He Is Not Here

Rejoice! He Has Risen From The Dead!

4.5.26 [Matthew 28:1-15] River of Life (The Festival of Resurrection)

Can you trust your eyes? There was a time when you answered this question without hesitation. Of course, I can trust my eyes. But things have changed. And I’m not talking about your prescription. There was a time when anyone said: I saw it with my own eyes! that that settled matters. But not anymore. 

We live in a day and age where so many photos have been heavily edited, where so many videos have been doctored and tampered and tinkered with, and where most recently, AI agents have learned how to generate photos and videos from nothing more than a script, that many of us feel like we can no longer trust our own eyes or ears.

So how can we know what’s true? What’s really real? What do we do when we want or need to know what’s going on? 

We gravitate toward sources we deem to be more or most reliable.  Yet even there, we tread lightly. We know their track records aren’t perfect. Facts aren’t always double-checked. We know, in an effort to tell us first, they’ve steered us wrong. So we navigate current events with an old Russian proverb. Doveryai, no proveryai. Trust, but verify.

It’s more work, of course. But getting to the truth, knowing what really happened and why, is worth the effort. On the flip side, if you’re telling the truth, you’re not threatened by the verification process. At first, you might be a bit annoyed that someone doesn’t trust you right off the bat, but you get it. We live in a world where we have to verify. 

We might think this is just a modern problem. But Matthew’s world was no different. They didn’t have AI or photo or video editing apps, but they still had trust issues. We see that at the end of our reading. Mt. 28:15 This story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day. What was that story? That Jesus’ disciples came to his tomb during the night and stole his body while the Roman soldiers were asleep. How likely is this to be true? Most of Jesus’ disciples abandoned him in the Garden of Gethsemane. One of them even betrayed him. Two followed to his trial where one, Peter, denied even knowing him. John was the only one at the cross. 

At that very moment, his disciples were hiding behind locked doors out of fear of the Jewish leaders. Now maybe they got brave, hatched a plan, and then got scared that they would get caught. Maybe. 

But then there’s the soldiers’ side. Roman soldiers were typically assigned to posts in groups of four. If a Roman soldier fell asleep on the job, they were executed. If they lost something they were assigned to keep, they were executed. Rome didn’t believe in slaps on the wrist.

So you have scared disciples and motivated soldiers, and also a heavy stone. How did the disciples find a tomb they didn’t know in the dark and move the heavy stone without stirring a single soldier? This widely circulated story doesn’t make much sense. Lies rarely do. 

But the truth can stand up to verification. In fact, in this case, it invites it. 

Matthew tells us of two Marys who were going to the tomb that first Easter morning. Before they arrived, they felt a violent earthquake. Mt. 28:2 An angel of the Lord came down from heaven and rolled back the stone and scared the soldiers half to death. 

But the soldiers weren’t the only ones who were terrified. Matthew tells us that the women who saw the angel sitting on the rolled away stone, bright as lightning and clothes as white as snow, were afraid. 

It’s the first thing that the angel addresses. Mt. 28:5-6 Don’t be afraid, for I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here. He has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 

This story doesn’t just stand up to our desire to verify; it invites it. If this were made up by the disciples, they wouldn’t have had women be the first to find the tomb empty. In that day and age, women weren’t even allowed to be witnesses in court. Not only that, but the Bible tells us they were afraid and didn’t connect the dots of what Jesus had been saying to what had just happened. They were still looking for his body. 

And that’s why God sent an angel to open the tomb. Jesus didn’t need the stone rolled away so he could exit the tomb. In fact, none of the Gospels speak about that miraculous moment other than to just say God raised him from the dead or Jesus rose. They simply state what happened, not how: Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia!  

But imagine God just saying Jesus rose, but you can’t go in the tomb to verify? God wants us to trust, but he also invited the women in to verify. Yet, even after they had this invitation, even after seeing the empty tomb, they Mt. 28:8 hurried away, afraid, yet filled with joy. 

Why were they afraid? What were they afraid of? Were they afraid of the angel? The soldiers coming to and blaming them for taking his body? 

They were afraid because the realities of the resurrection hadn’t yet settled in. It was all so new. So shocking. So incredible. 

In the hurriedness of our lives, this is where we live, too, don’t we? 

The good news that Christ is risen, He is risen indeed. Alleluia! isn’t new news to you. You knew that before you took your seat this morning. But the reverberations of the resurrection are still coming. We don’t see it all, right away, so we live with fear & joy. 

We live with fear, because so much of what we see and hear and feel and perceive is frightening. Our world gets rocked, far more than we’re ready for. Life begins with little tremors. 

Siblings take your toys and the attention you crave. The teacher doesn’t always help or applaud you. The coach doesn’t give you the playing time you think you deserve. Your friends lie to your face and behind your back. Your parents make & break promises.

As you grow older, the tremors increase in intensity. Schools get bigger and we feel smaller and less important. We fail at things we’re used to doing with ease. Teenage years are fraught with heartbreak and rejection. Every failure feels like it upends your life. 

As we grow up, we try to earthquake-proof our lives. We surround ourselves with reliable people and steady work. Yet, even there, we find out that things are not really as stable as we’d like. We endure abuse and insults and gossip from those we thought we could trust. We are slandered, defamed, and stabbed in the back. The ground beneath our feet gives way. 

Then come the tsunamis. Waves of pain, guilt, and grief as we get sick or get laid off. The family we spent a lifetime making sacrifices for, falls apart. Kids dishonor their parents and cut them out of their lives. Even those who’ve promised till death let us down. We look back at our lives with more than a tinge of regret and guilt.  

So we tighten our circle. We develop a thick hide of self-reliance & cynicism. And then that ground gives way, too. Our body betrays us. Our own senses begin to deceive us. Our gut gets it wrong and our minds begin to mislead us. We’re haunted by our past failures. Ashamed of words we can’t unsay and deeds we didn’t do.  

In a world that is constantly quaking and shaking, we need this solid good news. Christ is risen, He is risen indeed. Alleluia! This is good news we can trust and verify. 

Because look at what happens as these women trust this message and are on their way to tell the disciples that Christ is Risen! The Risen Christ appears. And he speaks. Greetings! is what he says. He came to meet them. He came to speak to their fears. He came to assure them that what they heard, what they trusted, could be verified. It was really real. That is what our resurrected Lord does. He meets people who are afraid and fills them with joy. 

That little exhortation: Don’t be afraid! only has value if the person saying it has power. They have to know what you are afraid of and have done something about it. That’s exactly what Jesus did. Jesus lived in a broken, deceitful, and wicked world. He says: Don’t be afraid. Take heart. I have overcome the world. They have done their worst and I have won. Are you afraid of your sins? Christ died for your sins, and more than that, the sins of the world. His Resurrection is proof that the death paid for all sins in full. Are you afraid of getting old, getting sick, and dying? Christ has power over those things, too. He has healed the sick. He has risen from the dead. He promised to give us redeemed and glorified bodies, just as he has now. We can trust his Word and verify his works.  

Our Resurrected Lord has conquered our enemies and kept all of his promises. And so we have no reason to fear. Things in life may not go the way we planned, but our God promises that he is working out all things for the good of those who love him, who  have been called according to his purpose. Look back at your life. Can you verify that? Has God been good to his promises to forgive your sins? On the cross he paid the debt you owed and he puts the resurrection receipt in your hand. Of course! Has God worked out some of the bad things in your life to develop your character, your patience, your empathy, and your perseverance? Of course! 

But what about the rest, you ask? Well, you have already seen his hand in your life in a few ways. There are others he is still working on and through that you don’t see today. And there are more than a handful that you won’t see until you see his glory face to face. We walk by faith, not merely by sight. So why should you trust God in these matters that you cannot verify? 

Because God has been faithful unto death and beyond. God made a promise to die in your place. And he did that. God made a promise to rise on the third day. And he did that. Even when no one believed he would do it. God works through suffering and death to secure glory and eternal life for us. And God is always faithful. Even when you can’t trust your eyes, you can trust the one who has declared I AM the Resurrection and the Life and has done that. Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia!