What the Bible says about Easter

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Luke 24:1 - Luke 24:12

Jesus Has Risen

24 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.

They found the stone rolled away from the tomb,

but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them.

In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?

He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee:

‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’

Then they remembered his words.

When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others.

10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles.

11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense.

12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

24:1–12 The empty tomb (cf. Mt. 28:1–10; Mk. 16:1–8; Jn. 20:1–10). The two men, clothed in the shining garments associated with heavenly beings (cf. 9:29), gently criticized the women for expecting to find in the tomb one who had prophesied his resurrection from the dead (9:22; 18:33). The naming of the women (10) is perhaps meant to identify them as credible witnesses.

Not surprisingly the historicity of the story has often been questioned. It has been suggested, for example, that in fact the women went to the wrong tomb, but it is incredible that both they and the later visitors could have been mistaken on this point. Or it is argued that, although the stories of ‘resurrection appearances’ may be broadly historical, the story of the empty tomb developed later and is legendary. But the tradition of the empty tomb is probably implied in so early an account as 1 Cor. 15:3–7, and the NT understanding of the resurrection is of a bodily resurrection. To hold that the bones of Jesus remain buried in Palestine is to hold a different understanding of the resurrection from that in the NT and rests on sheer supposition.

Yet, even if the basic story of the empty tomb and the appearances is accepted, it is still difficult to harmonize the various accounts with one another, just as would be the case with some modern, shattering, event which had been seen by different witnesses. This absolves the witnesses from any charge of collusion with one another, but it does leave some loose ends untied. (For an attempt to deal with the problem, see J. Wenham, Easter Enigma [Paternoster Press, 1984].)

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1 Peter 1:3

Praise to God for a Living Hope

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

1:3 according to His abundant mercy: Our salvation is grounded in God’s mercy, His act of compassion toward us despite our condition of sinfulness. has begotten us again: God has given believers a new, spiritual life that enables us to live in an entirely different dimension than the one our physical birth allowed. to a living hope: Hope here does not imply a wishfulness but rather a dynamic confidence that does not end with this life but continues throughout eternity. through the resurrection: Although this phrase may modify the phrase “to a living hope,” the context suggests that it is to be understood as the means of our salvation rather than the means of our hope (see 1 Cor. 15:12–19).

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Luke 24:1 - Luke 24:12

Jesus Has Risen

24 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.

They found the stone rolled away from the tomb,

but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them.

In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?

He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee:

‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’

Then they remembered his words.

When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others.

10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles.

11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense.

12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

The Empty Tomb (24:1–12)

(For comparison with notes on this chapter, read notes on Ac. 1:1–14, a summary of this chapter.)

The enforced rest of the Sabbath over, the women return early in the morning next day to the tomb, only to find that the great stone which sealed its mouth is rolled away and the tomb empty. As they are wondering what has happened, angelic visitors tell them that Jesus has risen from the dead as He has said He would. The women go back to the apostles to report what has happened, but their story is received with incredulous scepticism.

Luke’s story is in general outline very much like Mark’s, but there are considerable differences in detail.

(a) Mark has one young man at the sepulchre, Luke has two men. (Matthew incidentally has an angel, John has two angels.) These are not necessarily contradictions. The clothes that gleamed like lightning of Luke suggests supernatural beings (cf. 9:29). The difference between one angel or two may be due to nothing more than the fact that two were present, but that one only engaged in speech. At all events, the descriptions that we have are expressions in human words of a phenomenon that far transcended human experience.

But the truth of the story of the empty tomb does not depend on our ability to devise a satisfactory scheme of harmonization, but in the tremendous effect that the event had on the disciples, and on subsequent history.

(b) The lists of women’s names in the two Gospels are slightly different. But neither of them is necessarily complete.

(c) Luke omits the message reported by Mark that Peter and the disciples are to meet Jesus in Galilee. The post-resurrection appearances recorded by Luke are all in Judea, but the disciples are reminded of teaching He gave them in Galilee.

(d) In Mark, the women were so startled by the events at the tomb that they found themselves unable to give the message to the disciples. In Luke, on the other hand, they go and report to the disciples all that has happened, though of course there is no message of a rendezvous in Galilee for them to convey.

The fact of the resurrection is one of the best historically attested facts of ancient history. For a clear and concise survey of the evidence, see J. N. D. Anderson, The Evidence for the Resurrection (London, 1950).

4. suddenly, two men: Cf. the Transfiguration (Lk. 9:30) and the Ascension (Ac. 1:10).


GOING DEEPER

Tombs

The tombs of the dead form a profitable source of information. Many Jewish cemeteries of the years prior to A.D. 70 have been explored in the neighborhood of Jerusalem. One type of rock-cut tomb agrees with that described in the resurrection narratives in its construction. Examples can be seen today, one of the best being the ‘Tomb of the Kings’ in northern Jerusalem. There the low entrance conforms to Jn 20:5 (many tombs have rather larger entries); the stone cover lies to one side, in a slot cut to allow for rolling it across. Inside these tombs the body was laid on a rock-cut shelf, above floor level. After decomposition, the bones were normally gathered into stone chests (ossuaries) for their final rest. Names written on the chests found in such tombs include some also met in the NT, among them Elizabeth, Mary, Sapphira, Lazarus, Jesus son of Joseph — none, of course, necessarily identifiable with the Biblical figures. There is a possibility that two chests of c. A.D. 50 bear brief prayers addressed to the risen Jesus.

Alan R. Millard, “Archaeological Discoveries and the New Testament,” in New International Bible Commentary, ed. F. F. Bruce (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1979), 1022.

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