The Empty Tomb (3/3)

Paola Alvites, Lima, Peru

Quiet time series originally published for Easter 2021

Easter Sunday – March 31, 2024 

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.