The Empty Tomb

The Empty Tomb

Matthew 28:1-10

Main Idea: The resurrection of Christ is an invitation to courageous hope in place of fear.

I. The Eyewitnesses (28:1-4)

The disciples are noticeably absent from the tomb on Sunday morning. Even though Jesus directly told them three times that he would be raised (Matt. 16:21-23; 17:22-23; 20:17-19), they did not have the ability to comprehend and they are hiding in fear.

We owe it to these first Christian disciples to do our very best to understand the utter hopelessness of their situation after the crucifixion. They had invested their whole lives in what appeared to be a diabolical joke. They had seen their beloved Master scourged almost to death, dragged through the streets, nailed to a cross and abandoned to suffer public agony in the face of the obscene mockery of everybody in Jerusalem. Once they had basked in the reflected status of a celebrity who had been mobbed by large crowds; now he had been judged a nonperson, fit only for the most degrading and sadistic death that the human mind was capable of devising. If there had been any solidarity among his followers, it had vanished; not one person had dared to come forward in the Master’s defense… there was nothing left. The Messiah was supposed to usher in the kingdom of God; for these disciples who had staked their lives on Jesus being that Messiah, it cannot be stated too strongly: there was no hope.

~ Fleming Rutledge, “Beyond Possibility” in The Undoing of Death

Those who were at the tomb include:

  • Mary Magdalene & the “other Mary,” coming to anoint Jesus’ body for burial (cf. Mk. 16:1)

  • An angel, accompanied by an earthquake, who rolls back the stone; the symbol of death is now merely a seat for this warrior-messenger of God (cf. 1 Cor. 15:25-26)

  • Roman guards placed there by Pilate (27:62-66); though they were supposed to be guarding a dead man’s tomb, they themselves “become like dead men”

II. The Empty Tomb (28:5-7)

  1. The resurrection of Christ was powerful (28:6a): “he is risen…” (cf. Acts 2:24; Jn. 10:17-18; Rev. 1:17-18)

  2. The resurrection of Christ was planned (28:6b): “... as he said.” (1 Cor. 15:3-4)

  3. The resurrection of Christ is personal (28:6c): “Come, see the place where he lay.” 

  4. The resurrection of Christ was purposeful (28:7): “Go quickly and tell…”

III. The Experience of Easter (28:8-10)

As the women depart from the tomb they are full of “fear” mixed with “great joy” (lit. ‘mega’ joy). Suddenly, Jesus meets them on their way and these women become the first people to encounter the risen Christ. They grab hold of his feet, pierced for their forgiveness and for our forgiveness, in worship.

If Jesus has indeed been raised from the dead, we can fear not because:

  • Death has been defeated (Isa. 25:8)

  • Our sins have been forgiven (Rom. 4:24-25; Heb. 2:11b)

  • Everything sad will come untrue

1 Peter 1:3: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

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