He is Risen! For us as believers, everyday we are living in the reality of the empty tomb. Everything about the Christian’s life, is impacted by the stone rolled away, and the linen clothes found folded without a body to cover.
Where the world sees a religious holiday, the Christian sees a holy event. The empty tomb is one of the most important moments in history, because it is the second time in which God brought life to the world. First God created and brought about the life of all living things through his Word. But humanity sinned, and so marred God’s perfect creation, bringing death into the world. Yet from the empty tomb, death was overcome, and life was brought back into the equation.
For the Christian, the bursting forth on glorious day, is a beautiful moment, because it means the Lord has overcome. Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross truly paid the penalty for sin, and his resurrection opens the path to the narrow way of salvation.
And what I find as one of the beauties of the empty tomb, is the voice that comes from it.
See, before Jesus went to the cross, in John 10:24-30, there’s a moment while Jesus is walking on the temple mount, when he is asked a question. The Scripture reads about this moment, “24 So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, ‘How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.’ 25 Jesus answered them, ‘I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me, 26 but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. 30 I and the Father are one.’”
The voice of Jesus as the Good Shepherd is heard by his people and they follow their Lord’s direction. What I love is that from the empty tomb, Jesus’ voice impacts his disciples.
It starts with Mary. Several women came to the tomb that first Easter morning, but found that the stone had been rolled away and that the body wasn’t there. The women notified the other disciples, and Peter and John ran to see if it was true. When they saw that the women were telling the truth, they went back, but Mary stayed behind and wept, because she was afraid someone had stolen Jesus’ body. It’s here that two angels appeared and asked why she was crying. She answered, because someone had taken Jesus’ body.
It’s then in John 20:14, we get this interaction, "14 Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’ 16 Jesus said to her, ‘Mary.’ She turned and said to him in Aramaic, ‘Rabboni!’ (which means Teacher).”
In that moment, this sheep heard her Shepherd’s voice. She heard her name, like so many times before, and when she heard her name, it broke through the devastation and lostness she was in. In that moment her sorrow was so overwhelming, that not even seeing Jesus physically standing there could break her of her sorrow. But her Master’s voice, in one word, broke through. Why? Because Jesus’ sheep hear his voice and they follow.
Jesus goes on to send her with the Good News that he was raised from the dead, and the Gospel begins it’s first steps towards the ends of the earth.
But that wasn’t the last time the voice of the Shepherd captured the attention of the sheep. Luke records in his 24th chapter, starting in the 13th verse, two disciples walking the almost eight mile trek to Emmaus from Jerusalem. As they were going, they meet a man who they cousin not physically recognize. He appeared to not know what had taken place in Jerusalem concerning Jesus, so they filled the stranger in on the latest news. They even let the stranger know about the possibility of the resurrection of Jesus.
It was at this point that the stranger began to explain the Scriptures to them about the Messiah, interpreting all the Scriptures for them. When they asked him to eat with them, he blesses the bread, broke it, and gave it to them. It was at that moment that Jesus’ true identity was revealed to them. And after it was revealed, Jesus vanished.
But it’s their response in verse 32 that reveals so much. The Scripture reads, “32 They said to each other, ‘Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?’”
The disciples, hearing this stranger’s voice as they journey together, knew deep down that they were talking to their Shepherd, but like Mary, the sorrow and disbelief of the resurrection sat heavy on them. But their Master’s voice sparked within them an understanding and a desire to be in this stranger’s presence, though they didn’t not know why, until his revealing.
As believers, this is what we should always be seeking, the voice of our Good Shepherd. The world scoffs at Jesus not being physically available to interact with. The world scoffs at the empty tomb as fantasy or fanaticism. The world scoffs at the Church for believing Jesus will return, because it’s been almost 2,000 years.
But the voice of the Shepherd is all we need. His calling of his sheep out of the world is what he’s doing now. He is seeking the lost sheep, that his fold may be complete. And until that day when he returns, we as his disciples should seek to hear the voice of the Shepherd as he leads us through the life he has for us and into the eternal life of God.
And so we praise our Good Shepherd this Easter morning. We praise him that he lived the life we couldn’t and died in our place, so that we wouldn’t taste eternal death. And with his resurrection, he brings life to all those who call upon his name, and will resurrect his disciples upon his return. As Paul told the Corinthian Church, “20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ (1 Corinthians 15:20-23).”
Brothers and Sisters, you who are the beloved of God, let us rejoice today that the voice who called out to Mary, and who spoke to the disciples on their way to Emmaus, is the same voice who calls us out of death and into life. That voice of the Good Shepherd speaks loud out of the tomb, calling the sheep to his side. So today, on this Resurrection Sunday, let us therefore walk with ears open to Jesus’ voice as he speaks through his word, and through the Holy Spirit. For He is Risen! He is Risen indeed!
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