The Risen King and the Empty Tomb / John 20:1–18 / Pr. Ted A. Giese / Easter Sunday March 31st 2024 / Season Of Easter / Mount Olive Lutheran Church

Mount Olive Lutheran Church / Pr. Ted A. Giese / Easter Sunday March 31st 2024: Season of Easter / John 20:1–18 “The Risen King and the Empty Tomb”

Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.” So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that He must rise from the dead. Then the disciples went back to their homes.

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.” Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing Him to be the gardener, she said to Him, “Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to Him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that He had said these things to her.”

Let us pray: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in Your sight O Lord. Amen.

Grace peace and mercy to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Good Christian Friends. We normally don’t like to find things empty. For those of you with a sweet tooth, finding an empty cookie jar or an empty bag or box of cookies is disappointing. Looking up and seeing that your gas gauge is on empty is not something that brings us joy in our hearts. Finding an empty pantry or cupboards that were once full of food is distressing. Those things are bad enough, finding an empty chair at the table where once someone you love used to sit that is much worse. Finding something empty when you expect it to be full is baffling. Jesus’ disciples and followers were so demoralised by His crucifixion and death that on that first Easter Morning they expected to find nothing but Jesus’ dead body hastily buried in the tomb. The last thing they expected was to find the tomb empty.        

The chief priests and the rest of the Sadducees and the Scribes and the Pharisees and all the Elders of the people who had been in on the plot to have Jesus dead were more cynical. They only half expected that the tomb would be empty. But they didn’t think it would be empty due to Jesus’ resurrection. Especially for the Sadducees, dead was dead, they didn’t believe in the resurrection of the dead. For them they expected some kind of tomfoolery.    

Tomorrow is April 1st and April 1st has long been called April Fools’ Day. It’s a day for practical jokes and hoaxes. The ones pulling the pranks often expose their actions by shouting out “April Fools!” The resurrection of our Lord, which we celebrate today, was no joke. His return to life from death turned upside down all the mockery and jests and jabs heaped upon Him while Jesus was being bounced from court to court, beaten and marched to His death by crucifixion. The teasing, insults the cruel bullying all hurled at Him with smugness evaporate the moment Jesus walks out of the tomb alive. The fear that Jesus’ disciples and followers felt as they watched their Lord arrested beaten and crucified quickly begins to empty out of their hearts and minds when they meet the risen Lord face to face and see Him who was dead now alive. The laughter of the disciples by contrast with those, whose laughter was full of evil glee as Jesus died, was laughter full of joy.

Now, the day before Easter morning while the disciples’ hearts were full of fear and sadness, the ones who’d orchestrated Jesus’ arrest and execution on Good Friday had hearts and minds full of worry; like I said they worried that some tomfoolery might take place with Jesus’ body after His death. Saint Matthew tells us how on that Saturday between Good Friday and Easter Sunday “the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before [the Roman Governor Pontius] Pilate and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while He was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’ Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples go and steal Him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.” So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.”[1]

Those were the guards that stood watch when Jesus was risen from the dead. Saint Matthew tells us that on the first Easter Sunday morning “behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone [from Jesus’ tomb] and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men.”[2] Mathew continues his account of these guards explaining how “some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place [concerning Jesus’ resurrection]. And when [the chief priests] had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep.’ And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So” Saint Matthew tells us, “they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.[3] How does that adage go, “He laughs best who laughs last,”[4] the chief priests and the rest of the Sadducees and the Scribes and the Pharisees and all the Elders of the people who had been in on the plot to have Jesus dead lost their hoped for last laugh, the smugness of their delight at Jesus’ death emptied from their wicked hearts. They were left with egg on their face, they feared that they were about to be made to look the fool.

When Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early that first Easter Morning, while it was still dark, she didn’t know anything about the intrigues and worried hearts and minds of the chief priests and the rest of the Sadducees and the Scribes and the Pharisees and all the Elders of the people who had been in on the plot to have Jesus dead. She didn’t know that they feared that someone like her might find a way to remove Jesus’ body in order to embarrass them. They were so full of pride they couldn’t imagine that someone like Mary Magdalene would come to the tomb only to make sure that Jesus was properly buried. And for her part Mary Magdalene’s heart and mind were so full of grief and sadness that she had no thought of their paranoid concerns. The biggest worry on the minds of some of the women that went to the tomb that morning was the question of who would roll away the heavy stone so that they could quickly go in and do their work to honour the Lord’s body.

When Jesus was found to be missing and the tomb empty, she went and told the remaining disciples and when Saint Peter and Saint John had come and found the tomb just as empty as she had reported they went away confused because as yet they did not understand the Scripture concerning Jesus resurrection. Saint John then tells us that Mary Magdalene stood weeping outside the tomb after they left, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. And when she did she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.”

Who did she think “they” were? Did she think “they” were the chief priests and the rest of the Sadducees and the Scribes and the Pharisees and all the Elders of the people who had been in on the plot to have Jesus dead? Did she think it was the Romans? Who? Not the disciples or they would have told her when she went to them. Someone must have. This is like if you had a full tank of gas and you parked out front of your place and then in the morning when you went out to go about your business you found the gas gauge on empty. Instantly you would start to wonder ‘do I have a leak?,’ if not ‘who then siphoned off my gas’ and you’d think this because gas doesn’t get up and leave the gas tank all on its own; and dead bodies don’t get up and leave their graves on their own either.

When she did see Jesus she couldn’t at first understand what she was seeing and supposing Jesus to be the gardener, she said to Him, “Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away.”[5] What was happening? Was this some sort of cruel joke? Why would someone move the body? Did this man empty the tomb? Well it was no cruel joke, it was no prank, no hoax, yet there would be laughs of relief and joy once they understood what had happened. This man, whom she supposed to be the gardener, did in fact empty Jesus’ body out of the tomb just not in the way she at first thought. No, this was not some April Fools’ Day shenanigans or tomfoolery, Jesus truly had been dead and now Jesus stood before her alive. Jesus stood before her as King of the Jews, as King of kings and Lord of lords, He stood before her as God in the flesh. He had been all of those things—being King of kings and Lord of lords, being God—since before His conception by the Holy Spirit, and at the point of His conception by the Holy Spirit then He became God in the flesh; He was all of these things before His birth by the Virgin Mary, before His suffering under Pontius Pilate, he was all of those things upon the cross, He was all of those things in death; He was all of those things as His body rested in the tomb. He was full to the brim with those things and overflowing. The tomb may now be empty of Him but by the grace of His Father this Jesus now fills all things. Saint Paul would later write how God the Father “put all things under [the risen and ascended Lord Jesus’] feet and gave Him as Head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”[6] It was He who emptied the tomb, He emptied it for you and for me.

What does this mean for you? When you are feeling particularly empty remember your Lord Jesus. It is He who promises to fill your heart and your mind with His presence. In baptism you belong to Him as much as Mary Magdalene, and Saint Peter and Saint John and the rest of His disciples and followers from Scripture do. And day by day and week by week Jesus provides opportunities for your ears—right down to your heart—to be filled by Him through His Holy Word, through reading the Bible, through hearing it read for you, like you have experienced today. The bread and the wine of Holy Communion are not empty symbols, in them we have the pledge that Jesus is with us; that He comes to us there in with and under the bread and the wine filling them with His life and with His forgiveness won for you at the cross. Because the cross of His crucifixion was full of His suffering and death, because His tomb was full of His rest from His work on the Seventh day, you now have a life full of redemption, full of salvation as one redeemed and saved by Him. Because of Jesus’ perfect life in your place your sin is emptied out and in The End that corner of your heart that corner of your mind where today sin overflows, on that day it will be bone dry and empty forever never to be filled again. In Christ Jesus you have the promise that when your day comes and you die, your tomb will not be full forever, on The Last Day when the resurrection of the dead happens, and even the Sadducees and modern atheists who didn’t believe in the possibility of the resurrection of the dead are raised up with you, on That Day your grave—your tomb—will be just as empty as Jesus’ tomb was on that first Easter Sunday Morning. On that Day we will know by experience what we today trust by faith. No one will call out “April Fools,” we will all stand before our King of kings and Lord of lords and there will be no question about who had emptied your tomb, you will know that it was not the gardener; it was Jesus Christ your God.

So what can I be doing today as a Christian who knows this and holds fast to it? For your part strive to be part of the solution and not the problem when it comes to life in the world. If you want some practical advice start by reading the Ten Commandments and their explanations from the catechism each week, contemplate them, not just how to avoid falling into sin but how to fulfil the Lord’s commandments to the glory of God and the good of your neighbour. And think of the Church which Jesus has given you as the gas station, don’t live life running on empty come and be filled up with all the gifts that the Lord has in store for you. Amen.    

Let us pray: Lord have mercy on us, Christ have mercy on us, Lord have mercy on us, “take our minds and think through them, take our lips and speak through them, take our hearts and set them on fire; for the sake of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Amen.

[1] Matthew 27:62–66
[2] Matthew 28:2–4
[3] Matthew 28:11–15
[4] Oxford Treasury of Sayings and Quotations, Oxford University Press 2011, page 387.
[5] John 20:15
[6] Ephesians 1:22–23

Photo Credit: Main photo AI generated from freepik/ai/image-editor.