He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.  – Matthew 28:5

An empty tomb greeted all who came that day.

There were plenty of empty tombs in the vicinity. They had never been filled. More than that, they had never been sealed. They had certainly never been guarded by guards who stood watch under the threat of death.

This one was different. Jesus had spent some time there – stone cold dead.

No one expected it to be empty that Sunday. No one expected the seal to be broken, the stone removed, or the guards absent.

No one except Jesus.

And He had tried to tell His disciples ahead of time. However, they had no frame of reference for such an idea. They had no paradigm for resurrection thinking. They were still scratching their heads about Lazarus, but not even that prepared their hearts and minds for what they would find on Sunday … or for what they would not find: His body.

These are dark days for many. Many have no frame of reference for hope, no paradigm for resurrection. They see no empty tombs but a vast abyss, a black hole of despair sucking them into to a dark and unknown future.

Jesus invites us today to look inside His tomb and remember that He is not there. He is risen. Death will never have the last word for His people; hope is all that remains of His death. Life has overcome the grave.