The Empty Tomb

The Empty Tomb

Mark 16:1-8

How are we to imagine the resurrection? When I was just a boy, we had a swimming pool in the backyard. I would play a game with the other boys in the neighborhood. We would take a handful of pennies and toss them into the deep end, and we would dive in and go after them. It was so much fun. Two … four … ten … fifteen—greed would overcome us and we would stay down there as long as we could.

But there came a moment when you just could not stay at the bottom any longer, and we would shoot upwards to the surface, bursting through the water into the air. I imagine that was what it was like with Jesus, only a million times more!

Think of how humbled He was. He had been pushed down, down, down, and finally in one explosive moment the grave could no longer hold him. In a brilliant moment on Sunday morning, Matthew tells us, “There was a violent earthquake, and an angel descended from heaven and rolled the stone away. His appearance was like lightning, his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid that they shook and became like dead me.”

Matthew mentions one angel, Luke mentions two, but that is probably just those we were allowed to see. There were many more, maybe thousands more, that watched. As Peter says, “angels long to look into these things”. Jesus came right through his grave clothes, in his sacred human body, glorious and radiant, to the cheers of angels’ rising to the stars! That is what we see in this story. The empty tomb speaks of a living God who won the victory over hell and death for us. (Read)

1 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, so that they might come and anoint Him.

2 Very early on the first day of the week, they *came to the tomb when the sun had risen.

3 They were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?”

4 Looking up, they *saw that the stone had been rolled away, although it was extremely large.

5 Entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting at the right, wearing a white robe; and they were amazed.

6 And he *said to them, “Do not be amazed; you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen; He is not here; behold, here is the place where they laid Him.

7 “But go, tell His disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see Him, just as He told you.’ ”

8 They went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had gripped them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

Mark’s account of the resurrection of Jesus is just what we would expect. It is simple, straight forward, it is abrupt. That is the way he writes. If you have been here with us throughout this study this is what you have come to expect. Mark doesn’t waste time or words. He tells the story in a rapid fashion, and many times you must go to the other gospels to get the details.

Mark 16:1-8 represents the end of the gospel of Mark. This is where he finishes his work. Notice in your bibles verses 9-20 are not in the original manuscript. There are scholars who study textual criticism and they come to conclusions about what is original and what is not. And we are certain today that verses 9-20 were added later to the gospel of Mark.

We don’t know who added it, or why it was added. Maybe those who were apart of the early church didn’t like how abruptly Mark ended the story, we don’t know. What we do know is verses 9-20 are consistent with the rest of scripture. So, they are true, they were just not originally apart of Mark’s gospel. So, we will stop at verse 8.

What we see in verses 1-8 is the most important day in the history of the world. It is the day of redemption. It is the day Jesus Christ proved He is the Messiah, fulfilled the promises of God, and conquered hell and death. It is the day that changed the trajectory of the world forever.

Romans 1:1-4 says, Paul, a bond servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh. Who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of Holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

According to Paul, the resurrection is proof Jesus is the Messiah by the power of God through the Holy Spirit.

It is important that we understand that the resurrection is essential to the gospel. This is not just a part of the story “this is the story.” Without the resurrection there is no gospel. Without the resurrection there is no reason for us to be here and our faith is in vain. Without the resurrection we can just go home, and wI’ll go home lost, with no hope of heaven.

But praise God we have these verses. They teach us of the resurrection. Jesus is alive, ascended into heaven and seated at the right hand of power. He is raised from the dead and He is coming again. We are forgiven and free and we have a future. Christ has been raised; we too will be raised. What we learn is; the empty tomb speaks of a living God who conquered hell and death for us.

A Preparation of Love

The first thing I want you to see in this story is “A Preparation of Love” Vs. 1-3. We see faithful women who love Jesus, and they are ready to serve Him even in the tomb.

Notice their obedience to God, Vs 1, says, “When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, so that they might come and anoint Him.” These precious women obey the command of God even though they cannot wait to get to Jesus.

They recognize the Sabbath, they take their day of rest and then as soon as they can, immediately following 6pm on Saturday, they go out and buy the spices they need to anoint the body of Christ.

These are faithful obedient believers in God. But who are these women? Luke 8:2 tells us that Mary Magdalene is a woman that Jesus cast seven evil spirits out of. It is no wonder we find her here; she clings to Jesus. Even in His death she remembers what He has done for her. The Bible says, to whom much is given much is required and we forgive much because we have been forgiven much. So, it is not a surprise to find Mary Magdalene here.

Mary the mother of James is here as well, she is the mother of the other disciple named James, the one we do not here very much about, however we see she is a faithful follower. And Salome was the wife of Zebedee and the mother of James, and John the fishermen from Galilee.

These are the women who come to the tomb. Luke tells us there were other women there also. So, Jesus had an entourage of faithful women following Him and ministering to Him even after death.

Then we are told why they came. They bought spices to anoint the body. The Jews didn’t embalm their dead, they wrapped the body in oils and spices to slow the process of decay. But what is interesting to me is these women saw Jesus buried. They saw Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus take down the body, anoint it, and wrap it in a new linen cloth. So, this is additional. This is a labor of love, not something that is necessary. It is something they wanted to do.

They want to honor Jesus. Notice when all of this is taking place, Vs. 2 says, “Very early on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen.” These women have such a love for Jesus they can’t even wait until the next day, they want to do this as soon as possible.

Matthew tells us this took place before dawn. Luke says, it was early before dawn, John tells us it was still dark outside, and Mark says, “when the sun had risen.” Now skeptics would say this is a discrepancy in the Bible. But that is why we call them skeptics, but there really is no conflict here. When you harmonize the stories, you learn they left for the tomb while it was still dark outside, and they arrived just as the sun was coming up. (Lee Stroebel was a skeptic)

Also notice it is. “The first day of the week.” This is Sunday and this would change the day of worship forever. The Sabbath would no longer be the Sabbath for God’s people, but God’s people would now begin to worship on Sunday because that is when Jesus rises from the dead.

Look at the question in Vs. 3 because their question is revealing. Vs. 3 “They were saying to one another, “whom will role away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb.” Mark is the only one that records their thoughts. There are two important things I don’t want you to miss.

1, These women have no plan, just a passion. These women don’t know how they’re going to get in the tomb and they don’t care, they are going there anyway. You have to admire their persistence. They teach us an important lesson; Faith presses on in spite of the obstacles. Faith doesn’t give up because it doesn’t know the outcome.

I can’t help but wonder what the obstacles are in your life? What prevents you from serving God? What keeps you home on Sunday instead of coming to worship? All of this is meant to show us their devotion. They were preparing in faith not even knowing if they could accomplish the task.

2. I want you to notice they were not only faithful, but they were forgetful. Because they are not even thinking about a resurrection. It’s not even on their radar. Jesus had told them on three separate occasions that He would rise again. In Mark 8:31, 9:31 and 10:34, Jesus was clear and said He would be handed over to the Romans. He will be crucified and buried, and on the third day He will rise again. There is no mistaking that.

There are only three reasons why they were not expecting the resurrection. They either forgot what He said, they didn’t understand what He said, or they didn’t believe it. Regardless of why, these women are not expecting the resurrection. But it’s not just the women, the men didn’t expect it either. When the women finally tell the disciples what happened Luke 24:11 tells us, “But these words appeared to them as nonsense, and they would not believe them.

Whats interesting to me is it didn’t matter if they believed it, Jesus accomplished it anyway.

Think about what that means; That means what God has done for us doesn’t depend on our ability to understand it or believe it. God’s ability to save us is greater than our ability to comprehend it. God’s saving work in my life doesn’t depend on me.

That is important, because there are times in my life that I forget who I am in Christ. There are times I fail to do what I am supposed to do. I am bothered by the fact that there are times when my mind is not connected to my heart, and I lose my love for God. I am so grateful that the work of God in my life does not depend on me, but on the Son of God who saved me.

A Surprising Encounter

The next thing I want you to see in this story is “A Surprising Encounter.” Vs. 4-8. These faithful women are in for the surprise of their life by what they encounter at the tomb. The first thing they encounter is the stone has been rolled away.

Notice Vs. 4, “Looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, although it was extremely large.” Notice the emphasis on the size of the stone. “It was extremely large.” In other words, it didn’t roll away on its own. Matthew 28 tells us an angel descended from heaven and rolled the stone away like a beach ball.

But what is interesting to me is; the biggest obstacle these women faced, this stone, was already taken care of by God. God went ahead of them and removed the obstacles. And God will do the same in your life. God is always out in front of us removing the obstacles we face. He calls us to trust Him and serve Him and leave the details to Him.

Also, it is important we understand the stone was not rolled away, so Jesus’ cold come out of the tomb. A resurrected Jesus didn’t need the stone moved; He could walk right through the stone. But the stone was moved so the women could enter in. So, they could verify the resurrection. They are the first eyewitnesses to the empty tomb.

The second surprising encounter in this story; is an angel. Vs. 5 says, “Entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting at the right, wearing a white robe, and they were amazed.” Mark calls him a young man, because he is focusing on his strength and vitality. The other gospel writers tell us he is an angel. Luke 24:4 says, he was dazzling in appearance. This angel has come from the presence of the Lord. He has descended from heaven as a messenger of God into the world.

We are told that these women were amazed by what they saw. But the word amazed here just doesn’t do it justice. This word means they were terrified. They were shocked and stunned by what they saw. But as shocking as the sight of this angel is, it is nothing compared to what they hear him say.

Look at Vs. 6, “And he said to them, “Do not be amazed; you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified.” Notice the emphasis on the humanity of Christ, Jesus the Nazarene. Mark does this on purpose, because there had to be a human body for there to be a resurrection. God doesn’t have a physical body. When the Bible talks about the eyes of the Lord, or the arm of the Lord, that’s an anthropomorphism. A human characteristic applied to God.

God is a Spirit who took on a human body so that He could die for the sin of the world. God cannot die, so there had to be a body. The Bible says, “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and the wages of sin are death.” God had to take on a human body to pay the penalty for our sin.

Next, we have the announcement, “He is risen, He is not here. Behold, here is the place where they laid Him.” The phrase He is risen literally means He has been raised, resurrected from the dead. This is the greatest Surprise of their life. Notice the word “Behold.” In other words, “look” if you don’t believe me. The body is gone, He is not here.

Vs. 7 gives us the instructions. He says, “But go,” tell His disciples and Peter.” I love that Peter is singled out here. Remember it was Peter who denied Christ three times. And really what we see here is the grace and mercy of God. He is the God of second chances. And what he is saying is; go tell Peter he is still on the team. Tell him to put his jersey on and get back out on the field. Remember Marks gospel is Peter’s story. Peter is the one dictating to Mark what to write.

Now notice the reminder in Vs. 7, “He is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see Him, just as He told you.” Again, the message here is nothing has changed. The game is still on, do what I have told you to do.

You see there is no plan B with God, there is only plan A. God doesn’t call audibles at the line of scrimmage. And He is never making it up as He goes. That is important because it means; He has laid out His plan for our life, He goes before us, and He is in control.

A Startling Response

The final thing I want to show you in this story is the Startling Response. How do these women respond to what they have seen and heard? Vs. 8 “They went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had gripped them; and they said nothing to anyone for they were afraid.”

That’s it. That is the end of the story. What an odd ending. That probably explains Vs. 9-20 that were added. Someone else thought this needed a better ending. But what Mark has given us is the inspired Word of God and I believe it is exactly what God wanted us to have.

Notice what these women do; they run from the tomb. They run because they are trembling and astonished. They are scared to death, and it shouldn’t surprise us, none of us have ever seen a resurrection. None of us have ever seen an angel from heaven. So, they are running, but where are they running to? They ran straight to the disciples with the good news.

When Mark says, “They said nothing to anyone.” He means they said nothing to anyone on the way. They were terrified and amazed, but full of Joy. And that is where Mark ends it. And I accept this as the ending of Mark because the final phrase he uses in Vs. 8, “For they were afraid.” That is a phrase we see throughout his gospel.

For example, Mark 4:41 after Jesus calmed the storm, we are told “the disciples were very much afraid.” Mark 5:15 after Jesus has healed the demoniac, we are told the people became frightened. Mark 5:33 when the woman was healed with an issue of blood she fell before Him in fear and trembling. Mark 6:50 when Jesus came walking to the disciples on the water, they were terrified. Throughout the gospel of Mark when anyone encountered the power of God in Jesus Christ it caused fear. That is why I find it amazing in our culture today that there is so little fear of God.

Conclusion

What we learn from this story is; the empty tomb speaks of a living God who won the victory over hell and death for us. There are a couple of important takeaways from this message.

1. Faith presses on despite the obstacles. These women were preparing in faith not even knowing if they could accomplish the task.Faith doesn’t give up because it doesn’t know the outcome. God was out in front of them, and He is out in front of us, removing the obstacles we face.

2. What God has done for us doesn’t depend on our ability to understand it or believe it. Jesus told the disciples several times exactly what was going to happen, yet they didn’t get it, and that’s okay. Because the saving work of God In your life is the saving work of God, and it doesn’t depend on you. You can’t mess it up. But you can be confident of this; He is going to finish it.