Easter Sunday: Who We Are - Luke 24 v1-12

  

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They came that morning to work. They came to witness. They came to wonder. 

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Work: 

But very early on Sunday morning the women went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. Luke 24 v1 

They must have been scrambling to make this happen. In their world, more often than not, someone would die at home. His family would be there to wash his body and anoint him with fragrant oils and spices. To wrap him in loose linen cloths. To wrap his head in strips to hold his jaw in place and cover his face. His family would lay him on a wooden stretcher and have him carried to the family's tombs where his bones would join the bones of generations that had gone before. His family would be there to roll the stone in place and make it secure against weather and animals. They would be there to paint it with whitewash to show that there was a body present tomb. They would invite mourners for the days of public grieving.  

But Jesus hadn't died at home. Not only had he died in public, but in shame and in violence. There would be no family gathered around. There would be no public grieving.  

Jesus died at 3 pm on a Friday, leaving four or five hours until sunset, the start of Sabbath day when they could not and would not work. That's how long they had to push through their own shock and trauma, and into action to make things happen.  

They got word to Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, two men who knew the city and had the connections they needed to claim Jesus' body before it was too late and he got lost in the roman system. Between Joseph and Nicodemus, they made those arrangements and by Friday sunset, Jesus was at least wrapped and in a tomb. Then came Friday evening, and Friday night, and Saturday morning, and Saturday afternoon: an entire day of what for them could not be called rest.  

They were waiting (not for the resurrection, because they had no such expectation) but for the sun to crawl across the sky, and to set on Saturday so they could at least get out and do something.  

Saturday evening, when the Sabbath ended, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome went out and purchased burial spices so they could anoint Jesus’ body. Mark 16 v1 

Then they went back to the house for a long, probably sleepless night. 

At deep dawn when most were still asleep, they gathered everything: their water and cloths for washing, their spices and oils for anointing. They set out through the streets to where they’d seen him laid.  

Over the years they had been his disciples. Now they were just his family, with one last thing to do.  

They came to work. 

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Wonder:

They arrived at the tomb prepared—knowing what to expect.  

• A huge white painted stone that would have to be moved 
• Roman soldiers who they'd seen there the evening before 
• Jesus' bruised and stiffened body 
• Hours of work to keep busy 

They found none of those things. Not one. The stone had been moved, the soldiers were gone, Jesus' body was not there. There was nothing to do. 

...They were puzzling over this, suddenly two men in radiant apparel stood beside them. Luke 24 v4 

They hadn’t expected angels appearing out of nowhere, the brightness of them dazzling their night vision like lightning in the darkness. Luke tells us that they weren’t puzzled anymore—they were terrified. 

While they were still waiting for their eyes to adjust to the light, the angels said:  

He is not here; he has risen! Remember what he told you while he was still in Galilee. Luke 26 v6 

What had he told them? 

1. “The son of man must suffer many things,” he said. “He must be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” Luke 9 v33 
2. “Let these words sink into your ears: the son of man is about to be delivered into the hands of men.” But they did not understand. Luke 9 v44-45 
3. Jesus said to them, “Look, we're going up to Jerusalem and everything the prophets have written about the son of man will be fulfilled. He will be delivered over to the gentiles. He will be mocked, insulted, and spit upon. They will flog him and kill him. And on the third day, he will rise again.” But they did not understand. Luke 18 v31-33 

Now it had happened, and they still couldn't fully understand. But they were remembering. They were starting to put pieces together, and to wonder: can it be true?   

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Witness:   

Mary Magdalene: no matter what you've read in pop-culture, we know almost nothing about her. What we do know is this: she was one of many who Jesus set free from the powers of darkness. She witnessed first-hand his power over evil through what he had done for her.  

Joanna: her husband was sort of the head butler of King Herod's household.  She had witnessed Herod’s corruption, and his cruelty in governing his nation and his family. She had witnessed, in contrast, the grace, truth, and humility with which Jesus led his people.  

Mary: the mother of James ‘the younger,’ one of the 12 apostles. She, with her husband Cleopas, had spent enough time with Jesus to witness that Jesus was a prophet sent from God, that he had done powerful miracles and mighty teachings (Luke 24 v19).  

Salome: named in Mark 16:1, she witnessed how Jesus shaped the life and character of her sons, James and John (also two of the 12). She must have also seen how Jesus shaped her own life, because she, along with her son John, stayed close to Jesus to the end. 

These disciples all witnessed his death. They saw him die. They saw him taken down from the cross. They saw him buried. They saw the stone rolled into place and painted with whitewash to show that this place now was unclean. They were witnesses to the angels' message: he's alive again.  

But there's more to being a witness than just observing or experiencing. 

A witness must go and tell.   

When they returned from the tomb, they told his 11 disciples and everyone else what had happened. Luke 24 v9 

Jesus chose these women to be the first witnesses of the resurrection. Not only the first to see, but the first to go and tell.  

Luke doesn't say they returned “to the house” or “to the disciples.” He says they “returned from the tomb...” 

They turned their backs on the tomb because Jesus wasn't there. They didn't know yet where he was, but they knew where he was not. If he was to be found, he would be found among his people.  

“...to tell the 11 and everyone else all of these things.”

Not just ‘Jesus isn't there and we saw some angels.’ “Everything.”  

Preaching the good news that Christ is risen.

Telling the apostles to start remembering what Jesus had said, and interpreting it. Setting the example of how to engage with things that they did not understand. “Remember what he said...” The women that day began to help “the apostles and everyone else” start to clear that dazzling light from their own night vision, and begin to see. “Everyone else” could become witnesses: could go and tell.  

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The text says of the disciples that morning, that they prepared, they got up early, they arrived, they found, they entered, they stood, they bowed, they remembered, they turned, and they told.  

There is no indication in the text anywhere that any of them ever went back to that tomb. One of my commentaries says this: 

‘Luke is careful throughout this episode to record a series of cognitive, affective, and behavioral responses, (fancy words that mean he wrote down what people thought, felt, and did) in response to what happens at the tomb, but the tomb is ill-suited for its role, since by this point, it has become irrelevant.’ 

“The tomb has become irrelevant.” The grave has served its purpose. 

Today, as believers in Christ—as people newly baptized, as people reminded of our own day of baptism and our own moment of commitment, as people who are ready to say ‘yes’ to Christ—whoever we are, today is our opportunity to turn our backs towards the tomb, to turn, and to go find Jesus.