You’re in a rush. You’ve got an hour to do the Easter shopping. You have to buy all the Easter eggs, and the family is coming over for lunch. So you jump in the car and drive down to the shops. You park the car, do the shopping, and carry it back to the car. But the car’s not there. You can't see your car.
Ever done that? Parked your car, but you go back and can't find it, only an empty parking spot.
After you have your hissy fit, what are your options?
First, maybe you’ve come back to the wrong spot. Ever done that? You thought you parked on blue level, it was really on green. Inconvenient, but not fatal. You will have to go to another level to check.
Or second, maybe you’ve left the handbrake off again. Your car’s gone rolling down the ramp. You’ll find it in a strange spot down on pink level. Slightly more fatal, but at least no one has died-until you get home to tell your wife what happened to the car.
Or third, maybe your car was stolen. Someone’s pinched it. Again, a stolen car is very inconvenient, but it is not life-changing is it? Time to ring the insurance company and a cab. Pay the excess and get that car alarm.
While you stand there wondering, an NRMA guy comes up to you. He says, 'You’re looking for your car, aren’t you? Well, it’s not here. The engine started up by itself. Headlights came on. It just drove off. Go home. You’ll find it there.'
How would you feel? Bewildered. Perhaps trembling. Have we been pranked? Where’s the hidden camera?
Of all the explanations, the NRMA man’s explanation is least likely. I’d first look at green level. I’d first ring the police. I’d first look down the ramp.
We’ve just read Luke Chapter 24 verses 1 to 12. And in our reading, there are a group of women. They too are out on Easter Sunday morning. They too have lost something. But they haven't just misplaced their car. They don't know where the dead body of their Lord Jesus Christ is.
Perhaps we can imagine how these women are feeling. Astonished, confused, appalled, horrified. What next? First, they kill Jesus. Now we can't even bury him properly.
Who were these women? We don’t know much about them. They’re not the stars of Luke’s gospel. Luke mentions three by name, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James. Mark mentions another woman named Salome.
We know most about Mary Magdalene. We know she led the group of women who followed Jesus[1]. We know Jesus had expelled seven demons from her (Luke 8:2). We know she supported Jesus and his disciples financially (Luke 8:2). This we know for sure[3].
We also know that she watched Jesus die. So Luke records in chapter 23 that the woman who had followed Jesus from Galilee stood at a distance from the cross and watched Jesus' suffering and death. And Mark adds that:
Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. In Galilee, these women had followed him and cared for his needs (Mark 15:40 NIV).
So Mary Magdalene saw Jesus nailed to the cross. She saw the land go dark from noon till three pm. She saw the salvation of the penitent criminal. She saw Jesus committing his cause to God and his Spirit to his Father. And she saw her Lord breathe his last. Jesus was dead, and Mary saw it.
Jesus’ body is there hanging on the cross. For the Romans, this wasn’t a problem. They often left the dead bodies to rot, or to get eaten by animals. And especially criminals convicted of high treason, like Jesus. But for the Jews this was a problem. So the Old Testament in Deuteronomy said this:
If a man guilty of a capital offence is put to death and his body is hung on a tree, you must not leave his body on the tree overnight. Be sure to bury him that same day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse. You must not desecrate the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance. (Deuteronomy 21:22-23)
So Joseph of Arimathea boldly comes forward and asks Pilate for Jesus’ body. This, if you like, is Joseph of Arimathea coming out of the closet. He nails his colours to the mast that he is a follower of Jesus. And so he buries Jesus. And there is Mary Magdalene and the other women, in the background, watching. Luke adds that they take note of the tomb and how Jesus’ body was laid there. It is a bit like doing what my wife and daughter, do, and take a photo with their phones of the level on which you've parked the car. Ahh, yes, it is blue level, row A 23. And so Luke says, chapter 23, verse 55-56:
The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.
They are careful. They don’t want to lose the tomb or make a mistake. They want to come back to the right place.
And very early on Sunday morning, the women come back[4]. They bring the burial perfumes and lotions that they have prepared. John’s gospel tells us Joseph and Nicodemus took about 30 kilos of spices when they buried him[5]: Spices to counteract the smell of rotting flesh. Perhaps they wanted to finish the rushed job.
Mark’s gospel tells us that they don’t know how to get into the tomb. The stone covering the mouth of the tomb was probably large and round. Running in a groove downhill. Easy to close. They saw Joseph do it by himself (Mk 15:46) But harder to open.
It begs the question. Where are the men? It’s a question I often ask myself. Where’s Peter? Where’s Andrew? Where’s John? Where’s James? There were 11 apostle’s left, weren’t there? Surely they could’ve moved the stone for them? Strong Galilean fishermen.
Where are the men? Nowhere to be found. They’ve cleared out. They’ve ‘done a runner’. They’re in hiding. They’re waiting till the coast is clear.
So the women attend to Jesus’ mortal remains. The women get up early. The women take the risks. The women attend to the body.
But they’re going to have bigger things to worry about. What’s a bigger worry than having to move the stone? It’s not having to move the stone. In the end, the men aren’t needed. For God was giving them bigger things to worry about.
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 them 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 as still with you in Galilee: The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.'" Then they remembered his words. (Luke 24:1-8 NIV)
Jesus’ body isn’t there. But two men are there[6]. They have an explanation for the empty tomb. Jesus had come alive again.
Well, what are the options for Mary Magdalene and her friends? What should they believe happened to Jesus body?
Perhaps they’ve come to the wrong tomb. You know, come back to blue level when they’ve parked on green. It happens! Perhaps they’ve come to the wrong tomb?
This won’t cut it for Mary. This isn’t Westfields Penrith, row upon row of identical parking spots. She would be able to pick the tomb. She saw where Joseph laid the body (Mark 15:46-47). No, Mary knows they’re at the right tomb.
Had they left the handbrake off? Did the Romans fail to kill Jesus off? Maybe Jesus just passed out. Maybe he woke up in the cool of the tomb. Got himself out of the grave clothes. Rolled the stone away by himself. Went to the local medical centre to patch up the head, hands, feet, and side. Escaped detection. Married Mary Magdalene. Had a large family. And lived to a ripe old age. (At least one scholar believes this!)
But that won’t cut if for Mary, either. Jesus’ death wasn’t whisked away from her. She didn’t just see the coffin and leave the rest to the professionals. She was there at the bloody execution. She saw the body hanging dead on the cross. And she went back to the funeral home to help wrap up the body. She wasn’t just Jesus’ friend. She was his undertaker as well.
And if Roman Soldiers were good at something, they knew how to make sure someone was dead. Indeed Pilate wanted them to make sure. In Mark chapter 15 verse 44-45 we read:
Pilate was surprised to hear that [Jesus] was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him if Jesus had already died. When he learned from the centurion that it was so, he gave the body to Joseph. (Mark 15:44-45 NIV)
No, Mary knows Jesus is dead.
What about the two Angel’s explanation. You’ve got to say, it sounds great. Mary would love nothing better than have Jesus back. It fitted with what Jesus said, too. Jesus kept telling them on the way to Jerusalem: I will be killed, and I will rise three days later (eg Mk 10:34)
But it’s highly improbable. Dead men just don’t come alive. And the fact is, that is what the disciples think at first. They do not believe the women:
When they [the women] 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 to them 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 24:9-12)
Whatever we may say about the Apostles, let us not say that they are gullible and determined to believe the things that they want. Luke records for us that the Apostles thought the women’s report as ‘nonsense’ and they didn’t believe them.
Nor are the women gullible and given to believe what they want. For John records that Mary at first did not believe. She thinks that the explanation of the empty tomb is that the body was stolen. John chapter 20 verses 13-15:
They asked her, “Women, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away”, she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. “Women”, he said, “why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
Imagine that was all we had, Luke 24:1-12, and no more. Just the second hand words of these frightened and confused women, who say they saw two angels who told them this astounding story. At this stage, even Peter doesn't know what has happened, and even Mary, John tells us, didn't believe it.
All Mary and her friends have to go on is the word of two men, described by Luke as angels. And all Peter has to go on is the word of these women. And none of them have seen Jesus yet. Should the women believe the two men? Should Peter believe the women? Or are they all crazy?
Perhaps the women don't know what have happened. They are so grief stricken and shocked that they have misunderstood what they saw. After all, in ancient Israel, the testimony of women was not accepted in a court of law (Lee Strobel, The Case For Easter, p50).
Friends, Peter and the women are a bit like us. At this stage, they haven't seen the risen Jesus. But the angels are asking them to believe that Jesus has truly risen from the dead, just as he said.
And that is us, too. You and I are called to believe that Jesus is risen without seeing. All those wonderful things we say happened in the Creed, Jesus’ resurrection, ascension, seated at the right hand of the Father, and his coming again to judge the living and the dead, all this we accept and believe without ever having seen him with our eyes, touched his hands and feet with our hands, or heard him with our ears.
But friends, if we believe in Jesus as the Risen Christ, though we have not seen him, the bible calls us blessed. In John’s gospel, Jesus says to Thomas:
Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. (John 20:29 NIV).
Or as Peter would later say to those who believed his report:
Though you have not seen him, you love him. And even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an in expressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls (1 Peter 1:8-9 NIV)
And it is faith in the risen Jesus that saves us. For Paul gives us the wide and broad promise:
‘That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.’ (Romans 10:9-10 NIV)
Today, you don’t have to see Jesus, or touch him, to be saved. You merely need to confess with your mouth and believe in your heart. Jesus is our risen Lord. He died for our sins. He was raised for our forgiveness and so that we can be right with God. Because Jesus is now in heaven, interceding with the Father on our behalf. For which we thank him.
Let’s pray.
[1] From the fact that she is listed first amongst the women.
[2]Compare second annointing at Bethany Jn 12:1-11.
[3] Perhaps she also was the sinful woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair (Luke 7:36-50). A pretty risque act in that culture. Perhaps she was the Mary learning at Jesus’ feet while Martha did the housework (Luke 10:38-42). Perhaps she was the Mary who wept for her brother Lazarus, then rejoiced when Jesus brought him back to life (Jn 11) This we don’t know for sure. Though a good case can be made for it: J Wenham, Easter Enigma, 22ff argues these were all the same Mary. S S Smalley, ‘Mary’ in J D Douglas et al (ed), New Bible Dictionary 2nd ed, 746ff argues none of these were Mary.
[4] Wenham, 81-2.
[5] Compare Jn 19:39-40: Barnett, 303.
[6] Luke records two angels: Wenham, 87.