No Angelic Explanation

 

Read John 20:1-9

Today we celebrate the resurrection of the Lord.

Up from the grave He arose,

With a mighty triumph o’er His foes,

He arose a Victor from the dark domain,

And He lives forever, with His saints to reign.

He arose! He arose!

Hallelujah! Christ arose!

We could just say Amen and go eat lunch.  The atonement took place on the cross.  The Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world was slain for us.

He was given the best burial possible in the time available, but the atoning sacrifice was complete.  It was finished.

God had done for us what we could not do for ourselves.  He made us right with him by the blood of his one and only Son, Christ Jesus.

And all of the disciples knew exactly what had happened or maybe not so much.  John’s account begins with Mary Magdalene going to the tomb.

It was early on the first day of the week.  She could have come at sunset the day before, but who travels at night to a tomb?

Was she alone?  We don’t know.  Other gospels mention more than one woman heading to the tomb, even having conversation along the way about who should roll the stone away.

Those women and conversations are not mentioned here. What is mentioned is that Mary arrived at an empty tomb and rushed back to Peter and another disciple whom we believe to be John the gospel’s author.

She proclaimed that Christ the Lord is risen today, Alleluia!   Here’s the full transcript.

Christ the Lord is ris’n today, Alleluia!

Sons of men and angels say, Alleluia!

Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia!

Sing, ye heav’ns, and earth, reply, Alleluia!

I think Mary was on a roll.

Love’s redeeming work is done, Alleluia!

Fought the fight, the battle won, Alleluia!

Death in vain forbids His rise, Alleluia!

Christ hath opened paradise, Alleluia!

OK, that’s not exactly what Mary said.  Actually, she imputed her own thoughts into her observation.  Of course, we have never done that.

“They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

See saw an empty tomb but she reported that somebody had taken him.  She even reported who took him.  Who?

They took him. The notorious they took their Lord from the tomb.

What could be done?  Peter and John raced to the tomb.  John got their first but stopped at the entrance.  Peter caught up and went straight in. John followed.

They saw the cloth that had been wrapped around his head and other strips of linen used to encase his body, but there was no body.

John’s account noted that they saw and believed but did not yet understand that Jesus had to rise from the dead.

What did they believe?  Mary’s report.  He was not there.

What did they not yet understand?  The grave could not hold the Son of God.  He had told them before but they did not understand.

They did not understand.  There were no angels to explain things.  There is no account of Roman soldiers in shock.  There is no mention of an earthquake and no angel sitting on top of the stone that used to cover the entrance.

Jesus was gone.  Mary said they took him.  The two disciples saw parts of the burial material.  If someone took the body, why unravel the linen?

These men having rushed to the tomb and seen it empty with only the linen remaining, surely had more questions than answers.

It seems like there’s never an angel around when you need one, so these two men went back to where they were staying.

Imagine not knowing what happened.  Imagine trying to make sense of everything Jesus had told them while he was with them.  Imagine thoughts of the religious hypocrites getting their hands on the body. 

One thing our human minds do with great skill is to imagine the worst.  Absent all the facts, our human nature often imagines the worst.

Have you ever done this?  It is our human nature to imagine the worst.  It’s not our new nature, but it is our sinful human nature with which we still wrestle.

While this account is different in many ways from the other gospels, explanations do come. Mary returned to the tomb and two angels talked with her.  She departed and met Jesus along the way, though she did not recognize him until he called her by name.

The men had to wait until that evening when Jesus entered a locked room and appeared to them.  Thomas was gone but Jesus would catch up with him later. 

Imagine going through the worst Sabbath Day ever.  Imagine the thoughts racing through the minds of these two disciples and then all of them after their report.  Imagine the worst-case scenario possible.

And then Jesus appeared to the disciples. 

Christ the Lord is ris’n today, Alleluia!

Shock, joy, surprise, elation, and surely some disbelief as to their Master standing in their presence had to overwhelm these men in an instant.

They had surely believed the worst-case scenario but God had delivered the best-case scenario. 

He lives! He lives! Christ Jesus lives today!

He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way.

The disciples lived the story of salvation moment-to-moment.  We know the whole story. 

Christ who is God lived as a man.

He fulfilled prophecy as prescribed through so many prophets.

He was an unblemished Lamb.

He was slain for our sins.  By his blood we are cleansed.

That’s a big story right there.  That’s our salvation right there.  You think that the day Jesus died for us on the cross would be our big celebration.

But that was not the end of the story.  The sacrificial lamb does not get to live.  He didn’t.  Christ died for our sins.  He really suffered and died for us.

But that was not the end of the story.  Verified dead by the soldier at the cross, Jesus was placed in a tomb before sunset and the onset of the Sabbath.  Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea did what they could for the body of Jesus.  Time was short, but there was no doubt that Jesus was dead.

The Lamb of God was sacrificed for our sins. But that was not the end of the story. 

He arose a Victor from the dark domain,

And He lives forever, with His saints to reign.

We are those saints!

Today we don’t sing a dirge.  We don’t mourn.  We know the story and the sacrifice and the resurrection of Christ the Lord and we sing it with joy in our hearts.

He arose! He arose!

Hallelujah! Christ arose!

Today we celebrate the resurrection of the Lord. In his resurrection is the promise of ours.  We may have life, life abundant, and surely life eternal with God.

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow,

Because He lives, all fear is gone,

Because I know He holds the future,

And life is worth the living,

Just because He lives!

Amen.