The living One among the dead

As we near Easter, what greater thing has man to be interested in than that of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. No one has ever raised himself from the dead, save Jesus Christ. He promised He would do it, (John 2:19). Many then, will not have understood exactly what He said, put yourself in their place. Jesus said many things that were deep. But in Luke 24, the good doctor writes down an account of what happened on that first Easter morning as we refer to it today. The Son of righteousness rose before the Easter morning sun did. And this Son had no intention of ever setting again. The women were the last to leave the scene of the cross, and the first to visit the sight of the tomb. The women were bringing spices they had prepared to come and anoint Him. Jesus did not need the Angels to move the stone in order to exit the tomb, but the Angels moved the stone in order for the witnesses to enter the tomb. They do not find anyone with grave clothes there but do find Angels in dazzling clothing instead.

Math.16:21 Jesus states what rising from the dead should mean, but Luke says in 24:4 that the women were perplexed. They may never have thought that that meant exactly what Jesus said it would mean. The women were at a loss, had much doubt, were uncertain and confused as to what had happened to Jesus. And on top of what they were thinking about for the body of Jesus, suddenly they bump into two men in dazzling white clothing, Angels as we see them described in verse 23 of this same chapter of Luke. Certainly, this is one of those events in time that Angels long to look into. The Angels ask the great question before reminding the women of what Jesus said would surely happen. "Why do you seek the living One among the dead?" Many had said earlier in the week, "He saved others, He cannot save Himself."(Math.27:42) Like the Cherubim above the mercy seat, the Angels state, “He is not here, but He has risen."

After the Angels state what Jesus said would happen, it did jog their memories and Luke tells us they remembered those words. The women return to tell the eleven and others what they had seen and experienced just a short while ago. These eleven men and others were even in more disbelief at the women's report than the women were perplexed at what they had seen, or Who they did not see. These words of the women appeared to them as non-sense. They thought these words were absurd, they were utterly skeptical, this was beyond ridiculous. This word non-sense, or some translations state idle tales, the Greek word only found here in the New Testament refers to that which is totally devoid of anything worthwhile, a message that is simply incoherent and unintelligible. Peter though, races to the tomb. Hoping that there is still hope of a possible future for him and forgiveness for his cowardice, thinking that maybe what the women said really was true. Peter looks in and sure enough, he saw the linen wrappings lying there which Joseph of Arimathea had wrapped Jesus in.

Commentator Alexander MacLaren states, "It is true that, whenever we go to an open grave, sorrowing for those whom we love, or oppressed with the burden of mortality in any shape, if our eyes are anointed, we can see there sitting the quiet angel forms; and if our ears be purged from the noise of earth, we can hear them saying to us, in regard to all that have gone away, 'Why seek ye the living in these graves?' They are not here; they are risen." To close, we can go to 1 Thess.5:7-11,"For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we are of the day, let us be sober having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him. Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as also you are doing."