Unexpectedly Empty / John 20:1–18 & Matthew 28:1–10 / Pr. Ted A. Giese / Sunday April 5th 2026 / Easter Sunday / Mount Olive Lutheran Church

Mount Olive Lutheran Church / Pr. Ted A. Giese / Easter Sunday April 5th 2026: Season of Easter / John 20:1–18 & Matthew 28:1–10 “Unexpectedly Empty”

John 20:1–18: 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.

Matthew 28:1–10: Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone 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. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, as He said. Come, see the place where He lay. Then go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead, and behold, He is going before you to Galilee; there you will see Him. See, I have told you.” So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell His disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell My brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me.”

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 are you a glass half empty or a glass half full sort of person? What about a brimming full glass or a bone dry glass? When looking for a glass what would you rather find a glass that’s full, half full, half empty, or empty? Maybe an even better question would be, ‘when you’re looking for a glass what are you expecting to find?’

Between 1928 and 1931 Chicago’s Lexington Hotel was the primary residence and headquarters of the gangster and mob boss Al Capone and in 1986 you might remember a big live television special, The Mystery of Al Capone’s Vaults, hosted by Geraldo Rivera, which famously ended in disappointment when a sealed vault used by Capone was opened revealing only dust, debris, and empty bottles. Perhaps you were one of the 30million viewers who’d tuned in to see this big event, curious of what treasures and secretes might be found hidden away for decades sealed behind the locked door of the vault. Finding nothing Geraldo was disappointed that day, his faithful regular viewers were likewise disappointed, those of you alive back then who spent your time watching the live TV programme seeing nothing may likewise have been disappointed for having wasting your time on what turned out to be nothing but an empty vault. Now you would likely have been less disappointed if at least the vault was only half empty of what you’d imagined was in hidden away in there, if it was half full of those hyped treasures and secrets you might have been happy. So with this as an example, I think it’s safe to say that most people are not usually happy to find empty what they expect to find full. It’s not a joy to find your gas tank empty, or your refrigerator empty, or your bank account empty. If you expect these things to be full and you find them empty you will certainly be unhappy. Even half full is no good because it’s still half empty.

Saint Luke in his Gospel recounts how the women who had come with [Jesus] from Galilee followed [Joseph of Arimathea as he removed Jesus’ body from the cross] and saw the tomb and how [Jesus’] body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments. On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment. But on the first day of the week [that would be Sunday],” Saint Luke tells us, “at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.”[1] Our Gospel Readings today from the Gospel of Saint Matthew and the Gospel of Saint John pick up at the point of their confusion and bewilderment upon discovering the empty tomb: confusion and bewilderment because they would certainly have expected the tomb to be full; they expected to find Jesus’ body wrapped in the linen cloths which Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus had hastily accomplished once Jesus’ dead body was taken down from the cross. They would have expected to find Jesus’ body lying lifeless stretched out upon the tomb’s cold stones. Perhaps they feared that the soldiers guarding the tomb may have removed Jesus’ coverings from His body before sealing the tomb? Either way they wouldn’t have lugging everything they brought with them to the tomb that morning if they’d expected an empty tomb.

In the Gospel of Saint John seeing the stone rolled away Mary Magdalene must have immediately ran back to tell Peter and the rest of the remaining Disciples what she saw missing the angel with his news of Jesus’ resurrection; that comforting Good News which Saint Matthew records the rest of the women hearing in his Gospel. When Mary Magdalene finally comes face to face with the risen Lord Jesus she’s still so bewildered by everything that she confuses Jesus with the gardener. And when Peter and Saint John find Jesus’ tomb empty we are told that “they did not understand the Scripture, that He must rise from the dead. Then the disciples,” Saint John says, “went back to their homes.”

For those who did not find what they expected to find, there is, like I said, great comfort in what the angel says to the women at the tomb in the Gospel of Saint Matthew when the angle says, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, as He said. Come, see the place where He lay. Then go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead.” Once Jesus was out of the tomb that first Easter Sunday He revealed Himself a number of times: And like with Mary Magdalene who thought Jesus was the gardener, you also have two of Jesus’ followers who on that same day were walking to a nearby town called Emmaus and while walking with a man who they assumed was totally unaware of the events of the previous week, even though He’d been in Jerusalem, they explained to the man — not knowing it was Jesus — that, “some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, and when they did not find His body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that He was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but Him they did not see.”[2] As with Mary Magdalene these two men who at first couldn’t figure out what was happening would then recognize the risen Lord Jesus. Saint Matthew tells us that when Jesus that morning greeted the women who had heard the Good News from the angel “they came up and took hold of [Jesus’] feet and worshiped Him,” once Mary Magdalene saw Jesus and understood who He was that first Easter Sunday she acted in the same way, so much so that Jesus had to say to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father,” We’ll hear more of these early accounts in the next 40 days leading up to our celebration of Jesus’ ascension into heaven to sit at His Father’s right hand.

At first the empty tomb caused sadness and bewilderment, it cause confusion and for the none-believer in Christ it caused suspicion. The Scriptures tell us that those who had orchestrated Jesus’ crucifixion and death feared the possibility of an empty tomb, they wanted to make good and sure that Jesus was in there. In fact Saint Matthew tells us how after Jesus’ death and before His resurrection “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.”[3] Those are the trembling guards who during the earthquake that morning while an angle of the Lord — bright as lightning — descended from heaven rolling away the stone that sealed the tomb became like dead men. Interestingly this angel rolling away the stone was not necessary for the risen Lord Jesus to empty Himself out of the grave rather this was necessary for the women and later Peter and Saint John to be able to enter into the tomb and find it empty of Jesus’ body. Those soldiers sent to guard the tomb would have checked to make sure Jesus was in His tomb before they sealed it, and afterwards out of sheer embarrassment the Jewish authorities covered up their failure to secure the tomb, and promising to deal with Pilate if anyone asked, they gave these guards a sufficient sum of money with the instructions to, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.” They had to have some reason for the tomb being unexpectedly empty. Saint Matthew says that this story had been spread among the Jews right up to the day that Saint Matthew wrote down his account of the events of Jesus’ life.[4] Even today, in our times, there are those who would prefer this idea regarding the empty tomb: They’d prefer that it was empty not because Jesus was risen from the dead but rather because someone had stolen away with Jesus’ body. In a comment that half addresses this idea Saint Paul would later write “if Christ has not been raised [from the dead], then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain ... If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.” Saint Paul doesn’t end there though, he continues to say “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”[5] Jesus’ tomb is not empty because someone moved the body, it’s empty because Jesus is alive and has no need of a grave.

What does the empty tomb mean for you today? It means that Jesus having defeated Sin, Death, the Devil and the World upon the cross now empties out the Sin from your heart; He has emptied Death of its sting for the Christian; in crushing the Serpent’s head with all its temptations He empties out the Devil’s power over you; in overcoming the World He empties out the World of its hold over you, you simply don’t need to conform to it any longer: All the pain and suffering and torment that these things threaten to fill us up with, in Christ, are emptied of their power as our resurrected Lord Jesus steps out of His tomb that first Easter Morning. And on The Last Day when all things are made new in Christ there will be no place for them in the New Heavens and the New Earth. On That Day it will not just be Jesus’ tomb that is empty it will be every tomb, every grave, every resting place on earth that will be empty. As Jesus says in the Gospel of Saint John “an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear [the Son of God’s] voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment,”[6] not one grave will be left empty on That Day.

Yet in our time we remember how at the end of the day on Good Friday there were three empty crosses but on Easter morning of the three graves belonging to those dead men there is only one rendered empty due to Christ’s resurrection from the dead. This is why in our present day we don’t want an empty cross, there we want Christ and Him crucified for the forgiveness of our sins but what we do want is the empty tomb of Easter Morning with that same Christ Jesus now risen from the dead promising and guaranteeing our resurrection from the dead in Him. And because we are His and in our Baptism we are filled full of His overflowing righteousness we trust that we will be numbered among those receiving the eternal resurrection of life. Dear ones this in why we don’t want to be half forgiven of our sins, no in Christ we want to be entirely emptied of our sins. We likewise don’t want to be made half alive in Christ we want to be made fully alive in Christ. And in The End the Lord doesn’t desire to give us half of an eternal life with Him in the new heavens and the new earth, He desires to provide us the fullness of what He has won for us through His cross and passion, through His death and resurrection. The World promises fulfilment in the worldly thing of life but such promises are actually empty of true and lasting joy, the empty tomb of Christ however promises the fullness of a truly joyful eternal life in Him, a life that we embrace now even as we await its revealed fullness at Jesus’ return in glory.

Do you let your expectations get the better of you? Are you one who is now open to being surprised by the workings of Christ Jesus in your life? For those times where your narrow expectations have brought you sadness and disappointment and confusion remember God’s “grace toward [you] was not in vain,”[7] yes “your life is hidden with Christ in God [in such a way that] when Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.”[8] The unexpected empty tomb of Jesus on Easter Morning means you can now expect the unexpected in your life when faced by sin, death, the devil and the World. You can expect forgiveness, eternal life, union with God, and the promise of peace which the World cannot give. And unlike Geraldo Rivera our Lord Jesus delivers, the empty tomb is not a disappointment for the countless Christians through time like the empty vault of Al Capone was to those 30 million viewers back in 1986.  What then can you expect as a Christian when you are looking for a glass this Easter Morning? A glass that is simultaneously, at one and the same time, both: empty and bone dry of your sin and everything that would dame you, while spilling over with God’s love and grace in Christ Jesus His Son and with everything that saves you. ‘Christ is Risen’ ... ‘He’s risen indeed, Alleluia’ and 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] Luke 23:55–56; 24:1–3
[2] Luke 24:22–24
[3] Matthew 27:62–66
[4] Matthew 28:11–15
[5] 1 Corinthians 15:14, 19-20
[6] John 5:28–29
[7] 1 Corinthians 15:10a
[8] Colossians 3:3–4

Photo Credit: detail of William-Adolphe Bouguereau's  “Three Marys at the Tomb (“Le Saintes Femmes au Tombeau"), 1890 from wikimedia.commons.