Sunday Came!

 Welcome back.

We are starting the last chapter of Luke today. In the narrative so far, Jesus has been crucified and buried in Joseph's unused tomb.  Here is my tranlation of what happens next (Luke 24:1-12):

1 Very early, on the first day of the week, the women went to the tomb, carrying the spices that they had prepared.  2 There, they found that the stone had been rolled away from the tomb.  3 They entered the tomb, but they did not find Jesus’ body.  4 They were perplexed about this, but then they saw two men standing by them in very shiny garments.  

5 They were afraid and bowed with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you search for the living among the dead? He is not here! He has risen! Remember what he said to you when he was in Galilee.  7 He said, “The Son of Man will be handed over into the hands of sinful men.  Then he will be crucified, but after three days, he will be raised.” 8 Then they remembered what he had said.  
9 When they had returned from the tomb, they told all of these things to the Eleven and all of the others. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary, mother of James, and a few others, who told this to the Apostles.  11 What the women were saying seemed like nonsense to them, so the Apostles did not believe them.  12 But then Peter got up and ran to the tomb.  He bent over and saw just the linen cloth.  He left there amazed by what had happened. 

The women observed where Jesus had been buried, then returned home to prepare the spices, rested on the Sabbath, and now on Sunday morning, they have returned to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus. 

Mark16:3 records that they ask each other about who would move the stone for them, but Luke mentions only that when they arrive the stone had already been moved.

They entered the tomb expecting to find Jesus’ body, but it was not there.  Luke tells us that they were very perplexed about this. We can only speculate about all of the thoughts going through their minds in that moment, but resurrection from the dead was probably not one of them. What they do see is two men in very shiny clothing.  Luke does not identify them as angels.  (Matthew only mentions one, but does identify him as an angel.) While not specifically calling the men angels, Luke does make the point that the women become fearful, which seems to be the usual response to seeing angels.  

The men in shiny clothes ask the women, “Why do you search for the living among the dead?”  Then they remind the women of what Jesus had been saying all along.  He had told them repeatedly that he would be killed and then rise from the dead, going as far back when they were all still in Galilee. (Luke 9:22)  Jesus had predicted his death numerous times and told them of his resurrection at least twice (9:22, 18:33)  Yet, all of this had taken them all by surprise.  The angels reminded them of what Jesus had been saying to them, and they remembered.  Undoubtedly, at the time Jesus had said it, it made no sense to them.  At this point, with an empty tomb and in the presence of angels, they were still slow to understand.  (In John’s account, Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene, as she stands outside the tomb weeping, and she mistakes Jesus for a gardener.)  Verse 8 tells us that the women do remember what Jesus had said.  So, whether it was easy or difficult to convince these women of Jesus’ resurrection, they do return convinced. 

They had after all come there to anoint a corpse, and did not expect to find a resurrected Christ.  

Verse 9 they return to the Eleven and the other disciples and tell them about what they have discovered at the tomb. Luke records that what the women were saying seemed like nonsense to the apostles. The Greek word used here is λῆρος (lēros).The word is defined as “that which is devoid of anything worthwhile, idle talk, nonsense, humbug.”  So, even though they had heard Jesus’ prophecies more than once, they were initially difficult to convince of its truth, and saw such talk as nonsense.

Even though the apostles regarded what these women were saying as nonsense, Peter does get up and run to the tomb. Like the women, Peter finds the tomb empty. Even though Jesus had been telling them that he would rise from the dead, the idea of it is so unimaginable, that when he does it, even his closest associates have a hard time believing it. It is not clear what Peter is thinking.  The Greek uses the word θαυμάζων (Thaumazone) which can mean wondering about, or it could mean marveling at.  

Friday had been terrible, but Sunday did come, and it was glorious.  Those who had been slow to comprehend what Jesus had been saying all along, were now slow to comprehend what was happening right in front of them.  Perhaps what they were seeing was just too amazing to be real. But it was real.