Christ the Lord Is Risen! —Lectionary Reflection for Easter Sunday C (Luke 24:1-12)

Luke 24:1-12 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

24 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. ² They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, ³ but when they went in they did not find the body. ⁴ While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. ⁵ The women were terrified and bowed 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 but has risen. ⁶ Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, ⁷ that the Son of Man must be handed over to the hands of sinners and be crucified and on the third day rise again.” ⁸ Then they remembered his words, ⁹ and returning from the tomb they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. ¹⁰ Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. ¹¹ But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. ¹² But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.

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                The four canonical Gospels each tell the Easter story a bit differently. While they tell the story differently, with a different cast of characters in each story, they agree on one thing. That is, the one who was crucified, died, and was buried on Good Friday no longer resided in the tomb. Rather, Christ the Lord is risen from the dead! Hallelujah!! Preachers who follow the Revised Common Lectionary have a choice of texts for Easter Sunday. The reading from John 20:1-18 is a possibility. It is a favorite because it features a conversation between the risen Jesus with Mary Magdalene. After that appearance, Mary shares the good news (euangelion) with Jesus’ disciples, making her the first Apostle.  It is a worthy story to tell. For a reflection on that passage see my lectionary reflection from 2023. The other option comes from Luke 24. That is the option I take up here.

                According to Luke, after Jesus had died, Joseph of Arimathea, a leader in the Jewish community as well as a follower of Jesus, went to Pontius Pilate and obtained Jesus’ body. Joseph then prepared Jesus’ body and laid it in a tomb that had not yet been used. A group of women from Galilee, also followers of Jesus, watched where Jesus’ body was laid. They then returned to where they were staying and prepared spices and ointments that they intended to place on the body. However, since the Sabbath was at hand, they rested until they could return and finish preparing the body (Luke 23:50-57). The story of Jesus’ death and burial are necessary precursors to what happens next. There cannot be an Easter Sunday celebration without his death and burial.

                So, we come to the first day of the week. The Sabbath has passed. Therefore, it is time for the women to complete their work. So, at dawn, they make their way to the tomb where Joseph had earlier placed him. When they arrived, carrying with them, the spices and ointments, they found the stone rolled away and the tomb empty. They entered the tomb but didn’t find the body they expected to find there, the body they planned to finish preparing. Luke tells us they were perplexed or puzzled by what they found. It’s clear that they expected to find a body, not an empty tomb.

                As the women stood there in the tomb, wondering what had happened, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood with them. This sudden appearance on the part of the two men terrified the women. The women, taken aback by this appearance bowed their heads toward the ground. Then the men spoke to the women, asking them:   “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee,  that the Son of Man must be handed over to the hands of sinners and be crucified and on the third day rise again” (Luke 24:5-7). Yes, why do you look for the living among the dead? Why did you expect to find a body in the tomb? Don’t you remember what he told you while in Galilee? Haven’t you been paying attention? The truth is, none of Jesus’ followers had truly comprehended what he had been sharing with them. They could comprehend a general resurrection. That was a common belief among the Jewish people, but this was different. They needed to see it to believe it! Having seen these signs of Jesus’ possible resurrection, Luke tells us that the women finally understood, so they returned to where their compatriots were holding up, telling them what they had experienced.

                Although the tomb was empty, and two men in dazzling clothing (angels?) appeared to them, they still didn’t see the risen Christ. That would come later. In the meantime, the women, whom Luke now mentions as being Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, along with other women who were part of the group, took this message to the apostles. We know who Mary Magdalene is, but who are these two other women Luke mentions? One would assume that Luke’s audience knew who these women were.

                When they shared the good news with the apostles and the others gathered with them, the apostles thought this was simply an “idle tale.” This is a reminder that the testimony of women in the ancient world was not well received. Nevertheless, it is the women who serve as the witnesses of the resurrection. But their witness did intrigue Peter, who went to the tomb. There he saw the grave clothes lying in the tomb, but not the body. He returned home, amazed at what he had seen.

                Luke’s Easter story continues on, with Jesus appearing incognito to a couple of disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35). Then, that evening, after the couple returned to Jerusalem with their story of Jesus’ appearance to them, Jesus appeared to the entire group. Still, after hearing the testimony of the women and the two disciples who encountered Jesus on the road to Emmaus, the community was taken aback by Jesus’ appearance, requiring a bit of reassurance before Jesus gave them their commission to be his witnesses (Luke 24:36-49).

                Many modern Christians, especially more progressive ones, struggle with the story of the resurrection. It’s not something we experience on a regular basis. So, many followers of Jesus wonder if what is reported is a spiritual thing, a dream perhaps. But physical resurrection seems to be a stretch. Yet that is the message of Easter. Here in Luke 24 Jesus invites the people to touch him and he even has something to eat to prove that they weren’t hallucinating.

Paul reminded the Corinthian church that in Christ’s resurrection death has lost its sting (1 Cor. 15:55). It is important to remember that Paul connected Jesus’ resurrection with our resurrection. His resurrection was the first fruits of a more general resurrection (I Cor. 15:20). Paul also connected the resurrection with baptism, such that in baptism we die with Jesus, are buried with him, and then raised with him:  “Do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:3-4). It is this connection that led early Christians to baptize on Easter Sunday, a tradition that continues among some communities to this day.

The doctrine of the resurrection, whether that be the resurrection of Jesus or the general resurrection, however we conceive it, is an eschatological event. Thus, as Jürgen Moltmann writes in The Coming of God:

 Anyone who lives in community with Christ believes in the God who raises the dead. According to Rom. 10.9, the acknowledgment of Christ and belief in the resurrection belong inseparably together. In both of them we experience the Spirit of life: the power of resurrection. In that we are assured that we are `God's children' (Rom. 8.14) and so have a share in the Father's divine nature. As the divine power of resurrection, that Spirit cannot be destroyed by death. This power gives life even though we die (John 11.25, 26). Consequently the relation to God of sonship and daughterhood of which the Spirit assures us is an immortal relationship. This `blessed' immortality of sonship and daughterhood in the Spirit is not ambivalent. It is unequivocally good and consoling.  [Moltmann. The Coming of God: Christian Eschatology (Kindle Locations 1160-1164)].  

As we gather on Easter Sunday, we not only remember the event of Jesus’ resurrection, but also the victory of life over death that is achieved in God’s act of raising Jesus from the grave. Therefore, we can sing:

1 Christ the Lord is risen today, Alleluia!
All creation join to say, Alleluia!
Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia!
Sing, O heavens, and earth reply, Alleluia!

2 Lives again our glorious king; Alleluia!
Where, O death, is now thy sting? Alleluia!
Jesus died, our souls to save, Alleluia!
Where your victory, O grave? Alleluia!

3 Love's redeeming work is done, Alleluia!
Fought the fight, the battle won, Alleluia!
Death in vain forbids him rise, Alleluia!
Christ has opened paradise. Alleluia!

4 Soar we now where Christ was led, Alleluia!
Following our exalted head, Alleluia!
Made like him, like him we rise, Alleluia!
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia!
                                                Chalice Hymnal #216