The news of death is perhaps the most life-altering news we can receive. That news can come in different forms. It might be the news that a favorite celebrity has died. It might be a phone call about a family member. It might be the assessment of your own doctor, “I’m sorry, there is nothing more we can do.”
News like that is something that sort of shakes you right down to your soul. Death is an ever-present reality in this life. Every day around the world about 170,000 people die. Flowers die. Pets die. Death is everywhere all the time and yet we do a pretty good job of forgetting about it. At least, we do a good job of forgetting about it until it affects us personally in some way. That news of death reaches us and we’re left trembling; shocked, horrified, saddened.
One of the most shocking and horrifying kinds of death is crucifixion. Who had been expecting this? Only days earlier Jesus was riding into Jerusalem while people sang his praises. Who could have seen that before the week was out he would be arrested, tried, convicted of no crime but nailed to a cross anyway? Who could have predicted that by the end of the week the one his disciples confessed as the Son of the living God would be lying dead in a tomb?
Well, Jesus did. Jesus had been describing these events to his disciples for some time already. Jesus was not caught off guard. Why was this news so shocking to his disciples? Still, I suppose we can all sympathize with them. The power of death is terrifying. The might of the grave is unyielding. Wouldn’t you also tremble at that news, had you been one of his followers: Jesus, the Son of David, the Son of God—he’s dead. Tortured. Crucified. Lifeless and in a tomb.
The women weren’t expecting any other news when they headed to the tomb early on Sunday morning. They had watched to see where he was buried on Friday. The burial was done in haste so as to be completed before sunset. Now that the Sabbath was over, they would wrap and anoint his body with the best kind of care and honor they knew. Mark names three women: Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome. There were others involved as well. Luke names Joanna. It seems that they had prepared some burial spices already on Friday and then bought some more as early as they could on Sunday, so that right away at sunrise they could already be on their way to the tomb, which was a short ways outside of Jerusalem.
In their eagerness to serve though they realized that they had forgotten an important detail. “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance to the tomb for us?” They wondered. The heavy stone was put there to keep animals out and to make it difficult for people to tamper with it. It was too heavy for these women to move. Would there be someone they could ask to help them? What would they do?
What they had forgotten or didn’t know at all was that there was more than a big rock to keep them out. The chief priests had gotten permission from Pontius Pilate to place a guard there at the tomb, and it had been sealed with Pilate’s signet ring. If this was a Roman guard unit it was not, as some illustrations depict, two bored guys sitting on rocks outside expecting nothing to happen. A standard Roman guard unit was 16 men. They were to stand at attention at all times with very strict rules, and if there was any truth to the worry of the chief priests, they were prepared to by ambushed 11 or more disciples.
In reality, the disciples were in hiding out of fear of the Jews. It was only a handful of women who were venturing out to the tomb. The guards probably would have laughed at them and told them to go away. But the women never actually met the guards. When they got there the guards were gone, the seal was broken, and the door to the tomb was standing open. Their worry about the heavy stone door was needless, but now they had a different question. What happened here?
It was not just the door that was not as they expected. Inside the tomb was not as they expected either. Mark writes
As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. He said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’ ”
What do you even do with news like this? News of death may be about the most life-altering news we can receive. It’s shocking. It’s horrifying. It’s saddening. But we know it. We know death. It’s all we know, actually. The news of death is the last news we receive about someone because death is the end.
But Jesus died, and now they were receiving new news. He was crucified. He was dead, yes. You know it. You saw it with your own eyes. But now he is not dead. Now he is not here. Now he has risen.
You might think that these women would have been overjoyed at this news. You might think that their faces would have beamed with smiles and they would have been laughing and screaming and jumping up and down for joy, but instead, what does Mark tell us?
They went out and hurried away from the tomb, trembling and perplexed. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.
They trembled. They were perplexed. They were afraid. Why? They trembled with fear because death is a mighty power. It claims every person, ever since the Fall into sin. The wages of sin is death, and every single one of us has earned it in full. That’s a power you don’t escape, and while you might avoid it for a little while, it always catches up to you. Death is a fearsome thing because of its great power. David cries out in Psalm 6 “My bones are trembling. My soul is terrified.”
But for as mighty as death is, now these women were being told of something stronger. At this mighty power death is brought to an end. Unstoppable death is stopped. It is death itself that must die. Who can fathom such great power? And so they trembled at this news.
They also trembled with fear because this must mean that Jesus is truly God. They confessed this truth. They held to him as Lord and God. But now what they were seeing was the proof that this humble man they had been following was no less than the eternal, almighty God, the one who knows all things. And the one who judges. And if death is not the end, then death is no escape from the judgment of this Lord Jesus either. He will come in glory. The dead will be raised to life. They will be separated as a shepherd separates sheep and goats, and what should become of us in our sins? What should be done to mankind, the creation that nailed its creator to a cross and danced and jeered while he died?
They trembled with fear because of the enormity of the question of what this means for them. The tomb is empty. He is not there. If news of death is life-altering, some of the most life-altering news a person can hear, then what is this? Death is ended. The Devil is powerless. The world foams at the mouth and rages against its God as it did when they shouted, “Crucify him!” but all it’s rage breaks like a wave against a rock. That rock is Christ, our rock, and our salvation.
Those women did not need to tremble. They did not need to be afraid. Jesus went to the cross for them. He was laid in the tomb for their sake. And he rose to take away their fears and to give them forgiveness and life and salvation. And this also he does for you.
Do you tremble with fear? Do you tremble at the news of death? Do you tremble over the guilt of which Satan accuses you? Do you tremble over your weakness to temptation? Do you tremble over your own mortality and the judgment that waits? Do you tremble at the thought that you will stand before the glory of God?
You need not tremble at this good news. He is not here. He has risen. His is the power that causes death to die, and he ends death for you. Baptized into his death and resurrection you are already dead. You died with Christ, to live with him forever. He is the eternal, almighty, all-knowing God, who will come to judge the living and the dead. And he who knows your sins and the punishment that they deserve has paid the price in full with his own holy and precious blood. If God is the one who justifies you, who is the one who condemns?
And this news is truly enormous, but it’s not a question. It’s not life-altering, it’s life-giving. The living Jesus gives to you himself, in Word and Sacrament. He creates in you a new heart. He gives you a new life, life that cannot be taken from you because it belongs to him, our risen Lord, our Living God, our rock and our salvation.
You need not tremble at this good news. Today the light of life shines. Today your sins are forgiven. Today your heaven is secure. Today Satan is defeated and hell is broken and death is destroyed and Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed!
Alleluia!
Amen.
— Pastor Seth Georgson