Luke 24:1-12 - Marvelous Emptiness
Jesus is alive! Remember His words, and marvel at what has happened!
Gospels: Week 12 — Jesus' Resurrection and commission
SINCE WE LAST LEFT OFF... Jesus has been nailed to a cross and died, his final words having been a quotation of Psalm 31 - Father "into Your hands I commit My spirit." After "He breathed His last," He was buried with royal honors, ironically, by a couple of sympathetic Pharisees.
Luke 23:55-24:12 (NASB95)
55 Now the women who had come with Him out of Galilee followed, and saw the tomb and how His body was laid. 56 Then they returned and prepared spices and perfumes. And on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.
24 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. 12 But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings only; and he went away to his home, marveling at what had happened.
Heidelberg Catechism
Q&A 45
Q. How does Christ’s resurrection benefit us?
A. First, by his resurrection he has overcome death,
so that he might make us share in the righteousness
he won for us by his death.
Second, by his power we too
are already now resurrected to a new life.
Third, Christ’s resurrection
is a guarantee of our glorious resurrection.
Summary
Luke makes clear that the women who early on the first day of the week came to the tomb bringing the spices with which they would adorn Jesus' broken body for burial were not lost. That must have been their first thought when they arrived and found the stone rolled away from the tomb's opening, that somehow they must be at the wrong tomb. But it couldn't be, for it was just the night before that they had followed the men who burried Jesus, and saw the tomb and how His body was laid.
Luke, in his typical understated style, reports that they were perplexed after they entered the tomb and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. But their mounting confusion and anxiety was just getting started when two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing. Now they weren't just perplexed, they were terrified!
This isn't the first time Luke reports of an angelic interaction with a woman. Luke's gospel account begins with Gabriel's appearance to Mary, in which he immediately tells her do not be afraid. But the two dazzling men that appear now offer no such comfort. Ironically, they're just as perplexed as the women, but for much different reasons. Why, they wonder outloud, do you seek the living One among the dead?
After all, Jesus had spoken very clearly while He was still in Gallilee, explaining that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. But at the time, Jesus' proclamations sailed right over the heads of those He spoke to. It wasn't until this very moment that anyone finally comprehended what He had meant, when these women remembered His words.
Dig Deeper
The eleven and all the rest to whom these women came and reported all these things didn't think much of what they heard. Luke tells us that their words appeared to them as nonsense, and they would not believe them.
But can you really blame them? We have the luxury of reading these words 2,000 years after the fact, after they've been passed on from not just one, but four different gospel writers, all reporting the same exact fact from slightly different perspectives and after reading the accounts of hundreds of witnesses who saw Jesus very alive and well after He'd been beaten to a pulp, nailed to a cross, and taken down very, very dead. So if you'd been locked in that room with the eleven disciples and all the rest, you probably would have scoffed as well. Dead people generally stay where they're put. These women must be crazy.
But Peter - of course it was Peter - got up and ran to the tomb, and he too only saw the linen wrappings - but no body. What these perplexed, terrified women had reported was absolutely true! After three days, Jesus had risen again, just like He said He would! Peter went home, marveling at what had happened.
We celebrate the resurrection each spring. Of course, remembering and celebrating it is good, but you've likely heard this story so many times that it's lost much of it's original impact. So as we review the most important event in human history this week, take time often to do what these three women and Peter did: remember Jesus' words, and then marvel at what has happened!
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who raised Jesus from the dead;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you will truly marvel at this, the most stupendous miracle ever performed, that forms the basis for your salvation.
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
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