They Didn’t Understand

Luke 24:1-12

¹But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. ² And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, ³ but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. ⁴ While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. ⁵ And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? ⁶ He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, ⁷ that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” ⁸ And they remembered his words, ⁹ and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. ¹⁰ Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, ¹¹ but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. ¹² But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.

We come now to the last chapter of Luke. These 53 verses are stunning in their exposition of the Christian faith and it is fitting that this last chapter should begin with the resurrection. Jesus had already told the Disciples on numerous occasions that He would die and rise again. In the Gospel of Luke, that prophecy occurs first in 9:22. “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” In light of these words, spoken months before they happen, it is amazing to us that the Disciples were not camped out right by the tomb after He was buried. But they didn’t understand the words when they were spoken and made no connection to the events that were playing out in their midst after Jesus’ death.

The hearer of the gospel observes a transformation taking place in the women as they move through these events. Having kept the Sabbath according to the commandment, the women come to the tomb from the perspective of the old covenant of salvation. Note how the tomb is emphasized in this section: they are coming to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body because they think Jesus is dead. This is the attitude of those who are still living in the old covenant: they have confidence in resurrection on the Last Day, as Martha says in John 11:24, but they certainly do not expect resurrection now. So the women are perplexed when they find that the tomb is empty. The stone has been rolled away, but entering (the tomb!) they did not find the body of Jesus. Luke uses the word “find” in an ironic way to emphasize the emptiness of the tomb: the women “found” the stone rolled away from the empty tomb but “did not find” Jesus. To find the tomb empty may seem to be to find nothing, but in finding nothing, the women will make the greatest find: the discovery that Jesus is risen!

Just, A. A., Jr. (1997). Luke 9:51–24:53 (p. 966). St. Louis: CPH.

The resurrection of Jesus sets Christianity apart from the rest of the world’s religions. No other religion has a resurrected Master. The historicity of Jesus’ resurrection is also irrefutable. He will appear to over 500 people after His resurrection. It is difficult to argue with 500 witnesses. So how is it that the veracity of Jesus’ role as Savior is denied by so many? It’s because we want to deny it. If Jesus did rise from death then we owe Him our fealty. But He will not force that belief because forced love is not love.

The women arrive at the tomb and receive the greatest gift mankind has ever received. They find the tomb empty. It will take a few days of instruction and the arrival of the Holy Spirit to bring all of together for Jesus’ followers, but that too will happen just as God planned. The outworking of His Kingdom is now out there for the entire world to see. The only question that demands an answer is do you believe it?