Luke 24:1-12

(Luke 24:1-12)

 

Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.  And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre.  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: 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. And they remembered his words, And returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest.  It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles.  And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not. Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulchre; and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass.

 

In the dark at dawn, there were women going to the tomb of Jesus. They are going to spice up Jesus' body. Traditionally, when decorating Easter, white lilies were used to decorate them. These women really loved Jesus. When Jesus was arrested and tried, all of the disciples beside him ran away, but these women were with Jesus. When Jesus was crucified, they watched him, and they were there when he was buried in the tomb. Those who loved Jesus like that are now going to the tomb again.

Those heading to the tomb were filled with fear and sorrow. They were sorrowed that their beloved Jesus had died. All the expectations they had placed on Jesus were broken so badly that hope was completely lost and they fell into despair. It is terrifying that women go to the graves in the dark. As they visited the grave at night, they were full of fear. There was a fear of death, fear of being harmed by a spiritual being.

Soldiers guarded Jesus' tomb. The high priest had the governor guard the tomb as a soldier in fear that Jesus' disciples would steal Jesus' body and make a rumor that he was alive again. In the dawn of that day, they went through a great deal. A great earthquake broke out and an angel appeared to them. The soldiers saw amazing glory and shocking phenomena, and trembled in fear and passed out as if they were dead. These are soldiers with the background of the power of the Roman governor and the high priest. When they saw the angel's power and glory, they trembled and fainted.

To the women who were afraid of meeting angels in the tomb, the angel comforted him not to be afraid. And the angels let them know that, contrary to what they expected, Jesus was not in the tomb as a dead body, but was raised again. In the past, Jesus said many times that he would suffer and die on the cross and rise again three days later, and the angel reminded them of what he had said. And as evidence, the angel shows us an empty tomb without Jesus.

When the women heard the news from the angels and saw the empty tombs as evidence, they once again recalled what Jesus had said many times before, realizing that Jesus was alive again. They were so happy that they ran quickly to share this news with the other disciples. The women ran to tell the news of Jesus' resurrection, but this time they met Jesus in person. Jesus appeared to the women.

Jesus paid attention to the women. Jesus had no interest in the soldiers who had seen the angels and guarded the tomb who had already passed out. Jesus, who regained the glory of victory, broke the power of death and showed his power and power, and he had no interest in going to the unrighteous rulers of Rome and high priests, or to avenge them by crucifying Jesus.

Jesus paid attention only to women who were afraid and discouraged. Jesus paid attention to those frustrated and anxious women. Jesus paid attention to comforting, healing, and restoring by giving them peace. Jesus cared for them with love and paid attention to showing them love. The angels who were preaching the news of Jesus' resurrection commanded and asked the women to tell the other disciples that Jesus was resurrected and that they would meet in Galilee. The resurrected Jesus gave the same commands and requests to the women.

The resurrected Jesus did two things. In synthesizing the various resurrection stories in the Gospels, first, he showed the resurrection of Jesus to those in fear, disciples and women, and made them safe. Second, the people who believed in the resurrection went out into the world and told the good news of the resurrection. The joy of the resurrection, peace in the resurrection, and preaching the message are very closely related.