“The Empty Tomb” Luke 24: 1-12

This morning’s lesson may be a familiar one. We read a version of it each and every Easter Sunday - the angel appearing to the women at the tomb. The women come to the tomb to keep vigil, to grieve. The one whom they dearly love has died. They go to the tomb to tend to the dead. And then something unexpected happens. They found that the stone sealing the tomb had been rolled away.

For the one whom they came to tend to, the one whom they came to grieve isn’t there. There is no body to prepare. For he is risen! Just as he had told them would happen.

The reason we return to these texts year after year is there is always something within them for us. Something that we overlook. Something that we miss. Something that it wasn’t the right time for before, but perhaps it is the right time for us to receive now. 

The women went to the tomb that day expecting to do one thing - they expected to do their duty, their act of love and prepare Jesus’s body for burial. His death on Friday happened too close to the Sabbath to do so then, so they have returned, armed with homemade spices to do this one final thing for the body of their Lord.

I have lost track of how many funerals I have done in my tenure as a pastor. Dozens certainly. But what I always am struck by is the tender care each family expresses differently as they prepare the body for burial in their own way. Some folks search for the perfect outfit for their loved ones. Others adore the casket with things that their loved one treasured. Still others think of the perfect thing to have inscribed on the tomb stone. Many grasp the hand of their loved one’s body in the casket or kiss him or her goodbye. All are ways to prepare the body in our modern context.

In Biblical times this was the way that the body was prepared. But what they expected was interrupted by the unexpected as when they approached the tomb they found it both open and empty. And suddenly in the face of two angels. ‘

The women were afraid. In fact, the text says that they were terrified. And wouldn’t we be as well, if what we expected to find was interrupted by the unexpected of God?

I love what the angel says in this passage “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen” The women have encountered the glory of God. They are standing on holy ground. 

Yet, how often are we looking for the living among the dead as well? Perhaps we are not literally looking for someone who is alive amongst the dead, but we definitely find ourselves looking for life giving things amongst those things that bring death. Looking for life in the midst of death. 

I was recently listening to a podcast that was talking about how we are humans are wired to try to find the meaning in life. But as people start to move away from religion for that meaning making, they are grasping at other things, some of which don’t fill that void very well. But they keep reaching, looking for life amongst death, because that is what they are made to do.

Why are people looking for life amongst death? Because church, we have not always done a good job of telling the life giving story of Jesus. We haven’t always done a good job living into the Easter story with our very lives, so people aren’t sure where to turn. 

For Jesus is not where the group expected him to be, but he is also exactly where he told them he will be. Jesus told his disciples while he was alive that he would die, but behold he would be alive forevermore and he would hold the keys over hell in death. We repeat that in almost every funeral we have in this church. He told them that message in a bunch of different ways, yet the angels still had to remind them. Remind them of how Jesus said he had to be handed over to sinners, be crucified, but he would rise again on the third day. Then they remembered. 

Jesus had anticipated and understood what was to take place, even if they could not understand. Even if we don’t fully understand. Because church, faith isn’t about just proving something to be true, it’s about living it out. Which we celebrate today with the Easter journey. 

Even after they had been told this they had a couple different reactions. We are told that the women remembered, returned from the tomb and told the rest of the apostles what they had encountered. When we have encountered the resurrected Christ we cannot help but tell as well. In fact, God gave these women, and us, the responsibility to go forth and tell when we experience the empty tomb. How do we do that? We tell our story of how Jesus has changed us. We tell the story of our God, who through Jesus Christ has victory over the power of sin and death. The women believed and they were moved to testify. 

Now did everyone they tell believe right away? No. Most of the apostles didn’t believe them. They thought it was just a tale. And friends, not everyone may believe us. But we are still sent forth and called to testify. To tell our good news. To proclaim the life in the midst of death.  All because of Jesus. 

But Peter, Peter was at least moved to go and see what they women were talking about for himself. He saw the linens and the empty tomb. But Peter didn’t go and testify. Peter we are told went home amazed. Sometimes, friends, we too cannot help but be amazed by Jesus. We cannot help but be amazed by the good news of God in our life. But there is a difference between what Peter did and what the women did, in whether or not they acted.

God calls us to both be amazed and to testify. To both come and see and then go and tell. We need folks to testify to God’s goodness and grace in their lives, so others can recognize what God is doing in their lives. There is a gentleman in this parish that says that you are the only Bible that some people may read. What he means is that our lives should so testify to the Good News that people cannot help but be drawn to Jesus. 

The women worshipped Jesus by testifying about what they had seen, simply because he was risen. Simply because they loved him. We too are called to worship him here in this place, on this day, and each and every day of our lives. Because we know that through his death and life, we have life eternal. We know that we have victory over the grave. We have something to testify about. 

Friends, when you have encountered Jesus Christ, when you come to know his life giving power and discover that the tomb is empty, you cannot go back to the way your life was before. Does that mean that we won’t experience any hardship? Absolutely not. But it means we have a story to tell of our Savior even during the most difficult of times. Because we know that whatever we face in the present, we have a hope to come. No matter where we find ourselves this morning, we are called to testify to a risen savior. Hear the Good news. He is not here, he has been risen! And so shall it be with us. Amen.