The Death of Death(2)

Mahovan Mahu

Matthew 28:1-10

What was the impact of the empty tomb on the disciples and eventually on us?

1. Do not be afraid, the tomb is empty.

That is the first sentence we hear from the mouth of the angel is, “DO NOT BE AFRAID.”

Of course they would be afraid; if you and I were there we would have been afraid. “He is not here, he is risen.” Death is defeated; death has died; it is death of death.

“Come, see the place where he lay.”

The tomb is empty.

Many famous people died, and their tombs became shrines for their followers or fans. One can go to Mecca and find Mohammad’s tomb. People make pilgrimages to pray around the tomb.

It was also a Jewish custom to turn some famous rabbis’ tombs to shrines so that the disciples of those rabbis would go to the tomb to remember him and pray.

Why did the disciples not turn Jesus’ tomb into a shrine?

His tomb is empty; his tomb is nothing.

Jesus was worshiped as a living God; he was not the memory of a dead person laying in the tomb. He was a living presence in their lives, and is today in our lives. I do not need to know where his tomb is and, I do not need to know what it looks like (like his face).

2. Go and tell

The next thing was told by the angel:

“ 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.” (6-7)

Go and tell, go and inform, go and spread this news to all.

-On their way back the women saw Jesus. They fell down on their knees and worshiped him. Jesus also said:

“Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”(10)

-In the gospel of John, Mary Magdalene was confused and did not know what to do. When Jesus saw her, he revealed himself to her; then he said:  “but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” (John 20:17)

It reminds me the angel when he said to the shepherds to go and find Jesus in the manger. Then the shepherds went and told the story all over worshiping and praising God.

Jesus did not want his disciples to go out and tell about him. That was not the time of declaration. Now, it is time to go and tell.

“Go tell it on the mountain, over the hill and everywhere that Jesus was born and is not in the grave, he is risen; death is dead!”

3. Jesus is raised; it is a reality and not fiction

We do not find in Jewish literature that the Messiah was going to be crucified and risen from the dead. In the Jewish understanding, the concept of resurrection exists, only in the end times as a public resurrection. For the evangelist who wrote the gospels, it was totally new to them. Although Jesus often mentioned what would happen to him, yet after the resurrection the picture became clear.

What is written in the gospels is totally new to them, and they could not fabricate a story. They saw and experienced the resurrected Jesus.

Peter in his first message in Acts 2 says:

“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God …you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.”(22-24)

If it were fabricated story, they would not have chosen women to be the first people to witness the resurrected Jesus. Those days, a woman’s testimony was not considered a reliable witness. In a fabricated story, they certainly would not have mentioned that women saw the resurrected Christ.

Let us summarize:

Do not be afraid.

God raised our Lord from the dead.

Sin and death are defeated.

We have new life with Him; therefore:

Go and tell

To all people to all nations that Jesus Christ is the Lord and Savior.

We do not have the tomb of Jesus as a shrine. Christ is alive; He is Lord and King

The early church had a very short credo: “Jesus is Lord.”

I love this credo. When Christ is our Lord, it means we obey Him, love Him and worship Him.

Last Sunday I asked you to spend the week worshiping Jesus as the king in your life. Today I ask you to continue worshiping the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the resurrected Christ who defeated sin and death, who gave us new life, a new beginning.

“Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.”

Past ,present, future

Halleluiah Chorus (Messiah)

Amen