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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 into the hands of sinful men, 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. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. 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.  Luke 24:1-12 (NIV)

Depression hung on them like a bitter aftertaste. Jesus is dead. Their feet dragged with disappointment and disillusionment. Jesus is dead. Duty called for them at the tomb to anoint His body because Jesus is dead.

Luke 24:1-12 unfolds like a short four-act play as the writer unveils the greatest event in history. The first act shows us a group of dejected women creeping dutifully to the rock cave, supposedly housing the dead remains of Christ. Someone had to embalm him, so these faithful women summoned the courage and ingredients to prepare Him for the grave. I’m guessing they were numb with grief, putting one foot in front of the other to do what had to be done.

In the second act, the women discovered that Christ’s body was gone–they surely felt shocked and perhaps angry. Imagine going to the mortuary to say goodbye to your dead grandfather before the funeral. You open the casket to look at him one more time, and the casket is empty. I doubt that resurrection would be the first thing coming to mind.

Act III begins abruptly as light suddenly erupts in the tomb and two men clothed with lighting flash into the cave. Trust me when I tell you they didn’t beam down from a spaceship. God, the Holy Spirit, raised Jesus from the dead and He left two angelic witnesses to clue these poor humans in. The heavenly men said in Luke 24:5, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!”

Really? Yes, really. Just like Jesus said, “The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.” (Luke 24:7).

The ladies did not find him because they were not looking with eyes of faith. Jesus told the disciples plainly in Luke 9:21-22, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”

The last act of this drama shows us the disciples huddled in fear and doubt. If they believed His words, they would know he was not in the grave. They would expect to see Him risen and alive.

How often do we seek Jesus in the graveyard? Have we been looking in the wrong places, in the dead reservoirs of religion, entertainment, or sports? Does grief, worry, or relationships consume our thoughts blinding us to the fact JESUS IS ALIVE?

German pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “After death something new begins, over which all powers of the world of death have no more might.” Jesus is now walking among us doing His great work in the unseen realm.

Something new has begun in us because Jesus is alive. Open your eyes of faithJesus  and behold, the Living Christ is doing something new in you.