The Tomb Is Empty!

The Tomb Is Empty!

Apr 17, 2022

Luke 24: 1 - 12

Last Sunday we celebrated Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem.  We celebrated because we were sure that he was coming in to change the world for us.  “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” (Luke 19:38) we shouted over and over.  No longer would the Roman occupation of our land and society continue.  Our new king, God’s king, Jesus would bring back God’s kingdom – just like in the days of King David and King Solomon!  “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”

            For two or three days it seemed to be working, but not the way we expected.  There was no army.  The Roman troops were still there watching everything that was happening.  But Jesus was contending with the scribes and pharisees and sadducees and beating them with words, impressing the crowds of people there on the huge temple mount.

            But it didn’t last.  The sadducees and pharisees were humiliated by Jesus there on the temple mount.  And he was gathering too big a crowd of followers.  His strategy of building God’s kingdom through teaching was working with the common people but was being seriously resisted by Jewish and Roman authorities.

On Thursday evening Jesus celebrated Passover with his disciples and later was arrested.  His trial happened during the night and the Roman Pilate ordered Jesus to death that day – death by crucifixion because he challenged Roman authority.  At nine o’clock Friday morning, the Gospel of Mark reports, Jesus was hung on the cross with two others – they were not thieves as tradition has it because only terrorists or revolutionaries were crucified; thieves would have been mutilated or killed much less elaborately.

            The new king, who had come into Jerusalem to establish God’s kingdom, is killed.  The leader of this fantastic movement for freedom and prosperity is killed.  All of the hopes died with Jesus.  No new king David; no Messiah; no shalom; God has failed again to redeem Israel from the awful Roman domination.  Woe is we.

            Jesus’ disciples are devastated.  They had spent a year of their lives following and learning from Jesus about God’s ways and God’s kingdom.  Now it was all gone.  And they, like their leader, were now at risk of arrest and death; they withdrew and disappeared from sight, hiding in a locked room.  Only the women who had followed Jesus from Galilee dared to go near the crucifixion – because they were less of a threat to the Roman soldiers.  Only the women witnessed the awful scene; only they knew where Jesus’ body was placed that horrendous night.

            At sunset the Sabbath began; they all had to follow the Jewish laws to rest – and think about everything that had just happened.  What a terrible night that must have been.

            Luke reports that in the morning – Sunday morning, THIS morning, the women brought the lotion needed to prepare Jesus’ body for the burial that had been so immproperly done just before the Sabbath began on Friday night.

            They had followed and watched where Jesus’ body was placed.  And they went straight there to do the last thing that anyone could ever do for Jesus who had meant so much to them all.  But the tomb was empty; Jesus’ body was not there.  They had no idea who had taken Jesus’ body or where they had taken it.

            “Two figures in dazzling clothing suddenly appeared and stood beside them.” (Luke 24:4; SV)  They said to the women, “Why are you looking for the living among the dead?  He is not here – he was raised.  Remember what he told you while he was still in Galilee:  ‘The son of Adam is destined to be turned over to villains, to be crucified, and on the third day to rise.’”

            Then they recalled what he had said. (Luke 24:4b-8;SV)

            Not seeing Jesus but only those two figures is dazzling clothing, I am sure that the women were struggling with mixed emotions and many questions.  Luke says that they left the tomb and went to relate everything to the eleven and to everyone else.  [Remember, Judas Iscariot has killed himself so there are at this time only eleven disciples.]  “They related their story to the apostles; but their story seemed nonsense to them, so they refused to believe the women.” (Luke 24: 10b-11; SV) 

            That would be a hard story to believe.  If someone in dazzling clothes came and told me that my wife was raised, I would want to believe him or her but I would think that it was mostly nonsense.  However, I would certainly go out into the Cemetery across the street to check it out.  And Luke tells us that Peter – but only Peter – “got up and ran to the tomb.  He peeped in and saw only the linen wrappings and returned home, marveling at what had happened.” (Luke 24:12;SV)  But, what happened?  Luke does not say it here.  Much later in the day Luke reports that the eleven and those with them have said that “the Lord really has been raised, and has appeared to Simon (Peter)!”

            The Gospel of Luke is very slow to proclaim that Jesus is raised and is alive – or that Jesus has been seen.

            The Gospel of Mark ends in its original form with three women (Mary of Magdala, Mary the mother of James, and Salome) finding a young man wearing a white robe sitting in the empty tomb who told them, “Don’t be alarmed!  You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene who was crucified.  He was raised, he is not here!  Look at the spot where they put him!  But go and tell his disciples, including Peter, he is going ahead of you to Galilee!  There you will see him, just as he told you.” (Mark 16:6-7;SV)

            “And once (the women) got outside, they ran away from the tomb, because great fear and excitement got the better of them.  And they didn’t breathe a word of it to anyone.”  [End of the story.]

            It is only the gospels of Matthew and John that have Jesus meet anyone on Easter morning.  So even though we are reading the Gospel of Luke this year, we can complete the story well enough:

Jesus, who was crucified, was raised from death and was seen on Easter Sunday by Peter somewhere in Jerusalem, by Cleopas and another disciple in Emmaus, and by the gathered disciples in the locked room in Jerusalem later that night.

            So we know the story:  Jesus was killed – crucified – by the Roman soldiers at Pilots command on Friday morning and afternoon.  Then on Easter Sunday morning he was discovered to be alive again – maybe a physical body or maybe a “spiritual” body; to me it makes no difference.  Death is not the final answer – or need not be the final answer.

            Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!

            Our lives, our understandings, our frame of reference is not just this mundane world.  We don’t need to focus on our own little selves or countries.  We can find the treasures of loving our friends and neighbors.  We can live beyond the limits of our selves, freed to grow into God’s love and peace.

            Jesus was crucified and yet Jesus lives.  Whether with a physical or spiritual body.  God’s love can pour into our lives through Jesus.  We can find life for ourselves and our neighbors beyond the earthly measures because God spoke to us in and through the life and resurrection of Jesus.

            Christ is raised.  Life is more than just this human stuff.  Christ is raised, we can be raised out of the limits of being human.  Christ is raised, let us thank God for this blessing of new life and new purpose and new possibilities for us – for you and for me and for our little Mt. Salem Church.

            Christ is raised!  Hallelujah!

            Christ is raised!  What a fantastic opportunity for us to grow into God’s likeness and purpose and peace and love.

            Christ is raised!  Hallelujah!

                                                                                                            Amen.

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