Living Among the Dead

Luke 24:1-6
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 the 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!”

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Written by: Chris Moss

The tomb had to happen. Jesus had to die and be laid to rest in the tomb. What were the women going to do with those spices? Roll the several ton stone away to put the spices on Jesus’ body? Anoint the stone? We will never know.

But what we do know is when these heartbroken women arrived, the heavy stone was rolled away and the tomb was empty. Where there should have been one corpse, there was none. There were just two men in gleaming clothing announcing that Jesus had risen!

But those gleam-clad men asked a question that we all need to consider: “Why do you look for the living among the dead?”

We all have hurts, habits, and hang-ups. Left unchecked, they will kill us. I know that sounds dramatic, but that is what sin does—it kills us.

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
– Romans 6:23

Sin puts us in the tomb. Jesus gives us life. Yet, even after we know Jesus and have life, we are often drawn to those old behaviors, looking for the living in a place, a pattern, or a person that is dead.

Some people—real people you and I love and wish the best for—have habits they cling to that cause them to live in a world of darkness.

Some patterns—because they are harmful and hard to break free from—are dangerous.

And some places—as fun as they once were—are no longer life-giving, but death bringing.

Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is risen!

Jesus’ empty tomb is what makes Easter meaningful in a way that no other faith has meaning. His empty tomb is what gives us hope even when we have a hurt, habit, or hang-up. God delivers us through our faith in Him and the belief in the empty tomb. Through our salvation in Jesus, we don’t have to go back to the darkness, the dangerous, or the dead.

He is risen! And with Him, so are we!