"And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen: remember how He spake unto you when He was yet in Galilee, saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again."
Luke 24:5-7
Part 1
Today: His Followers Despair, After Their Master’s Death
These last few days had been the worst they could remember for each of them who knew and loved Jesus Christ. That night after Jesus and His disciples celebrated the Passover together, He instituted the Lord’s Supper. The men then left to walk to the garden, where Jesus was arrested a little later. The soldiers took Him away to several illegal trials throughout that night. The following day to the horror of His followers, Jesus was crucified, and on Golgotha’s hill, He died! To their way of thinking, this is not how things were supposed to end! They didn’t know it at the time, but in three days, they will see Jesus again, risen from the dead!
“Now, upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulcher, bringing the spices which they had prepared and certain others with them. And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulcher. And they entered in and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments…” (Luke 24:1-4).
Early on that Resurrection morning, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome (Mark 16:1) went to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body with spices. On their way to the grave, they met up with Peter and John (John 20:1-2). As they hurried, in fact racing each other to the tomb, Mary Magdalene won. They were all surprised to find that Joseph’s brand new and never-before-used burial chamber was empty! This is where they had laid Jesus three days ago, but He was gone! Peter and John quickly left the women at the graveside to hurry back and tell the disciples the news that the tomb was empty, while the women remained there.
“And as they were afraid and bowed down their faces to the earth.”
In their perplexity, they began to be filled with fear. They all had forgotten Jesus’ promise that He will rise again on the third day. Not knowing what had happened to Jesus’ body, they “bowed down their faces to the earth,” no doubt they were grieving deeply.
“They said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead?”
The angels,[1] these “two men [who] stood by them in shining garments” (Luke 24:4), asked a critical and logical question. “Why are you looking for the living among the dead?” (Luke 24:5b, BBE).[2]
Jesus is the only person in history to have His birth and His resurrection, proclaimed by the angels. We ought to take note of who it was that these announcements were presented to. Neither message was given to anyone considered “important” in the world’s eyes.
“The announcement of His birth was made to a few humble people [the lowly shepherds], considered unimportant by the culture; His resurrection announced by angels to a few women [who in the culture of the day, sadly were not too much higher in rank than slaves]” [3] (Guzik).
Tomorrow we will see why it was “impossible” for Jesus to remain dead and stay in that tomb! See you then.
Quote: In the Bible, angels did not show up at a place or to an event unless it was life-changing in its significance. They are there at the tomb as witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection and as heralds of the good news! Indeed, this is a life-changing event for every believer. “And God hath both raised up the Lord and will also raise up us by his own power” (1 Corinthians 6:14).
[1] The “angel of the Lord,” Matthew 28:2-8. “A young man…clothed in a long white garment” (Mark 16:5). “Behold, two men stood by them in shining garments” (Luke 24:4). “And [Mary] seeth two angels in white sitting…” (John 20:12).
[2] BBE is the Bible in Basic English.
[3] David Guzik’s Enduring Word Commentary, the electronic version in eSword. The [additional thoughts] were edited in by me. My apologies to Mr. Guzik.