Now when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, that they might come and anoint Him. Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. And they said among themselves, “Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?” But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away—for it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a long white robe sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. But go, tell His disciples—and Peter—that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as He said to you.” So they went out quickly and fled from the tomb, for they trembled and were amazed. And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid (Mark 16:1-8).
This is the heart of Easter; this is the climax of the story of mankind’s redemption. Jesus’ tomb was empty. He rose from the dead and left the grave. Jesus, who looked so defeated to his enemies on Good Friday had, in reality, defeated sin, death, and the devil. The grave could not hold him. St. Paul tells us that this fact is of supreme importance. He writes in his first letter to the Corinthians: For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.[1]
Without Christ’s resurrection, we have no forgiveness of sins. St. Paul understood this as well. He writes: But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up - if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.[2] To the dismay of Satan, however, Jesus’ tomb is empty. “Oh, where is thy sting, Death? We fear thee no more; Christ rose, and now open is fair Eden’s door. For all our transgressions His blood does atone; Redeemed and forgiven we now are His own.”[3]
A common objection to the resurrection story is that Jesus’ body was simply stolen by His followers so that it would look like he rose from the dead.[4] If the objection were true, the Apostles would all have known that the Gospel they proclaimed was no Gospel at all. Being disappointed that Jesus was just another false messiah, the argument goes, the Apostles were reluctant to undergo the public humiliation, ridicule, and persecution that was surely coming their way; they stole Jesus’ body and claimed he rose from the dead, thus saving face. One might put some stock in that, if it were not for what happened to them.
All of the Apostles, with the exception of John, were martyred for their faith. That is, they went to their death rather than deny their risen Lord and Savior Jesus. The Apostles and other first generation disciples of Christ faced not only ridicule, but death, and that in some of the most gruesome ways imaginable by man. People do not die for that which they know to be a lie. Men have been willing to die for ideas in which they believed, but only later found out were false; I have never heard of anyone who willingly submitted to a horribly painful and humiliating death rather than renounce a belief that they knew for a fact was false. The Apostles and early followers of Jesus were beheaded, crucified, stoned, burned alive, and fed to wild animals for the entertainment of bloodthirsty crowds, all because they refused to renounce their faith in Jesus. They stood steadfast in their faith because they knew it to be true first hand.
Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!
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