Day 316 · Year 1 · The Story of Scripture
He is not here
Easter morning is not metaphor.
Today's passage
Luke 24:1-8
1On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women came to the tomb, bringing the spices they had prepared.
2They found the stone rolled away from the tomb,
3but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
4While they were puzzling over this, suddenly two men in radiant apparel stood beside them.
5As the women bowed their faces to the ground in terror, the two men asked them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?
6He is not here; He has risen! Remember how He told you while He was still in Galilee:
7‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.’”
8Then they remembered His words.
Berean Standard Bible · public domain
Reflection
The women come to the tomb with spices, ready to do the work of grief. They get angels and an empty grave instead. 'Why do you seek the living among the dead?' is one of the most quietly devastating sentences in the Bible. We do this constantly — we go looking for life in places that only deal in death. The resurrection means the universe has been broken open. Death is not the final fact about anyone who is in Christ. If that is true, then your most hopeless story is not actually finished yet.
From the great tradition · paraphrased
Macrina the Younger · Cappadocians & Alexandrians · 4th c. · Cappadocia
Macrina the Younger comforted her grieving brother Gregory with this very hope — that for those in Christ, the grave is real but not final, and that resurrection is the last word over a believer's body.
Paraphrase only. Scripture, not any teacher, is the authority.
Think it through
- What were the women expecting at the tomb, and what did they find?
- What does the angels' question imply about where we often look for life?
- What 'finished' story in your life might the resurrection still rewrite?
A prayer to pray
Bring the part of your life that feels most dead to the risen Christ, and ask him to be Lord even there.