The Empty Tomb

By Paola Alvites

Lima, Peru

Friday – April 2, 2021

Read:  John 19:28-42, Mark 15:42-47, Matthew 27:57-61, Isaiah 53:9

Reflect:  One of the most meaningful experiences in life is that of a relationship. The bride and groom looking at each other on their wedding day. Parents holding their newborn baby.  Sons and daughters holding their elderly parents in their arms on the last day of life. Then discovering the pain of physical separation and giving loved ones the final care of their body and choosing the resting place of their remains. 

I can't help but think that God intended it this way—for relating to one another to be so full of meaning; and how much more so our relationship with God and Jesus Himself.

Jesus' relationship with the women in His lifetime left them with experiences of care, compassion, comfort, repentance, service, encouragement, knowledge, love, forgiveness and spiritual freedom. He, Himself, was revealing God the Father (Hebrews 1:3) and bringing His whole message to fulfilment (Matthew 5:17).  Each of these women could tell her own story of her moments with Jesus and of her own experience during the last days of His life here on earth. As we know from John 21:25, if everything Jesus did were written down, the books written would not fit the whole world.

Jesus had once presented Himself as the one who had nowhere to lay His head, sustained mainly by the word of God. Yet on the day of His death, without burial insurance or property for the repose of His remains, He had all that was needed to be buried in regal dignity and honor. But mostly, He had the affection, gratitude and service of His followers. 

Jesus’ body was laid to rest in a new tomb owned by Joseph of Arimathea. This rich man, a secret disciple of Jesus for fear of the Jews, visited Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.  Then Nicodemus (John 19:39) arrived with 34 kg (75 lbs.) of an expensive mixture of myrrh and aloe. So both of them, following the Jewish tradition for burial, wrapped Jesus' body in clean linen cloths with those aromatic spices used for important people and placed them inside the tomb near the place of crucifixion. Even before His crucifixion, Jesus had been anointed with expensive perfume by the woman who entered Simon's house where He was (Matthew 26:12) as a preparation for His burial.

Respond:  Because of the relationships that Jesus had developed in carrying out the will of His Father during His lifetime, His burial was one of dignity. Even today, we witness memorial services for disciples that give honor to the way they lived and the impact they have had on those around them.  Consider and answer: What impact has Jesus’ life had on me?  Think of a faithful disciple who has passed away in my lifetime. What impact has his or her life had on me?  What impact do I want my life to have on others? Let us make a decision today to live a life that inspires those around us.

Saturday – April 3, 2021

Read:  Isaiah 52:13-53:12, John 11:1-44, Matthew 16:21-26, John 12:23-28, Matthew 27:61-66

Reflect:  Separation happens in a moment, but it takes us time to accept and understand it with God's constant consolation. We take the natural sadness and fear that emerge from our earthly separations to God in prayer and He responds to our pain through the understanding and strength He generously provides so that we can find relief and make sense of physical death and suffering.

Jesus accompanied Lazarus' family and friends as they mourned. He also wept with them and walked alongside them to the tomb (John 11).

But Jesus’ death was not like any other. His was a death announced by God through His prophets and by Jesus Himself in His lifetime to His disciples and others. It was not easy to hear it, to accept it and to understand it. Our vision, more human than divine, resists suffering, loneliness and lacking. Peter said, “Never, Lord! This shall never happen to you!” (Matthew 16:22). 

Isaiah 53 describes in a very specific way the suffering of Jesus: “He grew up as a tender offspring…upon him fell the punishment; the price of our peace…thanks to his wounds, we were healed…he was torn from the earth and stricken for the transgressions of people…he was assigned a tomb with the wicked and died among evildoers…after his suffering, he would see the light.”

It is quite common to understand death as the end of a story and to resist including it in our own story. But God thought differently. Death would not be the end, but would have a purpose and would be the beginning of another story that would profoundly affect our own story for the better. Because Jesus, after His suffering, would see the light of life!

Jesus was aware of the bitter pill of His last days on this earth, but that was not all He knew or understood or saw. He saw what lay beyond death: "Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds...Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour." (John 12:23-28). Willingly and strengthened by God, He went to the cross and died.

Matthew 27:62-66 tells us that the tomb was guarded. The chief priests and the Pharisees had gone before Pilate requesting that he order the tomb sealed until the third day to prevent the disciples from stealing the body and claiming that Jesus had risen as He had said when He was alive. So the tomb was sealed and guarded. 

Even earlier, following the burial, a large stone had to be rolled in to close the burial tomb. Matthew 27:61 tells us that Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting in front of the tomb while this was happening.

This moment touches me very much. Both women, like Joseph and Nicodemus, had developed a deep connection with Jesus. They served Jesus by taking His body and preparing it for burial. They accompanied Jesus as far as they could. They had a relationship that mobilized their minds and bodies toward Him. For a time, they were close to Jesus as He taught, healed and gathered people. Now, they were in front of His tomb, as close as they could be, looking at the rock that served as the entrance door.

Respond:  Imagine sitting in front of the closed tomb of Jesus. Imagine seeing the guards and the official seal of Pilate at the entrance.  What a feeling of finality must have come over the women.  Are there promises of God that I have stopped believing?  Have I lost faith in God’s power? Interestingly, Pilate put a seal on the tomb to keep Jesus in death. However, God gives us a seal that sets us free (2 Corinthians 1:20-22, Ephesians 1:13, Ephesians 4:30). Let us spend some time in prayer today, thanking God that the tomb is not the final destiny, and praising Him for the Holy Spirit who seals us in Him for the day Jesus returns.

Easter Sunday – April 4, 2021

Read:  Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, John 20

Reflect:  Matthew 28:1 tells us about the third day after Jesus' death. Early in the morning, Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James, returned to the tomb, which was hewn out of rock with a kind of bench inside carved to hold the body wrapped in linen. 

A violent earthquake (Matthew 28:2-4) preceded the appearance of an angel of the Lord who, approaching the tomb, removed the stone and sat on it. The guards could not handle this event and, trembling, they passed out. This moment also touches me because the angel recognizes how the women were feeling and what they needed. In Matthew 28:5, he tells them: "Do not be afraid," for what they had just witnessed with his arrival was of great impact. "I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified," the angel acknowledges. For there was no other reason to be there but for Jesus.  Then the angel immediately confirms the resurrection: "He is not here; he has risen, just as he said" (Matthew 28:6).

Indeed, Jesus had spoken of this before. But the message of the resurrection remained obscured behind Jesus’ other words that must have seemed more urgent and disconcerting: "In a little while you will no longer see me" (John 16:16). "It is good for you that I am going away" (John 16:7). "I have only a short time left to be with you" (John 7:33). 

How difficult it would have been to remember the last sentence in Jesus’ comments, "We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!" (Matthew 20:18-19). 

Jesus had also said "In a little while you are not going to see me; and then in a little while you will see me again," "You will weep for sorrow while the world will rejoice," "You will be sad, but your sorrow will turn to joy" (John 16).

A very special charge was given by the angel to the women at the tomb: "Then 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" (Matthew 28:7).

The women came out of the tomb in haste, still frightened but joyful, ready and eager to tell the disciples this great news (Matthew 28:8).

This moment reached its climax when in the midst of the women’s journey, Jesus met them (Matthew 28:9). The women approached Him, embraced His feet and adored Him. How they loved Him. How they missed Him. How they had been moved by seeing Him suffer. What a rescue from their sadness in a single instant! Now they understood what He had said and what had happened! Their lives would never be the same.

In our times, we have received the news of Jesus' death and resurrection at the same time. Not so for the disciples of that time. It was a sequence of arrest, of beatings and scourging, of moments of not seeing Him and of public humiliation, of physical weakening and of despair. Yet it was followed by a resurrection revealed with an earthquake and an angel! Then followed a series of teachings about the kingdom for the apostles.

The relationship with Jesus would no longer be subject only to a connection on this earth, to seeing and hearing Him, eating with Him or accompanying Him during His teachings or service to the needy. The disciples would learn that Jesus would always be with them and that, just as He was taken up to heaven, He would return again in the same way (Acts 1:11).

The tomb was sealed and guarded. The women and the guards saw the angel. The stone was rolled away and the body was gone. Jesus conquered death. God raised Him from the dead. "You will not abandon me to the realm of the dead" (Acts 2:27). 

Today the resurrection message continues to speak to us: "We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:4-11).

He is risen; therefore we are risen.

Respond:  Visualize being one of the women at the resurrection of Jesus.  What would I feel?  What would I think?  What would be different about my life on Sunday (Jesus’ resurrection) as opposed to Saturday (Jesus in the tomb)? Let us take time in prayer today to praise God for the resurrection and thank Jesus for His sacrifice for us. Let us consider how we can share the good news of Jesus’ resurrection to all who will listen.