The First Easter Morning: They Remembered, They Returned, They Reported

Based on a sermon preached at Pilot Knob Baptist Church, Belle, MO, in April 2007.

(This is not an exact transcription.)

Easter has always been one of my favorite holidays! I never cared much for the hard boiled "Easter" eggs or anything like that—especially cleaning up the pieces of eggshell—but it was a great day, with the Easter baskets, and the new clothes. Even though my birthday is in March, we kids always got a new shirt and pants outfit for Easter. Usually it was beginning to get warm, too, so we knew spring was coming and the last day of school wasn’t too far behind!

But as most of us know, Easter is about something much different. We can’t expect young kids to appreciate what Jesus did for us, as much as we older believers have come to realize. There was the awful fact that He—the Lord of Glory—gave up His life for us because He loved us. We can’t forget, also, that He rose from the dead so that we might have eternal life and salvation. And it’s sobering when we realize many people either don’t know, don’t care, or haven’t heard about this wonderful news—Jesus was dead but He is alive forever!

Take your Bibles, please, and turn with me to Luke’s gospel, chapter 24, beginning with verse 1. While you’re turning there, please keep in mind that Jesus had been crucified three days before this day, that He had told the disciples repeatedly He would rise on the third day (after He was crucified), and that none of the disciples or other followers really believed He would come back to life. Proof of this is right here in this passage. We begin at verse 1:

Luke 24:1 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing; 5 and as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, "Why do you seek the living One among the dead? 6 He is not here, but He has risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, 7 saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again." 8 And they remembered His words, 9 and returned from the tomb and reported all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now they were Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James; also the other women with them were telling these things to the apostles. 11 But these words appeared to them as nonsense, and they would not believe them (New American Standard Version).

Now, there are three things in this text that jumped off the page for me when I was studying for this message.

The first: these women RETURNED to the tomb. I’ve wondered why they did this. They knew Jesus was dead;-they had seen, or at least heard, this terrible news. John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, and Mary, the mother of Jesus, were both eyewitnesses at the foot of the cross (plus a few others, according to John 19:25-27). John, at least, had heard Jesus say, “I will rise again” or words to that effect many times, but he still didn’t “catch” it—not until later, anyway. Maybe they didn’t know that Nicodemus had brought a hundred pounds worth of myrrh and aloes to preserve the body (John 19:39) because, according to verse 1, they brought other spices along with them. Why? They clearly didn’t know, or didn’t believe, Jesus could be alive—not after what He had been through. I won’t go into the details of crucifixion—other people have written and given verbal teaching about this—but we can agree that this was the most horrible way to die. We should be glad that our Lord Jesus, Who was absolutely sinless, absolutely perfect in every way, suffered the worst form of death for us. Nobody can, or should, say they’re too bad for saving—look at Jesus! He died for all, even the worst of us: and the rest of us, too!

So they return to the tomb, at early dawn. This means it was probably still dark when they left their homes. One thing I’ve wondered about is how they intended to get there. They would have to leave the city (were the city gates even open at that time?), and then go up to Mount Calvary, which is not an easy climb. Then they probably wondered how they were going to get the guards to let them into the tomb! Matthew said that there was a seal on the tomb (Matthew 27:66) so at the very least the Government showed it meant business as far as this tomb was concerned. Somewhere I’ve heard or read that love knows no obstacle and we commend these ladies for their courage and devotion to the Lord Jesus. Oh that we who know He is alive forevermore would show this same devotion these days.