Now the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went off to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. (2) Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.”  (3) Peter therefore went out, and the other disciple, and were going to the tomb.  (4) So they both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first.  (5) And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there; yet he did not go in.  (6) Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths lying there, (7) and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself.  (8) Then the  other disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he saw and believed.  (9) For as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.

Our verses today are from the gospel of John – an eyewitness to both the crucifixion and the empty tomb of Christ Jesus – and they are the historical, verifiable witness to these events. The foundation of Christianity is the bodily resurrection of Christ Jesus. Without this everything crumbles and is meaningless.

When Christ was arrested in the garden of Gethsemane the night before He died, his disciples fled in fear for their own lives.  They still did not understand who Jesus was/is and the arrest and murder of their “Messiah” left them  in a complete panic.  John and Peter did enter Jerusalem with the arresting party and we know that Peter betrayed Jesus and as a result he too was completely distraught. These men were hardly the stuff of conspirators or capable of bold action by stealing the body of Christ from a sealed tomb in the middle of the night – With Roman guards at the tomb.

All the gospels tell us that women were the first to find the empty tomb. Women did not have standing under Jewish law – there were not even allowed to be witnesses. So, why would the story even mention the women?  Because it’s true would be my answer.

Who moved the stone?

The day AFTER the crucifixion the Jewish leaders asked Pilate to post a guard at the tomb. What happened to the Roman guard?  We do know that they reported to the Jewish leaders and were told by them to say the apostles stole the body.  (Please see the second paragraph).  At any time in these first years of Christianity the Jews could have stopped it cold by producing the body.

If the body had been moved why would the burial cloths have been removed from the mangled body. These cloths are mentioned three times in our verses day indicating their importance in telling this story.

The empty tomb was half an hour walk from the old city of Jerusalem and never becomes a place of veneration.  Christianity grew at an astounding rate in those early years in proximity to the empty tomb – implicitly and explicitly the tomb was known to be empty and had been since the resurrection of Christ Jesus. The Jews only had to produce a body to stop cold this belief

There were many post resurrection appearances of Jesus and in those early years many witnesses were still alive and able to contradict this testimony.  Those who saw the resurrected Jesus became changed men.  Our verses today tell us that John was a changed man when he saw and understood the folded burial cloths and the empty tomb.  These believers lived and died for their faith.  They were convinced that Christ was the Lord, the Messiah

If people don’t believe in the resurrection, they don’t want to believe.

When He had said this, He went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.  (29) And it came to pass, when He drew hear to Bethany, at the mountain called Olivet, that He sent two of His disciples, (30) saying, “ Go into the village opposite you, where as you enter you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat.  Loose it and bring it here.  (31) And if anyone asks you, ‘Why are you loosing it?’ This you shall say to him, ‘Because the Lord has need of it.’”  (32) So those who were sent went their way and found it just as He had said to them. (33) But as they were loosing the colt, the owners of it said to them, “Why are you loosing the colt?”  (34) And they said, “The Lord has need of him.”  (35) Then they brought him to Jesus.  And they threw their own clothes on the colt, and they set Jesus on him. (46) And as He went, many spread their clothes on the road. (37) Then, as He was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, saying:  “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the LORD!  Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”  (49) And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.”  (40) But He answered and said to them, “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.”

The entry of Christ Jesus into Jerusalem was the first time He allowed a public acknowledgment of His divinity and the proclamation of Him as Messiah. The problem was no one understood the message. There is no human explanation for Jesus – He was always demonstrating His deity but never – until now – allowed crowds to celebrate Him as Messiah.  Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead just a few weeks earlier and had just left Jericho on His way to Jerusalem where He had healed two blind beggars. Huge and expectant crowds followed Him. The people – including the disciples – thought Jesus was the Messiah but they expected The Messiah would bring an earthly kingdom.  Just as Jesus knew about the colt, He knew that it was now God’s timetable and His purpose on earth – He had come to satisfy divine law by His reconciling  and redeeming man  – to conquer sin and death for all who believe.

In just a few short days the adoring crowds disappeared; Judas betrayed Him, Peter failed Him and the apostles fled from Him in fear for their own lives.   Jesus faced the horror of His human life – as the sin offering He was separated from God.  This separation from God was the reason for the agony in the garden.

The misconception of who Jesus is/was came from man centered theology: expecting what Jesus would do for His followers in this world.   The day of the visitation of the Lord had come and Israel missed it even though the prophets had proclaimed exactly what was to happen. Even at that moment –  still – those closest to Jesus missed it.  Jesus Christ had came into this world, true God and true man.  He entered time and space as the Lord of our salvation – as our substitute and redeemer.  In faith in Christ we are reborn; we stand in Him and God remembers our sin no more.   Only in Christ, in faith in His perfect and acceptable sacrifice, do we find salvation.   Salvation is always of the Lord..

Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ (9) and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is not from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; (10) that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, (11) if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.  (12) Not that I already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. (13) Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,  (14) I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

The letter to the Philippians was written by the apostle Paul.   In our somewhat biographical verses today Paul writes of knowing Christ Jesus as our redeemer – not just intellectually but personally.  All else – all of his past life under the law – is meaningless (rubbish).  In the perfect and acceptable substitutionary sacrifice of Christ,  the alienation of man from God is over for those who believe in Christ, His righteousness is imputed to the faithful and God remembers our sins no more. This great gift of justification is never achievable by man’s actions; salvation is always and only of the Lord.

Spiritual growth begins with a basic discontent with our present conditions.  Our faith is a confession of a total belief and dependency in Christ and after justification in Christ, the lifelong process of sanctification has begun.  We are to press on so that Gods purpose in taking hold of us becomes our purpose now, with a singleminded focus and maximum effort  – much like a long distance runner training for a race with no divided allegiances.  In faith, the failures and successes of the past are gone and Paul tells us to not just forget about the past but to reach forward to those things that are ahead.  His purpose was to give all to reach sinners with the gospel – that his suffering in this was part of his ministry and in no way redemptive.  Paul says repeatedly that he’s not at the finish line yet but still in process of sanctification; not by the law but in faith.

The spiritual life of the faithful is in constant battle with the darkness of the world.  We are to remain separate and holy.  This process helps us bear with each other with more understanding of the struggles of others.  True faith results in our commitment and inability to do and live any other way. Reliving the past is a worldly occupation; we are new people in Christ. We can evaluate the past but our verses today command a balance and warn us not to be controlled by the past.  The faithful need to be humble and teachable and motivated – but above all to make sure we are in the race – if we don’t enter the race we cannot win

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.  Walk as children of light (9) (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), (10) finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.  (11) And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. (12) For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. (13) But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. (14) Therefore He says:  “Awake you who sleep, arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light.”  (15) See then, that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, 

The apostle Paul write the letter to the Ephesians. In our verses today Paul is addressing the faithful living in the pagan culture at Ephesus to remind them who and what they have become in Christ. Paul writes that we – the faithful – used to be darkness as souls spiritually dead.  And now we are light in Christ; not IN light BUT light. This is all about transformation in faith.

A person reborn in faith in Christ Jesus becomes a pattern for Christian living; how the faithful are to behave in Christ.  Our sins are remembered no more.  What is meant by light is knowledge and intellectual assent to Gods truth in contrast to the darkness which is spiritual  blindness to the word of God which is the gospel.  Those without faith are in ignorance of the darkness and Intellectual  darkness yields works of darkness

When we are redeemed in Christ, we are fully redeemed. We become Gods children who are light – there is no middle ground. As such Paul is telling us to be who we are, not what we were  – we didn’t just live in darkness, we were darkness.  This world is filled with those  who cannot see God’s truth – who don’t want to see it.  In the bulletin at a Catholic Church  I attended yesterday an article encouraged the faithful to offer up their suffering for others – as if our actions can assist the completed work of Christ. The article urged the reader to use suffering to make reparation to God for sin – for ourselves and others; or to offer our suffering for the souls in Purgatory.  What this article offered was a trifecta of bad theology.  We can add nothing to the Lord’s perfect sacrifice.  What the article should have said was we are to walk as children of light – live a holy (separate) life in this world and that will expose the darkness in contrast.