Luke 24:1–13 (ESV)
The Resurrection
24
But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed
about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 5 And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told
you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” 8 And they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven
and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, 11 but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter rose
and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.
When they went to the tomb to finish the job of prepping the body,
they found the tomb open. Where was Jesus’ body?? Somebody must have taken it! They were perplexed about this. I find this funny. Jesus has told them three times that he would rise from the dead. They didn’t
believe him. It took two angels to reaffirm his prophecy that on the third day he would rise from the dead. “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee,
7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” The question I ask is “Would I have been any different?? To us dead seems to be dead. A person dies, we have a funeral
and we bury the body. Everything else is through faith. We do not see the soul going to heaven. We don’t even see heaven. What is real to us is death. Well, I will get back to this. The truth is... that Jesus did rise
from the dead. He is alive! He has risen! He has risen indeed! Could you imagine being seeing Jesus afterward alive when you know he died on the cross. What mixed feelings you would have. How can this be? Well, Jesus
truly is the Son of God. He had a plan of Salvation and he carried it out for you and for me... all the way to the end. The Jews tried to stop it, the religious leaders tried to stop it, the people tried to stop it, even the Apostles tried to stop
Jesus’ plan of Salvation. They didn’t get it. They expected something else, and what they got was far greater. It takes faith to see it. Many people have claimed to be the Messiah, but only Jesus rose from the dead.
That’s the hard part! All those who claim to be the Messiah will die and are still dead... that rising from the dead is the proof test. Jesus rose from the dead. He is alive! He passed the proof test that noone ever passed or
ever will. Jesus is the Messiah. The King of Kings and Lord of lords. What does this mean to us? Getting back to the earlier question, dead is not dead. To a believer, Jesus claimed victory over death and is alive. The resurrected
Jesus will resurrect us at our death. Because He live, we have hope and know that we will live too! Because he said so!
I pray: O Lord, Easter is the greatest day in Christianity because
you live! Everybody is born and everybody will die, but God raised you up on the third day and declared victory over death. You accepted his sacrifice for the atonement of my sins and in fact, all sins of all people. You have taken away my
sin and given me eternal life. I am forever grateful and I thank you. Help me to keep my eyes focused on you. Amen.