The Empty Tomb (2/3)

Paola Alvites, Lima, Peru

Quiet time series originally published for Easter 2021

Saturday – March 30, 2024

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.