Why Do You Look For the Living Among The Dead?

Words you speak can have an edge to them.  “What are you doing?” may express surprise, eagerness or disappointment depending on the tone.  What tone do you hear when the angels say,

“Why are you looking for the living among the dead?”

It could be just factual.  Truly the women were looking for someone who was dead, not someone who was alive.  The last time they saw Jesus had have been severely whipped, crowned with thorns, and nailed to the cross to die.  They had no time on Friday before the Sabbath to prepare Jesus’ dead body for proper burial.  These women had good intentions on Sunday morning.  They got up early, packed their spices and set out to do a very difficult job.  One issue was the stone sealed by Pilate that blocked entrance into the tomb. Luke records,

“² They found that the stone had been rolled away from the tomb.” 

On such a sobering day, having the stone removed would only begin their day of so many questions.

“³ When they went in, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. ⁴ While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men stood by them in dazzling clothing. ⁵ The women were terrified and bowed down with their faces to the ground.” 

As chills were running down their backs their ears heard the rebuking words, “Why are you looking for the living among the dead?” Their faith in a dead Savior was being challenged to believe in a living Savior.  We also deserve such a rebuke and need a clear answer the question:

Why Do You Look For The Living Among The Dead?

You have a Risen Lord

We often carry around the burdens of our sins, guilt and shame. Like these women we worry and fret about things when we really should not be worrying about them at all.  The women worried about removing a stone.  How many times have we had stones in life ahead of us and wondered how we would ever be able to negotiate around them?  We forget that Jesus is not dead.  We end up in grief just like the women looking for a dead Jesus. We need a messenger from God to challenge us, “Why are you looking for the living among the dead?”

There are other ways people may act as though Jesus was dead.  They may actually hope and wish Jesus was dead.  For if Jesus remains dead then there is no accountability to him.  If a person denies Jesus’ presence in their lives, they can live according to their own desires.  Or when someone they love dies an unbeliever, they can simply satisfy themselves with an empty thought like this, “Oh, I know they’re in a better place.”  Without a living Christ, there is no better place and sin rules and dominates lives.

These are the times our thoughts need to be corrected by the message of the angels.  Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty of all your sins.  You are forgiven!  Jesus lives because you are forgiven! Don’t live your life as though Jesus was still dead!  Today we are reminded that We Have a Risen Lord!  St. Paul declared,

“²⁵ He was handed over to death because of our trespasses and was raised to life because of our justification”

Romans 4:25

This was the risen Lord the women needed to learn about.  This is the risen Lord that changed Mary’s life.  This is the risen Lord who is with us.  God raised his Son because he accomplished what he was sent to do! Jesus paid the penalty of your sins, has broken the power of the grave, and has opened up the doors of heaven for you.  We have a risen Lord who has given you the power to say, “No!” to sin and “Yes!” to serving him. How blessed our lives would be if we would hear the words of the angels echoing in our ears with this tone of voice, 😃 (excited tone) “Why are you looking for the living among the dead?”  You Have A Risen Lord!  And your Risen Lord has forgiven you. Trust Jesus.  Yes,

You Have His Reliable Word

“Why?” was the first word that came from the angel’s mouth. (kind, endearing tone) “Why are you looking for the living among the dead?” The angel had the answer for the women.

“⁶ He is not here, but has been raised! Remember how he told you while he was still in Galilee ⁷ that the Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again?”

The angel knew the answer. The reason they were looking for a dead Jesus is because they had forgotten his Reliable Word. Jesus had repeatedly told them what was going to happen to him.  Just a few weeks earlier Jesus told them clearly,

“Look, we are going up to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and experts in the law, and they will condemn him to death”

Matthew 22:18

They had also forgotten another promise Jesus made to them,

“¹⁹ They will hand him over to the Gentiles to mock, flog, and crucify him. On the third day he will be raised”

The women forgot Jesus’ Reliable Word.  That’s why they were coming to the tomb.  That’s why they were fretting.  That’s why they were carrying these burdens of sadness and grief all because they had forgotten the Reliable Word of their Savior!

That’s what we need to hear often and never forget.  We need to remember that Jesus is alive and stop living as though he was dead.  Let’s remember the accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are written about Jesus for us.  Instead of carrying around our burdens of guilt, let us repent and remember that Jesus Christ died on the cross to take away our sins.  Then he was raised to life and sits at God’s right hand ruling all things for the benefit of his people.  We also have Jesus Reliable Word.  Rest on his promises!  How many times would you like to hear this promise:

“And surely I am with you always until the end of the age”

Matthew 28:20

Jesus isn’t dead anymore.  Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s Reliable Word. Here’s another promise fulfilled by Jesus:

“² When you cross through the waters (Red Sea), I will be with you. When you cross the rivers (Jordan into the promised land), they will not sweep you away. When you walk through fire (Shadrack, Meshack, Abednego in the fiery furnace), you will not be burned, and the flame will not set you on fire. But now this is what the Lord says, the Lord who created you, O Jacob, the Lord who formed you, O Israel. Do not be afraid, because I have redeemed you. I have called you by name. You are mine”

Isaiah 43:2

With Jesus’ Words resting on our hearts and minds, we can stop acting as if Jesus were dead and live according to his Reliable Word.  We were united with him in our Baptism.  We are on our way to heaven to live with him forever.  We rely on the Words and works of Jesus.  Yes, we can answer the angel, “Why are you looking for the living among the dead?” Because we are looking for Jesus who lives among a world that has fallen victim to sin, death and the devil.  We are looking for Jesus who lives and we Trust his Reliable Word!

Now as followers of our risen Lord Jesus,

You Have A Responsibility In The World

About 900 years before Jesus lived on this world, a prophet by the name of Elijah served the Lord.  He had some victorious days against the prophets of Baal on Mt Carmel.  But, soon after this he found himself being pursued by God’s enemies.  He became discouraged with his work in the Lord and ran off to the desert, hid in a cave, and waited to die.  The Lord found Elijah hiding in this cave and asked him, “Why are you here, Elijah?” (1 Kings 19:9).  These are not the words of rebuke you want to hear from the Lord.  This question from God contained the reminder for the prophet of who he was, namely, God’s prophet. He still had work to do.  The same could be said for the women at the empty tomb.  They had good news to tell others.  They had a living Savior and needed to stop poking around like they had a dead Savior.  Well, the women got the message.

“⁹ When they returned from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the rest.”

Dear Christian Friends, today is Easter.  Jesus is risen.  Don’t live in a cave.  Don’t poke around this empty world! We have every reason to live for him and give glory to God in everything we do.  Just like the women we can give glory to God by talking to others about Jesus.  Tell them our Savior is alive! Tell them we have comfort for grief, peace for troubles, and a partner that never leaves us alone. It means we will be doing God’s kingdom work, and God’s kingdom Work will look different than that world.  We may not see immediate results.  The women told the disciples and got this reaction,

“and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles. ¹¹ Yet these words seemed to them like nonsense, and they did not believe them. ¹² But Peter got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over to look in, he saw only the strips of linen cloth. He went home, amazed at what had happened.”

That’s the way it goes in our world.  There is doubt.  People who claim to be too busy.  Our invitation seems to fall on deaf ears.  But, there are those who are going to “hear us” and run to hear about Jesus and be amazed! Let that motivate you to eagerly answer the question, “Why are you looking for the living among the dead?”  Because we have the responsibility to look for the living souls, the believers in Jesus who are living among a spiritually dead world.  So, let’s go and tell the world what we have seen and heard!  We have a Risen Lord with a Reliable Word. Let’s believe it, live it and share it!  Amen!