What do you suppose went through the minds of the women as they set out at dawn to go to the tomb? They were mourning, perhaps even wondering who could move the stone for them. They had accompanied Jesus since the days of his Galilean ministry, so full of hope that the kingdom of God was about to become real.
But now, all was lost, that dream was dead along with Jesus who had been cruelly crucified days before. Their world lay in ruins. There was nothing more to be done. Except if anything else, they must go to the tomb and anoint the body of Jesus properly, which they couldn’t do the day before because it was the Sabbath.
Undoubtedly, they were mystified to find the stone rolled away from the entrance. Things became more puzzling when they discovered that the tomb was empty. Before they could lament, “grave robbers!” they were astounded to encounter two men in dazzling garments, who told them something they never expected to hear. “Why do you seek the living one among the dead? He is not here, but he has been raised.” The living one, how can that be? He’s dead.
But he isn’t. He is risen! He is very much alive! That is the mystery we celebrate not just on Easter but daily on our faith journey. Yet like Peter, we are amazed at what happened.
The question asked by the men, who were angels, of the women on Easter morning could be asked of us every morning of our lives: why do we seek the living among the dead? In other words, why center our days on things of limited value when God’s love and grace abounds in our lives? Easter is God’s never-ending invitation to freedom, raising us up from our “tombs” of selfishness and fear, of anger and hatred to the fullness of new life.
In the light of Easter’s empty tomb, every moment of forgiveness, every triumph of justice over persecution, every insistence of goodness in the face of horrendous evil, every act of compassion, no matter how simple or small, proclaims the good news that Jesus Christ is risen and is very much alive. Yes, Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. Alleluia!
On this Easter, may we seek to bring such good news to the darkness and shadows around us; may we bury our own self-interests and wants for the sake of the greater good; may we allow ourselves to “die” in order that God may restore us to life in the wellspring of compassion and mercy that is found in the Risen Christ.
As Luke tells us, the women returned to tell the eleven apostles what they had seen and heard. Naturally their story sounded like utter nonsense. Wouldn’t you have thought the same had you been in their sandals? Believing that Jesus was no longer dead but risen did not come easily but seeing how the risen Christ had changed the lives of his followers enabled others to see that the living one has much to offer.
Jesus’ resurrection is the central truth of our faith. Had this not happened, we would not be here. Upon this event, all else depends: Jesus conquered death so that all might have life to the fullest. Can you imagine what it must have been like to have seen the risen Lord? How the men and women who were the first witnesses must have felt as this awesome truth became clear? The men in the empty tomb reminded the women, “Remember what he said to you while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners and be crucified, and rise on the third day.”
Naturally, since they had never witnessed such an event until that morning, Jesus’ warning made little sense. He was known to have raise the dead literally to life on more than one occasion, but never did they expect to encounter the living Jesus once he had been taken down from the cross, yet soon they would and their lives were forever altered.
Can we say the same for ourselves? What good is the resurrection of Christ from the dead if today we do no more than call to mind what happened 2000 years ago? Luke wrote his gospel in part to encourage his readers to find evidence that Christ is still alive and at work in the world.
Just as those women were the messengers who conveyed the good news to the apostles that Christ was alive, as his followers, we must convey the good news that Christ is in our midst and at work in the life of every person in this time and place. Alas, so many of our brothers and sisters have become numb to the evidence all around them that Jesus Christ is risen. What we say and do could make a difference in helping them to see for themselves that the risen Christ continues to touch the lives of many here and now.
Our faith is based on the witness of those who saw Jesus after the resurrection. They had nothing to gain materially from the witness they gave and down through the ages many gave their lives in doing so, convinced that death had become a threshold to eternal life in God’s kingdom.
History demonstrates that death won’t miss anyone but Easter tells us that our physical death is not the end of us; that through Christ, life has conquered death. While the empty tomb proves nothing, the testimony of countless witnesses ever since has shown that the kingdom of God and the fullness of new life can be found when we focus on the words and deeds of Jesus Christ in the Gospel.