A man who was walking along the street one night and came across one of the neighborhood children inching along on his hands and knees down on the sidewalk beneath a streetlight. The man asks the boy, “What’s wrong, Jimmy? Did you lose something?” "yes" said Jimmy. “I dropped the dollar Mama gave me for ice cream.”Feeling sorry for the boy, the man gets down on his hands and knees, too, and starts looking. After a few minutes, he says, “I’m sorry, Jimmy, but I don’t see your dollar anywhere. Are you sure this is where you lost it?”“No,” the boy says. “I dropped it over there by the vacant lot.” “What?!” the man exclaims. “If you dropped it way over there, why are you looking for it here?” Jimmy looks at him, then points. “It’s dark over there! I can see a lot better here." Little Jimmy was never going to find his dollar if he kept looking in the wrong place, no matter how long or hard he looked or how sincerely he expected to find it there.
The women on Easter morning were never going to find Jesus if they kept looking in the wrong place, We won’t be able to find Jesus if we continue the wrong path no matter how long or hard or how sincerely we expect to find him there. It is entirely natural that families go to the grave site occasionally out of the love for their departed ones. You hope that the remains are still there. What if the body is not there?
The Tri-State Crematory, located in the Noble community in northwest Georgia,United States, was the subject of a national incident in 2002. Numerous human bodies handed over to them to be cremated were dumped in the backyard. A utility company driver found out and reported to police. Investigators found piles of rotting human bodies in a storage shed, in vaults and scattered throughout the property. About 400 bodies were never cremated, and Families of the deceased were given concrete dust instead of cremated remains. The owner Brent Marsh was charged for theft by deception of human body and abusing a corpse among other charges. The traditional common law holding is that a corpse does not have pecuniary value and you cannot prosecute someone for stealing a dead body. No motive was ever revealed in this case and Brent Marsh wa sentenced to 12 years for other charges. On pleading guilty he just said, "To those of you who may have come here today looking for answers, I cannot give you." The case was also The backdrop for the 2011 fictional movie Sahkanaga by American filmmaker John Henry Summerou. It prompted states to pass stricter laws, in Georgia, to make it a crime to throw out a corpse. But when the bodies were discovered in Noble GA, families were forced to confront not just death, but horror. And the families had to live through a loved one's death twice. Bury twice. Mourn twice. Remember twice.
The women have gone to where they left him, at the tomb. The places of rest of those we love and have lost are significant. We are drawn to great monuments and sites of pilgrimage, historic places and buildings, because they embody something of the past in a tangible way. We need closure when one thing ends in order to clear the decks for the new thing to come but as the angels remind us; with Jesus there is no end. We humans continue to look to the dead for inspiration. We are called away from the places of the dead to signpost people toward life. We do not worship one who is merely dead, Jesus is not subject to the natural order of things but He is the One who created the natural order.
So where are we to go on our Sunday of the resurrection? To look at the grave? I propose we are to do exactly as the prompted women did on that first Easter and tell the people of what we have heard, that Christ has risen and is alive! Those we tell are likely to want to see for themselves, likely to find it an ‘idle tale’. Fine, let them find him risen and alive (v12), if they truly seek him they will. We are resurrection people and our place is amongst the living. Jesus the Christ has risen, ascended, and sits at the right hand of the Father, in Him we have the hope of salvation!
We get caught up in the traditions and customs that have trained us to go to certain place for certain things. When you are sick, you go to a physician not a lawyer. When you need legal help, you go to a lawyer not to an architect. For eternal life, we need to go to the source of life. Jesus is the source of life out of the darkness of death. We think certain action church can save us. Or some religious leaders can solve our problems. Or We think we can give monty or charity in the name of God. None of these things will give you eternal life.
Those places are full of dead practices and dead religions. No tradition or pilgrimages or prayers to the saints will save us from our situations. Jesus said, the sick people need a doctor. “ Jesus heard them and answered, "People who are well do not need a doctor, but only those who are sick.” (Matthew 9:12). We need to go to Jesus for eternal life.
John 10:10 “7 Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” 11“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 14“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 17The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”
Seeing is believing for most people. A person who has been arrested is under the custody of the government. An executed convict's corpse needs to be respected and buried appropriately. habeas corpus. (hay-bee-us core-puss) n. Latin for "you have the body," it is a writ (court order) which directs the law enforcement officials (prison administrators, police or sheriff) who have custody of a prisoner to produce the body. So the Roman Government was legally bound to produce the body of a person they executed. Though Joseph of Arimathea has been given permission to take down the body and bury it, it should not be legal until after the day of Sabbath was over. Now there is no body in the tomb or on the cross. Here a body is missing under government custody and the Roman Government What happened to the body?. The law requires the Roman government to produce the body. So they try to cover up with an explanation. They paid the soldiers to tell the lie that the disciples came at night and stole the body.
Matthew 28:13 "They said to the soldiers, “Tell everyone that Jesus' disciples came during the night and stole his body while you were asleep. Matthew 28:11-14 reads: 11 While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. 12 When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, 13 telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ 14 If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.
In many states, including GA, until recently the traditional common law holding is that a dead body /corpse does not have pecuniary/monetary value and you cannot prosecute someone for stealing a dead body. I believe it was changed later (in 2010?) because of a lot of thefts in cemetery and sale of body parts. They could not produce the body of Jesus because Jesus has a resurrected body now. Resurrection of the body is a reality. We call resurrection a mystery, just like life, death and Grace are all mysteries. When we don’t understand, we like to call them miracles, mysteries and so on.
Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. We call it a miracle. John 11:1-45 Dead and Buried. Human body decays considerably in hours after death. Jesus raises Lazarus from such a condition. Lazarus represents death in its dreadful finality with the “stench” as described in John 11:39. When Jesus brought Lazarus back to life, he knew Lazarus would one day have to die again. What Jesus did was more like resuscitation — restoring life to the way it was. We want God to bring a loved one back, repair a relationship, or return a job, etc. We pray: “God, just restore my life to the way it used to be.” To them Jesus promises resurrection. There is a difference. “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life., whoever believes in me, though he may die, he shall live.”
I sometimes think it might be helpful to have an angel or two pop up in front of me once in a while and ask me the same kinds of questions. How about you? Would these reminders and gentle rebukes help you? — “Hey, why are you living as though your Savior were still dead?” We often live as though Jesus were still in his tomb, and we do still carry burdens that we should have put down or put on Jesus’ shoulders a long time ago. We forget — or fail to trust — that Jesus finished the entire work of our salvation, and we say or think things like, “Well, yeah, Jesus died for my sins — but now it’s up to me to live a life good enough to get into heaven.” That’s thinking as though Jesus is still dead.
Another way they might have made the same point would have been to ask, “Why are you carrying that?” The women had not had enough time to properly prepare Jesus’ body for burial on Good Friday, so they had purchased spices with which to finish the task once the Sabbath was over. So, early on Sunday morning, the women got up and, carrying the spices they had purchased, set out for the tomb. Now you have to realize that these spices would have been packed in the burial cloths, not just sprinkled lightly over the corpse. And we’re not talking about a little bottle of dried oregano from Kroger, either — these spices must have been heavy. The women were carrying expensive perfume, a real burden — which makes their worry about who would move the stone away from the tomb once they got there even more understandable.
But in reality, the burden they were carrying was much heavier than a load of spices that turned out to be totally unnecessary. The women were weighed down with needless grief and needless worry about things they should have trusted God to take care of. They were living as though Jesus were still dead. And so, since they had an already risen Lord, the angels asked them, “Why?”
Or, like the women that morning, we struggle under heavy burdens and worry about things as though God expected us to handle everything on our own — as though God won’t, or can’t, work all things out for the good of those who love him. We freak out over things that worry us. We worry about our future, health, our kids, crime or shooting and riots too close to home, or we limit our families and overwork our jobs, not truly trusting that when God says he’ll take care of us no matter what that he means he’ll take care of us no matter what. That’s living as though Jesus is still in the grave.
When Jesus was 12 years old, his parents went to Jerusalem as they did every year at the feast of the Passover. When the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, but supposing him to be in the company, they went a day's journey, and they sought him among their relatives and acquaintances; and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, looking for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. At certain times in life, we may find away from God and try frantically searching for him. And one more thing to notice: Jesus was not lost! Jesus was with his heavenly Father. “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 1:49). That means if you had known me, you would know where I would be. To Mary, Jesus is the son of Mary. But Jesus is also the Son of God. His home is where the Father is.
We may find ourselves missing God’s presence in our lives and search for him in the wrong places. We use our knowledge to search for Him where it is most convenient of most fitting. Just like the wise men searched for him in the palace, only to be surprised to find him in a carpenter’s home. Mary and Joseph were traveling away from the Temple while Jesus never left the Temple. They were traveling away from God. Jesus was staying where He was supposed to be. When we may find ourselves separated from God, remember that God has not moved. He is the same unchanging God yesterday, today and tomorrow. If we change our direction and decide to go back, God is waiting for us.
They were looking for their Lord in a tomb, and the angels were there to redirect the women’s search.
They needed a redirection from the angels: “he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.' Matt28:7. The reading in countless churches around the world this Easter Sunday is a command to go in a different direction other than the one they chose. The Angels redirected commands to go to Galilee
Luke’s Gospel, 24:1-12. In the next installment of Luke’s narrative (Acts 1:11) we will again find angels asking pointedly of the disciples ‘why do you stand around looking up at the sky?’ I take it that the suggestion is that there are things to be done which are not served by looking at where the Lord was, but by following where he said he would be and is. To go in the direction He has instructed. “Then they remembered His words. “ We often think that we know all the answers, and when they dont turn out to be the same in life, we get angry, worried and doubting.
There was an officer in the navy who had always dreamed of commanding a battleship. He finally achieved that dream and was given commission of the newest and proudest ship in the fleet. One stormy night, as the ship plowed through the seas, the captain was on duty on the bridge when off to the port he spotted a strange light rapidly closing with his own vessel. Immediately he ordered the signalman to flash the message to the unidentified craft, "Alter your course ten degrees to the south." Only a moment had passed before the reply came: "Alter your course ten degrees to the north." Determined that his ship would take a backseat to no other, the captain snapped out the order to be sent: "Alter course ten degrees--I am the CAPTAIN!" The response beamed back, "Alter your course ten degrees--I am Seaman Third Class Jones." Now infuriated, the captain grabbed the signal light with his own hands and fired off: "Alter course, I am a battleship." The reply came back. "Alter your course, I am a lighthouse operator. “No matter how big or important any of us think we are, God’s Word stands forth as an unchanging beacon. All other courses must be altered to His.
The Angel said, "Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. 28:6 He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.28:7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples, 'He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.'
Resurrection is a mystery that we may not understand, but the heart of that mystery is love.
There is an old Hymn, "Why has God forsaken me?” "Mystery shrouds our life and death., but we need not be afraid, For the mystery's heart is love." They should know better. We all should know better, just as the women at the tomb should have known better. Looking for Jesus among the dead on the third day was kind of like looking for an ice cube in a furnace or a submarine in a Lake Lanier. The tomb was not where he was supposed to be — God had said so, and what God says can be believed.
That’s what the angels reminded them of after asking them why they were looking in the wrong place for Jesus —“He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again’” (Luke 24:6,7).
When Jesus said that, it wasn’t just a prophecy — it was a promise. But the women had forgotten it — or had they simply not trusted it? Jesus had predicted his betrayal, his suffering, his death, and resurrection — but they — his disciples, his friends, his followers — hadn’t wanted to hear anything about him dying, so they hadn’t paid enough attention to the part about him living again. Now they were reminded that they had a reason for believing what the angels were telling them about Jesus’ being alive — Christ had promised.
And when God makes a promise, he keeps it. That’s the whole point of the resurrection — not just that God had said Jesus would rise from the dead, but that his rising from the dead guarantees our resurrection. That’s our reason for believing — because our loving Lord has promised eternal life in heaven to all who put their faith in him for their salvation, and Christ’s resurrection proves not only that he’s serious about saving us, but that he can and will and does deliver on his promises.
So you don’t have to worry about whether or not you’re going to heaven because you have God’s Word on it that you are when you trust in Christ. And you don’t have to grieve and mourn without hope, the way unbelievers do, when a loved one dies, who shares that same faith in Christ, because you have God’s promise that you will be reunited in heaven. You may lay him or her in a cemetery today, but that’s not where you’ll find a fellow believer when your end or the end comes — there is no point in looking for the living among the dead. That’s not to say there will never be any grief — after all, even Jesus cried when his friend Lazarus died. Grief is real, but the point of the resurrection is that it’s temporary — it doesn’t last. God has promised his children eternal life and joy in heaven, and he’s guaranteed it with an empty tomb.
That’s why we Christians can’t talk about Christ’s suffering and death without also talking about his resurrection. They have to go together. We need to see Jesus living again after he’s been dead. And because we do, we have more than enough reason for trusting in Christ — God keeps his Word.
The angels’ question to the women contained the same kind of reminder. “Why are you looking for the living among the dead? — What are you doing here? You have important other things to be doing.” Talk about news that turns your life upside-down and all around! When the women headed out to the tomb that morning, they were full of sadness and despair. They were probably almost numb with grief, and wondered what point there was in going on when their hopes of salvation had been so severely crushed. But everything changed instantaneously and irrevocably when they heard the angels’ words and saw the empty tomb — suddenly, their pointless lives had a purpose — they had a reason for living. They got the message the angels were sending — that they had a living Savior, and therefore they didn’t want to be standing around keeping this all-important news to themselves. Luke tells us that the women left the tomb, went back into the city, and told the eleven disciples everything. Like the shepherds in the hills outside Bethlehem thirty-some years earlier, they spread the news concerning what they had seen and heard.
That’s what they did with their good news. Christ’s resurrection had given them a reason for living. What happened on that first Easter morning does give each and every one of us a reason for living. Everything changes when we first grasp the meaning of that empty tomb — we don’t want to go on living the way we used to, and we don’t want to keep this tremendous good news to ourselves, because there are so many spiritually dead people out there in the world and in our lives who need to hear the message of life — to know that they have a living Savior. We know that our Redeemer lives; we want everyone else to know that, too, because it makes all the difference.
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