The Standard March 30, 2024
“On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with 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; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ Then they remembered his words. When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed like nonsense. Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.” (Luke 24:1-12)
Then, on the road to Emmaus, two of the disciples met a man who did not seem to know about all the things that had happened the last few days in Jerusalem regarding Jesus of Nazareth. They went on to explain to him how the chief priests and rulers handed over Jesus to be sentenced to death and crucified, although they had hoped he was the Promise One sent to redeem Israel.
Unknowingly, they were talking to Jesus. “He said to them, ‘How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.” (Luke 24:25-27) The disciples urged the man to continue on with them. It was only when Jesus broke bread with them that their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. God’s promises had come true, indeed.
In the 1800s British preacher Charles H. Spurgeon summed up this good news of the Easter message. “Come, see the place where the Lord lay, with joy and gladness. He does not lie there now. Weep, when ye see the tomb of Christ, but rejoice because it is empty. Thy sin slew him, but his divinity raised him up. Thy guilt hath murdered him, but his righteousness hath restored him. Oh! He hath burst the bonds of death, he hath ungirt the cerements of the tomb, and hath come out more than conqueror, crushing death beneath his feet. Rejoice, O Christian, for he is not there –he is risen.”
celiastone 