Reflection on Luke 24:1-12

 

Luke 24:1-12

¹ On the first day of the week, at early dawn, [the women] went to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. ² They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, ³ but when they went in they did not find the body. ⁴ While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. ⁵ The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here but has risen. ⁶ Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, ⁷ that the Son of Man must be handed over to the hands of sinners and be crucified and on the third day rise again.” ⁸ Then they remembered his words, ⁹ and returning from the tomb they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. ¹⁰ Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. ¹¹ But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. ¹² But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.

Reflection

“Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here but has risen” (Luke 24:5).

“Why do you look for the living among the dead?”

It is a good question.  After-all, the women who visit the tomb are not the only ones who are standing, staring in the wrong place.  They are not the only ones looking for their savior in cold, empty, lifeless places.

It makes me think of the man who could be found, standing along the roadside nearly every day.  If you were traveling, you would not even question why he was there.  He would just appear to be on his way to get the mail.  But, if you traveled the stretch regularly, you would notice that he was there nearly every day, and you would also notice that there was no mailbox, nor even a house nearby.  One concerned citizen, on their daily commute to work, had noticed the man repeatedly and eventually called the state police to check the guy out.  Was he stalking someone?  Had he lost his mind?  Was he trespassing? 

The police officer spoke with the man and discovered that the very spot where they were standing was the spot that his wife had perished in an automobile accident three years earlier.  He was transfixed by the spot.  He was caught, unable to move from the scene of her death.  He was standing in a tomb, searching for something; searching for answers; searching for some sort of peace; searching for his wife; searching for his life.

“Why do you look for the living among the dead?”

In a similar way, the woman found herself standing in the middle of her office, staring at the endless tasks on her desk.  The tasks were sucking her dry.  The tasks gave no love (as if they could), nor did they even provide a sense of accomplishment anymore.  In fact, the harder she tried to feel a small sense of pride over all that she had done, more tasks were always piled before her.  Her office was an empty tomb that gave no life, though she tried again and again to squeeze some life out of it.  She searched for some meaning out of the endless tasks. 

“Why do you look for the living among the dead?”

The women had lost the one who had given them a sense of purpose, and a sense of vitality and life.  Jesus was vital and alive one day, celebrated by the people, and gone the next day, hated by the people, and nailed to a cross.  And now, here these female disciples were, staring in the tomb, the empty tomb, seeking life and purpose and meaning right where there was just an empty cold, stone slab upon which a dead body should have been lying.  Where had the body gone?  What should they do?  What about all of the spices they were going to put with the body?  Where was Jesus?

“Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here but has risen” (Luke 24:5).

The women are sent two messengers, by God, to tell them to stop looking for life in this dead space.  Stop looking for life in cold tombs.  Stop looking for life where the dead lay.  Stop looking for life in cold, dark places where nothing can grow and no sense of purpose can be found. 

I think those two messengers are sent to us as well.  They stand in our tombs; they stand in our places of struggle and hopelessness and they say, “Stop looking for life in dead places.” 

“Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here but has risen” (Luke 24:5).

“He is not here,” they tell the woman (Luke 24:5).  They need to look elsewhere for Jesus.  They need to look elsewhere for the life that only Jesus provides.  They need to search somewhere else in order to find their sense of purpose.  They need to run elsewhere to find their savior once again. 

“’Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.’ Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest” (Luke 24:6-9).

They stopped searching in the tomb to find Jesus.  They stopped making their lives about cold, lifeless tombs.  Instead, they ran off, remembering that he promised that he would rise! 

Things were new now.  Now, they needed to search for him alive.  Now they had to share the story and invite others to search for him as well.  After-all, searching for where Jesus is alive and at work in the world is what followers of Jesus have been trained to do! 

We look around and search to find where the life and love of Jesus is present in the world, and then we join Jesus when we see it.  That is what living the resurrection life is all about!  And, would it not be great if we could all be a part of Jesus’ great big task of finding God’ love and then sharing God’s love and promise of new life to the entire world?  Would not that be wonderful if we are all on board in this ministry of new life, risen life, for the sake of loving the world?

But, the Bible says that when they shared the good news with the Apostles and the other gathered there, the Apostles, “did not believe them,” thinking that their story of resurrection after three days, “seemed to them an idle tale” (Luke 24:11). 

And, that, I think, is the most believable part of the whole story.  Is it not true that there is always someone present who will bring a stop to the excitement?  When celebrating a birthday, they are the ones, in their yoga pants and fitted jacket who look at the cake and say, “Cake has too much fat and sugar.  Why do we celebrate being unhealthy?”  Or, when the women give each other high fives because they got the old clunker’s engine to start again, there is always the guy nearby who pipes up, “Your husbands taught you well.  Try taking less than an hour to do it though next time.”  And then he just walks away.

More than just killing the women’s excitement though, the apostles simply do not believe the women’s story in the first place.  “Women and their stories!” they say.  They do not believe.  Probably more to the point, they will not believe.  They are fine living in their cold tombs of despair, sadness, and self-pity. 

Do you think I am being a little harsh on the eleven Apostles? 

After-all, the women’s words are truly unbelievable.  People do not come back to life.  On top of that, fear is hard to overcome.  Purpose is not easily figured out or obtained.  And, moving beyond grief is like climbing a mountain without ropes. 

I imagine the apostle’s thoughts, “Jesus is dead and these women just need to accept it.”  After-all, remaining in cold tombs is sometimes easier than exploring what is mysteriously beyond the door.  At least we know what the tomb is like.  It is small and cold and lifeless, but at least it is understandable.  It does not give life, but it is familiar.”

“Why do you look for the living among the dead?”

Sometimes, people need to see for themselves.  Sometimes people need to experience the truth for themselves.  It does not matter how many times you tell your child that the medical procedure will not hurt, they will not believe you until they discover for themselves that it does not hurt. 

Sometime people need to experience the truth for themselves.  It does not matter how many times the Christian tells the confused and wandering friend that they can find life, and meaning, and purpose in Jesus Christ.  It all just sounds like an idle tail.  It all sounds like cheap, fairy magic.  They will not understand what new life in Jesus Christ is all about until they experience Jesus for themselves.  Sometimes people have to experience the truth themselves.

That is what happened to Peter anyway, “Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened” (Luke 24:12).

Here is the thing with Peter.  At least, he went and checked it out for himself. 

I do not know his motivations for doing so.  Did he go to the tomb in order to prove the women wrong?  Did he go because he wanted to believe, but just could not bring himself to believe?  Did he go because he was awash in guilt from denying Jesus and could not bear to be accused of denying him once again?  Did he just need to go on a run and clear his conscience?  I do not know the answers to any of that.  The Bible does not tell us.  Maybe, his running to the tomb was a mix of all of them.  Whatever it was, it is absolutely the truth that he would never find himself standing there, amazed at the sight of the empty tomb of Jesus, until he went saw it for himself.

And, sometimes I think that is the best that we can do to help our friends and family when they are stuck looking for the living among the dead.  Sometimes, the best thing that we can do to help them is to point them in the right direction and tell them to go look for themselves.  “Experience it for yourself.”  “Judge for yourself.”  “Come with me, and see for yourself.”  Maybe, just maybe, they will experience the living God and “be amazed at what had happened” (Luke 24:12).

Maybe, they just need someone like you, filled with the risen life of Jesus Christ, to make them look into the tomb, point out that it is empty, and then point them in the direction of the one who is not empty: Jesus Christ our Lord.  After-all, he is risen, he is full of life, he is full of purpose, he is full of love, and he is waiting for all of us to run and see, and catch up.