh yes, from time to time, our life doesn’t seem so filled. It may even seem empty, as promises around us are broken, as we face heartache and trouble and sickness and sorrow and all of those things that affect our lives because of sin. The Lord fills our life up with joy because He has forgiven our sin. In COLOSSIANS 2:13 we read, “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins”(COLOSSIANS 2:13). Yes, you and I were dead in sin. Now we’re alive, not in sin, but we’re alive in Christ.
Just as Christ came back from the dead, so you and I are made alive through the forgiveness of sins. That is a powerful message. That’s what the Lord says to us—that we have come and seen in our lives. That’s the message that we can go and tell others. That was the message the Lord gave to His first disciples and He also gives to us. In the book of Luke we read, “Repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things”(LUKE 24:47,48). The Lord says this message begins where Christ rose from the dead and then it will go to the ends of the earth. It did, didn’t it? Already on this first Easter we find the angel saying ‘Don’t be afraid. Christ is risen.’ He tells the women, they go tell the disciples, the disciples tell others—at Pentecost there are 5,000 added to the church. Soon after that there’s another few thousand. Today we have millions. From that empty tomb that message of forgiveness has been almost preached to the ends of the earth. (It hasn’t reached the ends of the earth yet because the Lord says when His word has reached to the ends of the earth then the end will come.) He hasn’t returned, so there still are the ends of the earth to preach the gospel.
This all began at the empty tomb. The empty tomb, which is a place of life, is a place of life that you and I can come and see. Not just today but every day we can get out the Scriptures and read them for ourselves and find that the tomb is still empty so that our lives may be full—full of forgiveness, full of faith. As we come and see we realize our lives are changed. As we come and see we can also rejoice and be glad in our salvation, then we are even anxious and excited to go and tell. Go and tell that simple message, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved”(ACTS 4:211). Yes, the simple message that the angel first spoke on that very first Easter, ‘Do not be afraid. Christ is risen. He is risen indeed.’ Come and see and then joyfully, go and tell. The empty Easter tomb is a place of life. Amen.
Pastor Timm O. Meyer
