What good is an empty tomb? 

When we read the Easter story we discover that an empty tomb is not Good News in and of itself. We have to know how it came to be empty. I think the key to the Easter stories in the Bible is the announcement of the two angels who told the women, “Why do you look for the living among the dead. He is not here. He has risen.”

But don’t take my word for it. Imagine the other possibilities. Try Christianity on for size if the angels had said something else instead. I have a few possibilities. In fact, I made up a top ten list like David Letterman does on his show.

Here are the Top Ten Things We Are Glad the Angels Did Not Say on Easter Morning.

10. He is not here. He decomposed really fast.

9. He is not here. He sublet the tomb.

8. He is not here. He is on a coffee break.

7. He is not here. He’s gone to Wal-Mart.

6. He is not here. Take a seat and I’m sure he’ll be with you shortly.

5. He is not here. He was abducted by aliens.

4. He is not here. Someone stole the body.

3. He is not here. Leave a message and he’ll call you right back.

2. He is not here. He’s two tombs down on the left.

And the number one thing we are glad the angels did not say on Easter morning:

1. He’s not here. He’s gone to Disney World.

 “He is not here. He is risen!” You change that sentence, and you’ve changed everything. The reason the tomb is empty is that Jesus was resurrected. God raised him to new life. This was then and is still something completely new and not yet repeated.

Sure, the Bible tells stories of Jesus raising people from the dead. Jesus raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead. Jesus raised his friend Lazarus from the dead. But Jairus’ daughter and Lazarus were raised to die again. Jesus raised them from the dead to live and die another day. But God raised Jesus from the dead to die no more.

Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and the other women expected to honor Jesus’ dead body by properly preparing it for burial. Instead, the women were blown away to find out that their crucified teacher was now their risen Lord. The angels reminded the women that Jesus himself had taught them that he would suffer, die, and be resurrected and now they remembered Jesus’ teaching with unspeakable joy. The female disciples rushed back to share the awesome, unexpected news with the apostles and the other disciples who were hiding out, trying to figure out how to continue with their lives in the shadow of the cross.

Imagine the scene as the women break in and share their news. The stone is rolled away. Jesus’ body is gone. The only thing in the tomb is Jesus’ burial clothes. Jesus doesn’t need those burial clothes again because he is risen and will die no more. It’s just too much for them to take. Jesus’ followers are still in shock. The disciples can’t take someone else’s word for it. They will need their own encounter with the risen Jesus to believe.

The women did get it though. Once the angels reminded them of what Jesus had taught about his death, they put it all together. The women had been there as a part of Jesus’ entourage as Jesus explained that his job description as Messiah would not involve a violent military or political overthrow of Rome. Jesus would fulfill the scriptures by loving us so much that he would never give up on that love, even when the price was death on a cross.

None of Jesus’ followers had really understood that Jesus would die. But the women saw the empty tomb and heard the angels say, “Why do you look for the living among the dead. He is not here. He is risen.” Then they understood.

We can be like the apostles who did not go to the tomb that morning. The whole Christian thing can seem like a bit too much to believe. “Sure Jesus is a great teacher, perhaps the greatest moral teacher who ever lived, but risen from the dead? Oh, come on.”

The Apostles needed a real in-the-risen-flesh encounter with Jesus to believe. How can we place our faith in an empty tomb without encountering the risen Lord who vacated it? I don’t think we can and we don’t have to. Jesus said that he would send the Holy Spirit to us as a gift. The Holy Spirit is the gift of God’s spirit in our spirit. It is through God’s spirit that we can encounter the risen Jesus in our own lives. You can encounter the risen Jesus through the Holy Spirit any time. Even in the church of your choice this Sunday. The promise of that is found in the words the angels spoke in the tomb.

The angels said “Why do you look for the living among the dead. He is not here.” The women did not find Jesus first thing that Easter morning because they were looking for him among the dead. Jesus is not there in a tomb in Jerusalem. Jesus is here.

We can change the angel’s words to fit our own situation and say, “He is here. He is risen!” Because Jesus was raised from the dead to die no more, he is present here working among and in us to transform our lives.

We are an Easter people transformed by a God who raises us to a new life. The empty tomb is a wonderful thing once you understand why it is empty. We can encounter the risen Jesus in our own lives and proclaim our own Easter message: “He is here. Alleluia, he is risen!

(The Rev. Frank Logue is pastor of King of Peace Episcopal Church in Kingsland.) 

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