Are you ready for a resurrection? (Pt.1)

(Part 1)

“But very early on Sunday morning the women went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. They found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. So they went in, but they didn’t find the body of the Lord Jesus. As they stood there puzzled, two men suddenly appeared to them, clothed in dazzling robes. The women were terrified and bowed with their faces to the ground. Then the men asked, “Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Remember what he told you back in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and that he would rise again on the third day.” Then they remembered that he had said this. So they rushed back from the tomb to tell his eleven disciples—and everyone else—what had happened.  It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and several other women who told the apostles what had happened. But the story sounded like nonsense to the men, so they didn’t believe it. However, Peter jumped up and ran to the tomb to look. Stooping, he peered in and saw the empty linen wrappings; then he went home again, wondering what had happened.”-Luke 24:1-12 

This passage is packed with people who loved Jesus and followed Him faithfully. However, irregardless of how devoted they were and how much of His teaching they had sat under, none of them were prepared for His resurrection. 

The women that followed Jesus arrived at the tomb that first resurrection morning, not looking to engage a Risen Savior, but to give their Lord a proper burial. Jesus had to be buried quickly because of the approaching Passover, so he was hastily wrapped in linens, but not properly embalmed with spices. They had showed up that day to re-wrap and properly embalm His body.  The passage said that they were puzzled to find the stone rolled away and Jesus’ body missing. It took two angels reminding them of what Jesus had taught them about his death, burial and resurrection to cause them to believe. After that, they rushed back to tell His disciples what they had experienced. 

The disciples, stricken with fear, had been in hiding since Jesus’ crucifixion. Although they too had been instructed by Jesus regarding His death, burial and resurrection; there as no indication that they were prepared for His resurrection, either. Instead, when the ladies returned to tell them everything that they had seen and heard, the story they told the disciples sounded like nonsense to them. Peter and John ran to the tomb to see what the ladies had witnessed, but it says that they left the tomb wondering what had happened.  

This does not sound like a group of people expectantly waiting for Jesus’ triumphant resurrection, even though, this particular group had witnessed Jesus resurrect the dead. They were there when He raised the widow of Nain’s son. They were witnesses to Him raising Jairus’s daughter and stood watching as Lazarus came out of the tomb. 

The sad truth is: They had went on living as if there was no resurrection coming! 

Pastor Scott Burr

Dayspring Community Church