Alleluia! Christ is Risen!

The women came to the tomb in the thin light of dawn. That the stone was rolled away surprised them; they entered the tomb’s dimness and found it confined no body. Jesus’ corpse was nowhere to be seen, no matter how intently they peered into the tomb’s dim corners. Then suddenly, the previously dim and empty tomb filled with the dazzling presence of two men who spoke into the women’s lack of understanding, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here but has risen…” (Lk. 24:5-6).

These men of dazzling presence were the first messengers… the first preachers of the resurrection. By itself, the empty tomb proves only the absence of the body. Many scenarios can be offered up, accounting for the body’s absence. The authorities stole it to prevent the disciples from having it; they took it to confound the disciples with its absence. The disciples absconded with it to declare his prophesied resurrection based on an absent body. No, the empty tomb is a silent and insufficient witness. The resurrection needs a preacher… a preacher who can hand over a living Jesus… a resurrected Christ.

Those first preachers… those men of dazzling presence… they turned the women to the words which Jesus had given them, “Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise” (Lk. 24:6-7). These words, the very word of God spoken as he walked among them, sustained those women as they became preachers themselves, announcing to the eleven and all the rest the things that had happened at the tomb. Upon hearing their preaching, Peter ran to the tomb. The stone remained rolled away, and the tomb’s dim emptiness greeted Peter’s gaze. Peter marveled at it all.

Today, I am reminded of Easter’s “bookends.” At the death of Jesus, the curtain in the Temple was torn in two. The Holiest of Holies was now vulnerable to the death present in this sin-broken and cursed creation, where all people die. At the resurrection of Jesus, the stone sealing the tomb was rolled away. This sin-broken and cursed creation, where all people die, is now vulnerable to the resurrected life of the Lord Jesus Christ, who can no longer be contained by the tomb. Your preacher of the resurrection hands over Jesus Christ, the first fruits of the New Creation, where death is no more. Your preacher hands him over to be the life of you, a sinner dead in your sin.

Alleluia! Christ is risen!
He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

Blessed Easter to you and yours from the Institute of Lutheran Theology!