Women Go to the Empty Tomb

Scripture: Matthew 28:1-10, Mark 16:1-11, Luke 24:1-11, John 20:1-2(NIV)

Matthew 28:1-10
After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.” So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

Mark 16:1-11
When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?” But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’” Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid. When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons. She went and told those who had been with him and who were mourning and weeping. When they heard that Jesus was alive and that she had seen him, they did not believe it.

Luke 24:1-11
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! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” Then they remembered his words. When they 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.

John 20:1-2
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

Devotional

He is risen!

Angels were with Jesus from womb to tomb. As the Holy Spirit was implanting Him in His mother Mary’s womb, an angel came and spoke to her. When Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, angels came and ministered to Him. Now, as He was being raised from the dead, angels came to shock the guards and reassure the women.

Among those women was Mary Magdalene. She had been possessed by seven demons, which Jesus drove out of her. Out of immense gratitude, she became a follower and financial supporter of Jesus and His ministry team. She was present when Jesus was crucified to death, and first on the scene when He was raised to life. She was probably never voted most likely to succeed, but there she was having a conversation with God’s angels, and becoming the first to tell the disciples about the resurrection. Nobody is beyond redemption in God’s economy.

Another of the women present for the first sunrise service was Joanna, whose husband managed the household of Herod, the man who ordered the decapitation of John the Baptist and who refused to free Jesus when he could have. Recall from Luke 8:3 that Joanna was another woman who followed and financially supported Jesus. She too was there until the bitter end and the sweet beginning. Nobody is beyond redemption in God’s economy.

And there were more women at the crack of dawn empty tomb. Mary the mother of James, Salome, and others, whose back stories we don’t know. But Jesus did. He ministered to them. He became sin for them. He conquered death for them. He loved them. They were the first eye witnesses of the resurrection, and willingly became the first evangelists for the risen Christ.

He is risen!
He is risen indeed!

Poem

In The Midst

In the midst of the darkest of times
In the midst of the coldest of tombs
In the midst of the grievous of shrouds
God comes
Often unrecognized
To me

As the light starts to peek o'er horizons
As the light starts to melt a sealed tomb
As the light starts to awaken the slumberer
God comes
Often unrecognized
To me

Now new life bursts to roll away stones
Now new life bursts to call out my name
Now new life bursts to transform ways of knowing
God is here
Fully recognized
With me

With great joy I can rise from my mourning
With great joy all my tears are wiped dry
With great joy once parched lips shout wet praises
God is here
Fully recognized
With me

Podcast: Week 48

Sermon: Week 48

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