Luke 24:5 “Why are you looking for the living amongst the dead”
Guest blogger Jacky Wilson
This portion of Scripture details how the women go to the Lord’s tomb very early in the morning taking with them the spices they had prepared. (Passover had now finished, when the Israelites remember their freedom from under the yoke of slavery to the Egyptians.) These women all have names, and they all have stories. Mary Magdalene was among them. The Lord had cast seven demons out of Mary; then there was Joanna, whom Jesus had healed, a wealthy woman in her own right who helped support Jesus’ travels and preaching from her own financial means. Her husband was a manager in King Herod’s household. Then there was Mary, the mother of Jesus. From the cross Jesus entrusted his widowed mother to John’s care, and she was to live in his home. Also, Salome (the mother of James and John). Then there was Mary the mother of James and the mother of another apostle chosen by Jesus who also walked to the tomb with the other women.
What was going through their minds? Were they remembering and talking about the events of the past few days? Just three days earlier Jesus had been betrayed and sentenced to death. The betrayal had broken their hearts. First, their long-awaited Messiah was dead. Second, one of their trusted leaders, one of the Twelve, had sold Jesus for just 30 pieces of silver. Were they concerned how they would roll the very heavy stone away, or did it not enter their minds, were they just concerned with anointing Jesus' body with spices as was custom for the Jewish People as they did not embalm the dead?
As the women approached the tomb, they found the stone rolled away. What was going through their minds? Panic? Fear? Has anything happened to Jesus’ body? Mary Magdalene took off running; she ran to Peter and John. The other women stayed. Then suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. The women bowed their faces to the ground. They bowed in reverence. The men said to the women “Why are you looking for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you these things, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’” Then the women remembered Jesus words ….
Amen
Prayer