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For our orthodox brothers and sisters, the annual celebration of Christ’s resurrection from the tomb is still a few days away; for the rest of us, it was a few days ago. You may therefore be wondering why i am writing a post about the empty tomb after Easter.
My first reason for doing so is because i believe it is a truth we need to be reminded of every day, not just once per year. That miraculous truth is the foundation of our faith. Without it, we have no hope. As Paul said – if Christ was not raised from the dead, then our faith is futile and we truly of all people are to be the most pitied.(1)
My second reason for doing so is that we might again be challenged by the lives of the men and women who witnessed His resurrection firsthand, and in so doing, live out our lives – everyday – with the same determination that truth prompted in them.
In John 20, we read an account of what happened the morning Jesus rose from the grave.(2) Mary Magdalene was the first at the tomb. She was the one from whom Jesus cast out seven demons.(3) Some scholars also believe that she was the woman who knelt at the feet of Jesus and anointed His feet with perfume and her tears, wiping them off with her hair.(4) She was someone we all need to aspire to be – someone who knew she was loved by Jesus and saved by Him – and never got over it! She was eternally grateful to her Lord for His love and His salvation.
But then, the unthinkable had occurred. Jesus had died on the cross. His death did not cause her love for Him to waver, but it did cause her faith to do so. She and the other ladies who were coming to the tomb that morning were coming to anoint His body for burial. They weren’t expecting to see Him alive. It’s ironic that the religious leaders were concerned about the disciples stealing Jesus’s body, and that Mary’s first thought upon arriving at the empty tomb was that the religious leaders had taken His body. That thought just added to her grief. The idea that Jesus had risen never crossed her mind! She didn’t stick around to look for Jesus. She ran off to find John and Peter as quickly as she could.
When she had done so, the three of them made their way back to the tomb. Mary let John and Peter run on ahead. She wasn’t in any hurry to see the empty tomb. Her thoughts were now even more consumed by her grief.
And truth be told, Peter and John probably weren’t expecting the resurrection of Jesus any more than Mary Magdalene was. They probably thought she had made a mistake in what she thought she had seen. Perhaps, she had gone to the wrong tomb. They weren’t running to the tomb expecting to find Jesus alive. They were expecting to uncover Mary’s error and find His body.
John was the faster runner. He got to the tomb before Peter. But John stopped at the doorway to look in. Uninhibited Peter charged right on past John into the tomb. There they both saw the linen wrappings neatly rolled up. It was at that moment that John writes, “he saw and believed.”(5) John couldn’t yet prove that Jesus was risen, but he remembered what Jesus had said and believed it with all his heart. He believed that Jesus had risen according to the Scriptures, and he believed once and for all that Jesus truly was God in the flesh.
Peter had not yet come to that same conclusion. His shame over denying Jesus was still weighing heavily on his heart and blinding him to the truth. (By the way – shame over unconfessed sin will often do that – it will blind us from the truth of the situation!)
Peter and John then departed. This time they didn’t run. They weren’t running to tell the others. They simply walked, pondering all that they had just seen.
About that time, Mary Magdalene arrived back at the tomb. She remained outside weeping. Then “as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb” for the first time. She saw two angels who asked her why she was weeping. “They (the religious leaders) have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.” She then turned and saw Jesus standing there. But due to her grief, she did not recognize Him. Thinking He was the gardener she again sought an answer from Him as to where His body was laid. At that moment, Jesus spoke her name and she knew! Having seen Jesus, she believed! Off she ran to deliver the good news and His instructions to Peter and John.(6)
The eyes of the “one whom Jesus loved” were opened to the reality of who Jesus was by faith. The woman who had never gotten over what Jesus had done for her encountered the truth of who Jesus was by sight. Peter and others continued to contemplate all of these things based upon what these witnesses were telling them. But the day wasn’t over! Faith would become sight for many more.
In some respects, as followers of Jesus who are following Him today, we are in the same place as these men and women. We have heard the reports from these witnesses. He has given us His Word that we might know that His work on the cross is finished, and the tomb is empty!
The work of Christ’s redemption is complete. There is nothing more to be done. Today, we accept that fact and receive that assurance according to the reports of the many witnesses and the authority of Scripture. Like John, our eyes have been opened to that reality by faith. But “the day” isn’t over – soon our faith will become sight! We have that hope because we follow a Living Savior who rose from the grave. Salvation in Him is complete. Let’s allow that reality to permeate our every thought and every action … every day. Because … it really is finished!
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I’ve adapted this post from Taking Up The Cross, chapter 56, entitled “Now It Is Finished!” This fifth book in the Lessons Learned In The Wilderness series is available through Amazon in print or for your e-reader. Click HERE for more information on how you can obtain your copy of the book.
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(2) John 20:1-10 (NLT)
Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, “They have taken the Lord’s body out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put Him!” Peter and the other disciple started out for the tomb. They were both running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He stooped and looked in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he didn’t go in. Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, while the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrappings. Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed— for until then they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead.Then they went home.
(3) Luke 8:2
(4) Luke 7:38
(5) John 20:8 (NLT)
(6) John 20:11-18 (NLT)
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