Luke 24:1-12 (ESV)

¹ 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.

After the Sabbath, the women present at Jesus’ crucifixion went out to anoint his body in the spices they had prepared. They probably hadn’t slept well for a couple of days. The one in whom they had put all their trust was dead, and their hope of his kingdom coming in the way they expected was over. Nevertheless, they loved Jesus and wanted to show him as much respect as possible, treating his corpse with all the care they could. When they got to Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb where Jesus’ body was placed, the stone that secured the tomb and guarded the body was displaced. When they went in, his body was gone! Who took Jesus’ body? How could anyone have managed that with guards stationed there? The women were exhausted, discouraged, and now Jesus’ body was gone. They must have felt really confused. Then two “men,” actually angels who radiated the glory of God, appeared before them. The women collapsed, overcome with fear. The angels asked why they looked for “the living” among “the dead” and reminded the women of what Jesus declared: he would be delivered to sinful men, crucified, and rise again. Could Jesus have really risen from the dead? The women rushed back to the eleven apostles and reported all that they saw and heard, but the eleven thought they were losing it. They must have assumed the poor women were just drained. So Peter went to check things out.

How would you feel if you took flowers to the cemetery where a loved one was buried, and found the grave empty? The last thing you would think is that the person rose from the dead. You would be upset. You would call the owner of the cemetery and probably even the police. The women didn’t remember what Jesus told them, and the circumstances were about as bad as they could get. The last thing they could imagine was that Jesus rose from the dead, even though he declared that he would. How often do we do the same thing? When the circumstances around us get really dark, do we forget the words of Jesus? By his resurrection, Jesus proved his identity and the truth of his words. We need to read, study, meditate on, and believe all that Jesus spoke and taught. Choose to make a new commitment to embrace the words of Jesus today. His truth will remain forever.