“Jesus Is Still Risen”

Focusing Idea: Why do we look for the living among the dead?

A few of the female followers of Jesus first discovered the good news that Jesus’s tomb was empty, but this only threw them into greater confusion as they could not understand what it might mean, and the apostles thought their whole story was “an idle tale” [verse 11].  Yet Peter, impulsive as ever, and probably still feeling overwhelmed by guilt because of his denials of Jesus, ran to the tomb to check out their story.  He too found it empty.  In our minds, we can see the confused look on his face.  We can also picture the women moving through the garden with heavy hearts, oblivious to the dawning spring morning.  They were oblivious, above all, to the glorious presence of the risen Christ not a stone’s throw away; nonetheless, these women reveal the qualities of good disciples in their capacity to seek our Jesus. 

I ask us not to treat the resurrection as a mere story, but as the message that transforms our world and gives hope to everyone.  Why do you look for the living among the dead?  You are not in any tomb, Lord; the tomb is empty.  You are not a dead hero to be studied in retrospect.  You are alive, and meeting with us, at our sides, in our hearts, feeding us in Holy Communion.  The report brought by the women, dismissed by the apostles, is the creed by which we live.