A Meditaton on Matthew 28:1-10

It had not occurred to me that there might be a pervasive fear among us of empty tombs. I am certainly aware of the fear of death – and that might be part of it. I have known people who were afraid to look at dead bodies or attend funerals, but there was not dead body present here, nor was there a funeral taking place.

It was an empty tomb.

Yes. I am leaving out a few key points. First, there had been a body and it had been mutilated, but the women who came to the tomb had been present for that and had held up.

Oh – and there was an earthquake. I remember my first earthquake. I had only been in California a few days and  I was in the car stopped in a parking lot. I looked in the read view mirror to see who was bouncing the rear of my car up and down. That was when I realized why my friends had told me to stay in Virginia.

But that wasn't all. While they had missed the stone rolling and Jesus' grand exit from the tomb, the angel had stuck around for a while and they had never seen anything like him before.

He looked like lightening. I've seen a lot of lightening, but I've never seen it shaped like a man, sustained in one place and clothed in white. It must have been a frightful sight.

It was so frightful that the guards passed out and stayed that way for quite a while.

And then this man-shaped package of energy spoke to the grieving, frightened women as all their fears passed before their eyes, "Do not be afraid."

Do not be afraid.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

That's right, but after that, it's all fearlessness fueled by faith.

Stop at the intersection of Sheer Horror Street and Awesome God Blvd, and turn right. You will find yourself on the road to Blessed Assurance.

Do not be afraid, he spoke to them, " I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified."

This was a messenger of God. He knew his assignment and he knew the subjects he was sent to reassure after rolling the stone from the door of Jesus tomb. God had told him to stay by the cave a few minutes until some key people came and deliver to them a message of hope.

God knows you are looking for Jesus. God knows before you know. You may be staggering in the dark, groping for something that seems familiar and real, calling out in the silence for a voice that will answer and reassure you that all is not lost. You may not even know that the voice you long to hear is that of the Master, but God knows.

In the case of the women, they knew too, but they had no idea how much they knew because the familiar voice of Jesus was really the voice of God. They did not quite understand that. The tender touch of Jesus was the strong arm of the Almighty. The gentle look of Jesus was the piercing gaze that penetrates the hearts of all people and burns away falsehood leaving only truth.

Here is my first question of the day: What are you looking for? Are you sure that is what you are looking for?

Are you searching for the love of your life? For some special someone who will admire you, cherish you, and surround you with feelings of warmth and security?

Are you looking for significance, for a chance to make a difference, be remembered, live with purpose?

Are you looking for freedom? How about for comfort? Peace? New energy? Escape from some tormenting memory of failure or guilt? Hope? A reason to wake up tomorrow?

The women were looking for Jesus and God knew it. You are looking for Jesus whether you know it or not.

They had been through the earthquake and they had seen this electric angel, but what they were fearing most was the sight that was before them – an empty tomb.

It was hard enough to cope with the loss of Jesus and the sorrow, anger, and confusion that they had experienced through His death. All of their hopes and dreams had died on the cross as the one they loved had breathed His last. How senseless it must have seemed, how dark.

But at least they had known where His body was. Now, they were confronted with the most fearful thing of all – emptiness. The emptiness of the tomb amplified the emptiness of their lives without Him, without the purpose they had known just a few days earlier.

Do not be afraid. He is not here. You're looking for Him, but He is not here. You will not find Him in this box of rock. You won't find Him in any box. He will not be contained.

There was not long pause between the angel's words, but a lifetime of thoughts can rush through out minds in a second.

Then where is He?

Will we ever find Him?

Must we be deprived of the last reminder that He was ever here at all?

Johnny Lee's song lamented, "Looking for love in all the wrong places." They were definitely looking for Jesus in the wrong place.

The second question I pose to you this day is this: Where are you looking?

You have come to the tomb because that is where you left Him. That is your last frame of reference. You have not done wrong by going there. It is all you know. The psalmist said, "I will lift up my eyes unto the hills." Then he asked, "From where does my strength come?"

The answer was not where he was looking. It did not come from the hills. It came from the Lord.

But we need to overcome our fear of the empty tomb and look inside. We need to confront our emptiness and misconceptions, our faith deficit and futile thinking.  We are afraid to look inside and discover that Jesus is not where we thought we put Him.

He never was a God who would stay put.

Where are you looking? Are you trying to find Him in religious ritual? He has been there. There are pointers there; but He does not reside there.

Are you looking for Him in human perfection? Good luck – and I don't even believe in luck.

Are you looking for Him in a concept, precept, and affect? You will not find Him in any of those. He cannot be defined by ideas, confined by rules, or refined by emotion. You will find that all of those become tombs that will not hold Him.

He is risen just as He said. You remember don't you – at least vaguely. He said this would happen. He said it would be OK. He said He would rise. Come look in the tomb. See where He lay. He is not there.

Friends, no one has ever found Him in any tomb, but many have found Him alive in the hearts of believers and alive in their own hearts. There were about 500 who had the opportunity to see Him alive bodily in those days after the resurrection and they told everyone they saw and thousands believed. Many died knowing what they had seen and still bearing witness to the power of the resurrection.

Which brings me to my third question for you: Do you remember what He said and have you looked for yourself?

In other words, have you really tested this? Have you examined the tomb? Have you looked inside and found it empty? Have you looked to Him and found Him alive? Have you heard His claims and His promises with fresh ears and an open heart and mind? Have you gone to your own Galilee to see for yourself? Have you brought others along?

It is amazing how many times Jesus appeared before anyone ever got to Galilee. He always does more than He promises.

As the women began to open themselves up to the possibility of resurrection and their own belief, they testified and Jesus started popping in here and there revealing Himself to them.

In spite of the angels words, they were still afraid, but that didn't matter. Joy began to take over.

Have you opened yourself up to the possibility of resurrection power – that He is alive and that you can live also. Have you opened your heart to new life? To joy? Have you take your first fearful, trembling steps toward Jesus and away from cynicism, doubt, and bitterness.

Are you willing to look in the tomb? Would you be wiling to believe it if it were real?

The very first resurrection preachers the world has ever known were some women who came to a tomb early one Sunday morning and found it empty. It changed their lives and it has been changing lives ever since.

Today, we live in a graveyard of broken hearts and dreams, of dark thoughts and darker deeds, of restless ambiguity and malicious deception. The rotting corpses of wars within and without are strewn across the battlefields of the planet and we know that inside each tomb is something so horrible and terrifying that we simply cannot look. And a messenger of God stands beside one – only one and invites us to look inside and confront our fears that we might conquer them.

And the message He brings is the message we bring to you today. He is not dead. He is risen. come and see; go and tell; do not be afraid; be filled with joy.

This Jesus who is risen, stared death in the face and bore our sins. Rising from death He conquered every reason for our fear. Death has no more power over us. There is nothing that can befall us that can ultimately harm us.

When we look into His empty tomb and believe, we can look into our own tombs and live knowing that the resurrection is for us as well because of Jesus.

The old Quo Vadis legend illustrates this through story about Peter. It is most likely only a legend, but we know that Peter, who knew the resurrected Lord, indeed find the courage to lay down His life for the resurrected Lord. Here is how English author, George Edmundson, summarized the legend back in 1913:

His friends, so runs the story, had entreated the Apostle to save his life by leaving the city. Peter at last consented, but on condition that he should go away alone. But when he wished to pass the gate of the city, he saw Christ meeting him. Falling down in adoration he says to Him 'Lord, whither goest Thou?' [Latin, quo vadis?] And Christ replied to him 'I am coming to Rome to be again crucified.' And Peter says to Him 'Lord, wilt Thou again be crucified?' And the Lord said to him 'Even so, I will again be crucified.' Peter said to Him 'Lord, I will return and will follow Thee.' And with these words the Lord ascended into Heaven . . . And Peter, afterwards corning to himself, understood that it was of his own passion that it had been spoken, because that in it the Lord would suffer. The Apostle then returned with joy to meet the death which the Lord had signified that he should die.

Here is the final question: Will that which has given so many the courage to die, give you also the courage to live? Will you choose to believe this day? Knowing what you already know and believing what you already believe, will you trust Him? Will you by an act of faith acknowledge that His death and resurrection was for you?

Many of my friends do not accept the basic premises of this faith I espouse. I respect them, but this is the message of the Bible and of the gospel and it is the one that saved me. Therefore, I proclaim it with humility and gratitude. I can only ask that each of us look in the empty tomb and listen for the voice of the messenger, "Do not be afraid."