“And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee,” Luke 24:5-6 ESV
Reflection: what are you spending most of your time seeking – life or death?
The women came early Sunday morning to the grave site, to perform the traditional burial ritual to the dead body of Jesus, who had just been placed in the tomb on Friday evening. They came prepared with all the necessary supplies, and while still in mourning they did this in love, in service to their Lord. At least they thought they came prepared. But what they saw, heard, and experienced at the tomb they were absolutely not prepared for. First they saw the large stone had been rolled away, so the tomb was open. So already disturbed, they looked inside and find the body of Jesus gone. Vanished. Luke records that this experience caused them to be “perplexed”, not knowing what to believe. In their confusion,
“two men stood by them in dazzling apparel.” Luke 24:4b ESV
Standing face to face with angels, in their angelic form, must have been absolutely terrifying, yet beautiful. It is impossible for us to grasp how powerful all of these experiences must have been for them. They were looking for a dead body, but found something very different. They did not find the body, nor the risen Christ. Neither was there, in the tomb. So let’s stop and consider the message from the angels to the women as they were looking for Him, also in our focus verse today,
““Why do you seek the living among the dead?”
Oh, how we all need to consider and reflect on these words!! So true for the women and the disciples then; Jesus was no longer there, among the dead. So true for us today. We must let the words of seeking life as opposed to death soak in this day. We have a world, a culture which is focused on dead things, and even death itself. There is nothing in this world that can offer life. It can only mimic life, but in the end it leads to death.
There is only life in Christ.
Jesus says instead to look at Him, learn from Him, to follow Him to life. He is the bread of life; He is life itself. He is the Creator. When we take Him in, let His words become part of us, let them be how we think and act; His spirit dwells in us, we let life itself dwell within us. And this same spirit who raised Christ from death to life, will also raise us to life. Paul wrote “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” Romans 8:11 ESV
So, to the reflection in the beginning, it is good for us to think about how much time and energy we put into this world since it only offers death in the end, versus seeking and finding life. We will never find life in this world, only short term imitations which will never fulfill our deepest longing.
Let’s instead seek Him, the risen Lord Jesus Christ. Let us seek life.