Luke 24 commentary

LUKE 24 COMMENTARY
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Jesus Has Risen
1 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.
CLARKE, "Bringing the spices - To embalm the body of our Lord: but
Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea had done this before the body was laid in the
tomb. See Joh_19:39, Joh_19:40. But there was a second embalming found
necessary: the first must have been hastily and imperfectly performed; the spices
now brought by the women were intended to complete the preceding operation.
And certain others with them - This clause is wanting in BCL, two others;
Coptic, Ethiopic, Vulgate, and in all the Itala except two. Dionysius Alexandrinus,
and Eusebius also omit it. The omission is approved by Mill, Bengel, Wetstein,
Griesbach, and others. Bishop Pearce thinks it should be left out for the following
reasons:
1. “They who came to the sepulchre, as is here said, being the same with those
who, in Luk_23:55, are called the women which came with him from Galilee,
there was no room for Luke (I think) to add as here, and some others came
with them; because the words in Luk_23:55, to which these refer, include all
that can be supposed to be designed by the words in question.
2. Luke has named no particular woman here, and therefore he could not add and
some others, etc., these words necessarily requiring that the names of the
women should have preceded, as is the case in Luk_24:10, where, when Mary
Magdalene, the other Mary, and Joanna, had been named, it is very rightly
added, and other women that were with them.”
GILL, "Now upon the first day of the week,.... On which day it appears by what
follows, Christ rose from the dead, and which was the third day from his death, and
so verified the Scriptures, and his own predictions:
very early in the morning; just as light began to spring, the day to dawn, and
break; the first appearance of the morning; when it first began to dawn;
when it was yet dark, as in Joh_20:1 and so read the Syriac and Persic versions
here; and the Ethiopic version, "while it was yet night": this must be understood of
the time when the women set out from the city, or suburbs; for by that time they got
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to the sepulchre it was at sunrise, Mar_16:2 and shows their great love, zeal, and
devotion for Christ, and great courage and fearlessness to go out of the city at such a
time, without any man with them, and to a grave:
they came unto the sepulchre, where Christ was laid; that is, the women who
came with Christ from Galilee, and who had observed where, and how his body was
interred:
bringing the spices which they had prepared; on the sabbath eve, to anoint
the body, but were prevented by reason of the sabbath; see Luk_23:56
and certain others with them; that is, other women; besides Mary Magdalene,
and Mary the mother of Joses, and Salome, and other Galilean women, there were
other Jerusalem women, or of Bethany, it may be, Mary, and Martha, the sisters of
Lazarus, and of the parts adjacent: this clause is left out in the Vulgate Latin, and
Ethiopic versions, and in one ancient copy of Beza's; but is retained in the Syriac,
Arabic, and Persic versions.
HENRY,"The manner of the re-uniting of Christ's soul and body in his
resurrection is a mystery, one of the secret things that belong not to us; but the
infallible proofs of his resurrection, that he did indeed rise from the dead, and was
thereby proved to be the Son of God, are things revealed, which belong to us and to
our children. Some of them we have here in these verses, which relate the same story
for substance that we had in Matthew and Mark.
I. We have here the affection and respect which the good women that had followed
Christ showed to him, after he was dead and buried, Luk_24:1. As soon as ever they
could, after the sabbath was over, they came to the sepulchre, to embalm his body,
not to take it out of the linen in which Joseph had wrapped it, but to anoint the head
and face, and perhaps the wounded hands and feet, and to scatter sweet spices upon
and about the body; as it is usual with us to strew flowers about the dead bodies and
graves of our friends, only to show our good-will towards the taking off the deformity
of death if we could, and to make them somewhat the less loathsome to those that are
about them. The zeal of these good women for Christ did continue. The spices which
they had prepared the evening before the sabbath, at a great expense, they did not,
upon second thoughts, when they had slept upon it, dispose of otherwise, suggesting,
To what purpose is this waste? but they brought them to the sepulchre on the
morning after the sabbath, early, very early. It is a rule of charity, Every man,
according as he purposes in his heart, so let him give, 2Co_9:7. What is prepared for
Christ, let it be used for him. Notice is taken of the names of these women, Mary
Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James; grave matronly women, it
should seem, they were. Notice is also taken of certain others with them, Luk_24:1,
and again, Luk_24:10. These, who had not joined in preparing the spices, would yet
go along with them to the sepulchre; as if the number of Christ's friends increased
when he was dead, Joh_12:24, Joh_12:32. The daughters of Jerusalem, when they
saw how inquisitive the souse was after her Beloved, were desirous to seek him with
her (Son_6:1), so were these other women. The zeal of some provokes others.
JAMIESON, "
Luk_24:1-12. Angelic announcement to the women that Christ is risen - Peter’s
visit to the empty sepulchre.
(See on Mar_16:1-8; and see on Mat_28:1-5).
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BARCLAY, "THE WRONG PLACE TO LOOK (Luke 24:1-12)
24:1-12 On the first day of the week, at the first streaks of dawn, the women
came to the tomb, bearing the spices which they had prepared. They found the
stone rolled away from the tomb. They entered in, but they did not find the body
of the Lord Jesus. While they were at a loss what to make of this--look you--two
men stood by them in flashing raiment. They were afraid, and they bowed their
faces to the ground. But they said to them, "Why are you looking for him who is
alive among the dead? He is not here; he is risen. Remember how he said to you,
while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands
of sinful men and that he must be crucified, and that on the third day he would
rise again." Then they remembered his words; and they returned from the tomb
and brought the news of all these things to the eleven and to the others. Mary
Magdalene was there, and Joanna, and Mary, the mother of James. They, and
the other women with them, kept telling these things to the apostles. But their
words seemed to them an idle tale, and they refused to believe them. But Peter
rose up and ran to the tomb; and he stooped down and saw the linen clothes
lying all by themselves; and he went away wondering in himself at what had
happened.
The Jewish Sabbath, our Saturday, is the last day of the week and
commemorates the rest of God after the work of creation. The Christian Sunday
is the first day of the week and commemorates the resurrection of Jesus. On this
first Christian Sunday the women went to the tomb in order to carry out the last
offices of love for the dear dead and to embalm Jesus' body with their spices.
In the east tombs were often carved out of caves in the rock. The body was
wrapped in long linen strips like bandages and laid on a shelf in the rock tomb.
The tomb was then closed by a great circular stone like a cart-wheel which ran in
a groove across the opening. When the women came, they found the stone rolled
away.
Just here we have one of those discrepancies in the accounts of the resurrection
of which the opponents of Christianity make so much. In Mark the messenger in
the tomb is a young man in a long white robe (Mark 16:5); in Matthew he is the
angel of the Lord (Matthew 28:2). Here it is two men in flashing raiment; and in
John it is two angels (John 20:12). It is true that the differences are there; but it
is also true that, whatever the attendant description, the basic fact of the empty
tomb never varies, and that is the fact that matters. No two people ever described
the same episode in the same terms; nothing so wonderful as the resurrection
ever escaped a certain embroidery as it was repeatedly told and retold. But at the
heart of this story that all-important fact of the empty tomb remains.
The women returned with their story to the rest of the disciples but they refused
to believe them. They called it an idle tale. The word used is one employed by
Greek medical writers to describe the babbling of a fevered and insane mind.
Only Peter went out to see if it might not possibly be true. The very fact that
Peter was there says much for him. The story of his denial of his Master was not
a thing that could be kept silent; and yet he had the moral courage to face those
who knew his shame. There was something of the hero in Peter, as well as
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something of the coward. The man who was a fluttering dove is on the way to
become a rock.
The all-important and challenging question in this story is that of the messengers
in the tomb, "Why are you looking for him who is alive among the dead?" Many
of us still look for Jesus among the dead.
(i) There are those who regard him as the greatest man and the noblest hero who
ever lived, as one who lived the loveliest life ever seen on earth; but who then
died. That will not do. Jesus is not dead; he is alive. He is not merely a hero of
the past; he is a living reality of the present.
Shakespeare is dust, and will not come
To question from his Avon tomb,
And Socrates and Shelley keep
An Attic and Italian sleep.
They see not. But, O Christians, who
Throng Holborn and Fifth Avenue,
May you not meet in spite of death,
A traveller from Nazareth?
(ii) There are those who regard Jesus simply as a man whose life must be studied,
his words examined, his teaching analysed. There is a tendency to think of
Christianity and Christ merely in terms of something to be studied. The tendency
may be seen in the quite simple fact of the extension of the study group and the
extinction of the prayer meeting. Beyond doubt study is necessary but Jesus is
not only someone to be studied; he is someone to be met and lived with every day.
He is not only a figure in a book, even if that book be the greatest in the world;
he is a living presence.
(iii) There are those who see in Jesus the perfect pattern and example. He is that;
but a perfect example can be the most heart-breaking thing in the world. For
centuries the birds gave men an example of flight, and yet not till modern times
could man fly. Some of us when young were presented at school with a writing
book. At the top it had a line of copperplate writing; below it had blank lines on
which we had to copy it. How utterly discouraging were our efforts to reproduce
that perfect pattern! But then the teacher would come and, with her hand, would
guide our hand over the lines and we got nearer the ideal. That is what Jesus
does. He is not only the pattern and the example. He helps us and guides us and
strengthens us to follow that pattern and example. He is not simply a model for
life; he is a living presence to help us to live.
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It may well be that our Christianity has lacked an essential something because
we too have been looking for him who is alive among the dead.
BENSON, ". Upon the first day of the week, &c. — On the morning of the first
day of the week, when every thing was made ready, all the women, mentioned
Luke 24:10; and Mark 16:1; and certain others with them, who were not from
Galilee, went out very early, carrying the spices which they had prepared, to the
sepulchre, at which some or all of them arrived about the rising of the sun.
Whether they went and returned all in one company, or at different times, and
by different ways, is not quite certain. See the notes on Matthew 28:1-10; Mark
16:1-2; John speaks of none of the women who made this visit to the sepulchre
but Mary Magdalene. Yet, because he mentions none but her, it does not follow
that there were no others with her. In the gospels there are many such omissions.
For instance, Mark and Luke speak of one demoniac only, who was cured at
Gadara, though Matthew tells us there were two who had devils expelled out of
them at that time In like manner Mark and Luke speak only of one blind man, to
whom Jesus gave sight near Jericho, while from Matthew it is certain two had
that benefit conferred on them there. Before Jesus rode into Jerusalem both the
ass and its colt were brought to him, though Mark, Luke, and John speak only of
the colt. Wherefore, since it is the manner of the sacred historians in other
instances to make such omissions, John may be supposed to have mentioned
Mary Magdalene singly in this part of his history, notwithstanding he knew that
others had been with her at the sepulchre; and the rather, because his intention
was to relate only what things happened in consequence of her information, and
not to speak of the transactions of the rest, which his brother historians had
handled at large.
COFFMAN, "This final chapter of Luke briefly summarizes the astonishment
and perplexity of finding the empty tomb, giving the experience of the Galilean
women (Luke 24:1-12), then giving a full and vivid account of an appearance of
Christ to the disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35). Luke then
recounted the appearance of Jesus to the Eleven and them that were with them,
including the disciples returned from Emmaus (Luke 24:36-43), concluding with
a summary statement of Jesus' last words and a brief account of the ascension
(Luke 24:44-53).
And on the sabbath day they rested according to the commandment. But on the
first day of the week, at early dawn, they came unto the tomb, bringing the spices
which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb.
And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. (Luke 24:1-3)
See the article at end of chapter on "The Four Witnesses Agree."
Sabbath day ... This was Saturday, the second of the back-to-back sabbaths
intervening between the crucifixion and the first day of the week. See under
Mark 15:42 in my Commentary on Mark.
They came unto the tomb ... The antecedent of the pronoun "they" is "the
women who had followed him from Galilee" (Luke 23:55); and, from a
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comparison with Luke 24:10, these seem to have been ANOTHER group of
women, not necessarily the same as those mentioned elsewhere in the Gospels,
though many of both groups were from Galilee.
The stone rolled away ... The seal on the grave, placed there by the Roman
government, had obviously been broken, which would have required a
deputation from the governor's office to investigate it. Furthermore, the military
authorities would have thoroughly investigated the fantastic lie of the guard
concerning what happened "while they were asleep"; and with the activities of
the Lord's followers beginning at the crack of dawn the same day, and increasing
as the day progressed - all of these things, and may others of which we know
nothing, made the day of Jesus' resurrection one of the busiest in history. The
Sanhedrin, would they have not investigated? They bribed the soldiers to lie
about what had happened, for they had witnessed some of the phenomena
attending the resurrection; but it may be counted certain that they made their
own investigation, decided that they had no case against the soldiers, and
attempted to cover up the truth with lies.
Something of the nature of the rock-hewn sepulchre is evident in the stone that
closed it, the same having been a large wheel-like rock fitted into a groove
parallel to the entrance. It was so large that even a whole group of women would
not have been able to move it.
And found not the body ... The empty grave of Jesus, along with the undisturbed
grave clothes within, proved the resurrection of Jesus to be a fact; but to minds
so long schooled against any possibility of a resurrection from the dead, it was a
fact which they, at the time, could not fully believe.
MACLAREN, "THE FIRST EASTER SUNRISE
No Evangelist narrates the act of Resurrection. Apocryphal Gospels cannot resist the
temptation of describing it. Why did the Four preserve such singular reticence about
what would have been irresistible to ‘myth’ makers? Because they were not myth-
makers, but witnesses, and had nothing to say as to an act that no man had seen. No
doubt, the Resurrection took place in the earliest hours of the first day of the week.
The Sun of Righteousness rose before the Easter Day sun. It was midsummer day for
Him, while it was but spring for earth’s calendar. That early rising has no setting to
follow.
The divergences of the Evangelists reach their maximum in the accounts of the
Resurrection, as is natural if we realise the fragmentary character of all the versions,
the severely condensed style of Matthew’s, the incompleteness of the genuine Mark’s,
the evidently selective purpose in Luke’s, and the supplementary design of John’s. If
we add the perturbed state of the disciples, their separation from each other, and the
number of distinct incidents embraced in the records, we shall not wonder at the
differences, but see in them confirmation of the good faith of the witnesses, and a
reflection of the hurry and wonderfulness of that momentous day. Differences there
are; contradictions there are not, except between the doubtful verses added to Mark
and the other accounts. We cannot put all the pieces together, when we have only
them to guide us. If we had a complete and independent narrative to go by, we could,
no doubt, arrange our fragments. But the great certainties are unaffected by the small
divergences, and the points of agreement are vital. They are, for example, that none
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saw the Resurrection, that the first to know of it were the women, that angels
appeared to them at the tomb, that Jesus showed Himself first to Mary Magdalene,
that the reports of the Resurrection were not believed. Whether the group with
whom this passage has to do were the same as that whose experience Matthew
records we leave undetermined. If so, they must have made two visits to the tomb,
and two returns to the Apostles,-one, with only the tidings of the empty sepulchre,
which Luke tells; one, with the tidings of Christ’s appearance, as in Matthew. But
harmonistic considerations do not need to detain us at present.
Sorrow and love are light sleepers, and early dawn found the brave women on their
way. Nicodemus had bound spices in with the body, and these women’s love-gift was
as ‘useless’ and as fragrant as Mary’s box of ointment. Whatever love offers, love
welcomes, though Judas may ask ‘To what purpose is this waste?’ Angel hands had
rolled away the stone, not to allow of Jesus’ exit, for He had risen while it was in its
place, but to permit the entrance of the ‘witnesses of the Resurrection.’ So little did
these women dream of such a thing that the empty tomb brought no flash of joy, but
only perplexity to their wistful gaze. ‘What does it mean?’ was their thought. They
and all the disciples expected nothing less than they did a Resurrection, therefore
their testimony to it is the more reliable.
Luke marks the appearance of the angels as sudden by that ‘behold.’ They were not
seen approaching, but at one moment the bewildered women were alone, looking at
each other with faces of dreary wonder, and the next, ‘two men’ were standing beside
them, and the tomb was lighted by the sheen of their dazzling robes. Much foolish
fuss has been made about the varying reports of the angels, and ‘contradictions’ have
been found in the facts that some saw them and some did not, that some saw one and
some saw two, that some saw them seated and some saw them standing, and so on.
We know so little of the laws that govern angelic appearances that our opinion as to
the probability or veracity of the accounts is mere guess-work. Where should a flight
of angels have gathered and hovered if not there? And should they not ‘sit in order
serviceable’ about the tomb, as around the ‘stable’ at Bethlehem? Their function was
to prepare a way in the hearts of the women for the Lord Himself, to lessen the
shock,-for sudden joy shocks and may hurt,-as well as to witness that these ‘things
angels desire to look into.’
Their message flooded the women’s hearts with better light than their garments had
spread through the tomb. Luke’s version of it agrees with Mark and Matthew in the
all-important central part, ‘He is not here, but is risen’ (though these words in Luke
are not beyond doubt), but diverges from them otherwise. Surely the message was
not the mere curt announcement preserved by any one of the Evangelists. We may
well believe that much more was said than any or all of them have recorded. The
angels’ question is half a rebuke, wholly a revelation, of the essential nature of ‘the
Living One,’ who was so from all eternity, but is declared to be so by His rising, of the
incongruity of supposing that He could be gathered to, and remain with, the dim
company of the dead, and a blessed word, which turns sorrow into hope, and diverts
sad eyes from the grave to the skies, for all the ages since and to come. The angels
recall Christ’s prophecies of death and resurrection, which, like so many of His words
to the disciples and to us, had been heard, and not heard, being neglected or
misinterpreted. They had questioned ‘what the rising from the dead should mean,’
never supposing that it meant exactly what it said. That way of dealing with Christ’s
words did not end on the Easter morning, but is still too often practised.
If we are to follow Luke’s account, we must recognise that the women in a company,
as well as Mary Magdalene separately, came back first with the announcement of the
empty tomb and the angels’ message, and later with the full announcement of having
seen the Lord. But apart from the complexities of attempted combination of the
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narratives, the main point in all the Evangelists is the disbelief of the disciples, ‘Idle
tales,’ said they, using a very strong word which appears only here in the New
Testament, and likens the eager story of the excited women to a sick man’s senseless
ramblings. That was the mood of the whole company, apostles and all. Is that mood
likely to breed hallucinations? The evidential value of the disciples’ slowness to
believe cannot be overrated.
Peter’s race to the sepulchre, in Luk_24:12, is omitted by several good authorities,
and is, perhaps, spurious here. If allowed to stand as Luke’s, it seems to show that
the Evangelist had a less complete knowledge of the facts than John. Mark, Peter’s
‘interpreter,’ has told us of the special message to him from the risen, but as yet
unseen, Lord, and we may well believe that that quickened his speed. The assurance
of forgiveness and the hope of a possible future that might cover over the cowardly
past, with the yearning to sob his heart out on the Lord’s breast, sent him swiftly to
the tomb. Luke does not say that he went in, as John, with one of his fine touches,
which bring out character in a word, tells us that he did; but he agrees with John in
describing the effect of what Peter saw as being only ‘wonder,’ and the result as being
only that he went away pondering over it all, and not yet able to grasp the joy of the
transcendent fact. Perhaps, if he had not had a troubled conscience, he would have
had a quicker faith. He was not given to hesitation, but his sin darkened his mind. He
needed that secret interview, of which many knew the fact but none the details, ere
he could feel the full glow of the Risen Sun thawing his heart and scattering his
doubts like morning mists on the hills.
BI 1-10, "Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came
unto the sepulchre
The first Easter morning
The realm of nature a symbol of the realm of grace.
1. The gloomy night.
2. The much-promising dawn.
3. The breaking day. (Van Oosterzee.)
The first pilgrims to the Holy Sepulchre
1. How mournful they go thither.
2. How joyful they return. (Van Oosterzee.)
Easter brightness
How on Easter morning it began to be bright—
1. In the garden.
2. In human hearts.
3. Over the cross.
4. For the world.
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5. In the realm of the dead. (Van Oosterzee.)
Easter morning
The first rays of the glory of Christ in the dawn of the Easter morning.
1. The stone rolled away.
2. The glittering angels.
3. The hastening women. (Arndt.)
The open grave
The open grave of the Risen One—
1. An arch of His triumph.
2. A bow of peace denoting heavenly favour and grace.
3. A door of life for the resurrection of our spirit and our body. (Hofacker.)
Easter among the graves
1. The stone of the curse Ye rolled away therefrom.
2. There dwell angels therein.
3. The dead are gone out therefrom. (Rantenberg.)
The Easter festival
A festival of—
1. The most glorious joy.
2. The most glorious victory.
3. The most glorious faith.
4. The most glorious hope. (Schmid.)
The Lord’s Day
Stations on the line of your journey are not your journey’s end, but each one brings
you nearer. A haven is not home; but it is a place of quiet and rest, where the rough
waves are stayed. A garden is a piece of common land, and yet it has ceased to be
common land; it is an effort to regain paradise. A bud is not a flower, but it is the
promise of a flower. Such are the Lord’s Days; the world’s week tempts you to sell
your soul to the flesh and the world. The Lord’s Day calls you to remembrance, and
begs you rather to sacrifice earth to heaven and time to eternity, than heaven to earth
and eternity to time. The six days not only chain you as captives of the earth, but do
their best to keep the prison doors shut, that you may forget the way out. The Lord’s
Day sets before you an open door. Samson has carried the gates away. The Lord’s
Day summons you to the threshold of your house of bondage to look forth into
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immortality—your immortality. The true Lord’s Day is the eternal life; but a type of it
is given to you on earth, that you may be refreshed in the body with the anticipation
of the great freedom wherewith the Lord will make you free. (J. Pulsford.)
Why seek ye the living among the dead?—
The living not among the dead
I. THE FACT ANNOUNCED BY THE ANGEL IS, AS WE CAN SEE WHEN WE
LOOK BACK ON IT, AMONG THE BEST ATTESTED IN HUMAN HISTORY. For
forty days the apostles continually saw Jesus Christ risen, touched Him, spoke with
Him, ate add drank with Him as before His death. They staked everything upon this
fact. It was to them a fact of experience. One or two people may be hallucinated, but
not a multitude. A large number of people will not easily be so swayed by a single
interest or a single passion as to believe simultaneously in a story that has no
foundation in fact.
II. The fact of the resurrection is the ground of THE REMONSTRANCE of the angels
with the holy women—“Why seek ye the living among the dead?” But is this question
applicable only to them during that pause when they felt the shock of the empty
tomb? Let us consider.
1. First of all, then, it would seem that we may literally seek the living among the
dead if we seek Christ in a Christianity, so termed, which denies the resurrection.
If Christ’s body never left the grave, if it has somewhere mingled with the dust of
earth, then, however we may be attracted by His moral teaching, we have no
ground for hoping in Him as our Redeemer: there is nothing to prove that He was
the Son of God in the way He pointed out, or that He has established any new
relation between earth and heaven.
2. But nearly the same thing may happen in cases where the resurrection is not
denied, but, nevertheless, men fail to see what habits of thought about our Lord it
involves. His life is continued on among us; only its conditions are changed. “Lo,
I am with you alway,” etc. “I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am
alive for evermore.” To think of Him as only one of the great teachers of the
world, who have come and disappeared, is to lose sight of the significance of His
resurrection from the grave; it is to rank Him in thought with men whose
eminence has not saved them from the lot of mortality, and whose dust has long
since mouldered in the tomb. It is to lose sight of the line which parts the
superhuman from the human. It is to seek the living among the dead.
3. Yet more literally do we seek the living among the dead, if without formally
rejecting Christianity we give the best of our thought, of our heart, of our
enthusiasm, to systems of thought, or to modes of feeling, which Jesus Christ has
set aside.
4. We may not be tempted in these ways to seek the living among the dead
teachers or dead elements of old or untrustworthy ways of thinking. But there is a
risk of our doing so, certainly not less serious and very much more common, to
which we are all exposed. As you know, our Lord’s resurrection is a moral as well
as an intellectual power. While it convinces us of the truth of Christianity it
creates in us the Christian life. We are risen with Christ. The moral resurrection
of Christians is a fact of experience. Resurrection from the grip of bad habits,
from the charnel-house of bad passions, resurrection from the enervation,
corruption, and decay of bad thoughts, bad words, bad deeds, to a new life with
Christ, to the life of warm and pure affections, the life of a ready and vigorous
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will, of a firm and buoyant hope, of a clear strong faith, of a wide and tender
charity. But, as a matter of fact, how do we risen Christians really act? We fall
back, willingly or wilfully, into the very habits we have renounced. Our
repentance is too often like the Lent of Louis the Fourteenth; it is a paroxysm,
followed, almost as a matter of course, by the relapse of Easter. To do the great
French monarch justice, he did not expect to find Christ’s presence in sin and
worldliness, as do they who complain of the intellectual difficulties of faith and
prayer, while their lives are disposed of in such a manner, that it would be
wonderful indeed if faith and prayer could escape suffocation in that chaos of
everything save the things which suggest God. (Canon Liddon.)
Christ, a quickening Spirit
1. Observe how Christ’s resurrection harmonizes with the history of His birth.
Others have all been born in sin, “after Adam’s own likeness, in his image,” and,
being born in sin, they are heirs to corruption. But when the Word of Life was
manifested in our flesh, the Holy Ghost displayed that creative hand by which, in
the beginning, Eve was formed; and the Holy Child, thus conceived by the power
of the Highest, was (as the history shows) immortal even in His mortal nature,
clear from all infection of the forbidden fruit, so far aa to be sinless and
incorruptible. Therefore, though He was liable to death, “it was impossible He
should be holden” of it. Death might overpower, but it could not keep possession;
“it had no dominion over Him.” He was, in the words of the text, “the Living
among the dead.” And hence His rising from the dead may be said to have
evinced His Divine origin. Such is the connection between Christ’s birth and
resurrection; and more than this might be ventured concerning His incorrupt
nature were it not better to avoid all risk of trespassing upon that reverence with
which we are bound to regard it. Something might be said concerning His
personal appearance, which seems to have borne the marks of one who was not
tainted with birth-sin. Men could scarce keep from worshipping Him. When the
Pharisees sent to seize Him, all the officers, on His merely acknowledging
Himself to be Him whom they sought, fell backwards from His presence to the
ground. They were scared as brutes are said to be by the voice of man. Thus,
being created in God’s image, He was the second Adam: and much more than
Adam in His secret nature, which beamed through His tabernacle of flesh with
awful purity and brightness even in the days of His humiliation. “The first man
was of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven.”
2. And if such was His visible Majesty, while tie yet was subject to temptation,
infirmity, and pain, much more abundant was the manifestation of His Godhead
when He was risen from the dead. Then the Divine essence streamed forth (so to
say) on every side, and environed His Manhood as in a cloud of glory.
3. He ascended into heaven, that He might plead our cause with the Father Heb_
7:25). Yet we must not suppose that in leaving us He closed the gracious economy
of His Incarnation, and withdrew the ministration of His incorruptible Manhood
from His work of loving mercy towards us. “The Holy One of God” was ordained,
not only to die for us, but also to be “the beginning” of a new “creation” unto
holiness in our sinful race; to refashion soul and body after His own likeness, that
they might be “raised up together, and sit together in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus.” Blessed for ever be His holy name! before He went away He remembered
our necessity, and completed His work, bequeathing to us a special mode of
approaching Him, a holy mystery, in which we receive (we know not how) the
virtue of that heavenly body, which is the life of all that believe. This is the
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blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist, in which “Christ is evidently set forth
crucified among us”; that we, feasting upon the sacrifice, may be “partakers of the
Divine nature.” (J. H. Newman, D. D.)
Easter good news
I. We take THE ANGEL’S DECLARATION first as the grand truth here—“He is
risen!” Who is thus risen? Who was dead, and has thus sprung from the grave to life?
It is Christ Jesus the Lord, who died for our sins, is risen for our justification. The
Saviour is no more a sufferer; His sacrificial deed is done.
1. How deeply instructive and interesting is the Gospel history of this great
resurrection miracle! Take this great truth away from the Church, all faith is then
vain, all hope destroyed, and the whole majestic building of Christianity falls and
crumbles into ruins for ever.
2. We delight, then, to go with these godly women to the tomb of Christ, and
while, perhaps, we bring too some humble offering of pure hearts to Him, to find
how little it is needed, while we hear some glad tidings of His power, and rejoice
in His risen glory.
II. THE ANGELS’ EXPOSTULATION. This may be considered as twofold.
1. As a gentle reproof for want of faith. With all their praiseworthy affection for
Christ, even when dead, these devout women, last at the cross, and first at the
sepulchre, showed great forgetfulness of the Redeemer’s words, and their want of
faith, as of the other disciples, appears thus gently reproved.
2. This is a faithful expostulation to Christians even now. True religion gives
gladness, not deep gloom. (J. G. Angley, M. A.)
The Lord is risen indeed
I. CERTAIN INSTRUCTIVE MEMORIES which gather around the place where Jesus
slept “with the rich in His death.” Though He is not there, He assuredly once was
there, for “He was crucified, dead, and buried.”
1. He has left in the grave the spices. We will not start back with horror from the
chambers of the dead, for the Lord Himself has traversed them, and where He
goes no terror abides.
2. The Master also left His grave-clothes behind Him. What if I say He left them
to be the hangings of the royal bedchamber, wherein His saints fall asleep? See
how He has curtained our last bed!
3. He left in the tomb the napkin that was about His head. Let mourners use it to
wipe away their tears.
4. He left angels behind Him in the grave. Angels are both the servitors of living
saints and the custodians of their dust.
5. What else did our Well-beloved leave behind Him? He left an open passage
from the tomb, for the stone was rolled away; doorless is that house of death. Our
Samson has pulled up the posts and carried away the gates of the grave with all
their bars. The key is taken from the girdle of death, and is held in the hand of the
Prince of Life. As Peter, when he was visited by the angel, found his chains fall
from off him, while iron gates opened to him of their own accord, so shall the
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saints find ready escape at the resurrection morning. One thing else I venture to
mention as left by my Lord in His forsaken tomb. I visited some few months ago
several of the large columbaria which are to be found outside the gates of Rome.
You enter a large square building, sunk in the earth, and descend by many steps,
and as you descend, you observe on the four sides of the great chamber
innumerable little pigeon-holes, in which are the ashes of tens of thousands of
departed persons. Usually in front of each compartment prepared for the
reception of the ashes stands a lamp. I have seen hundreds, if not thousands, of
these lamps, but they are all unlit, and indeed do not appear ever to have carried
light; they shed no ray upon the darkness of death. But now our Lord has gone
into the tomb and illuminated it with His presence, “the lamp of His love is our
guide through the gloom.” Jesus has brought life and immortality to light by the
gospel; and now in the dove-cotes, where Christians nestle, there is light; yea, in
every cemetery there is a light which shall burn through the watches of earth’s
night till the day break and the shadows flee away, and the resurrection morn
shall dawn. So then the empty tomb of the Saviour leaves us many sweet
reflections, which we will treasure up for our instruction.
II. Our text expressly speaks of VAIN SEARCHES. “Why seek ye the living among the
dead? He is not here, but is risen.” There are places where seekers after Jesus should
not expect to find Him, however diligent may he their search, however sincere their
desire. You cannot find a man where he is not, and there are some spots where Christ
never will be discovered.
1. In the grave of ceremonialism.
2. Among the tombs of moral reformation.
3. In the law.
4. In human nature.
5. In philosophy.
III. We will again change our strain and consider, in the third place, UNSUITABLE
ABODES. The angels said to the women, “He is not here, but is risen.” As much as to
say—since He is alive He does not abide here. Ye are risen in Christ, ye ought not to
dwell in the grave. I shall now speak to those who, to all intents and purposes, live in
the sepulchre, though they are risen from the dead.
1. Some of these are excellent people, but their temperament, and perhaps their
mistaken convictions of duty, lead them to be perpetually gloomy and
desponding.
2. Another sort of people seem to dwell among the tombs: I mean Christians—
and I trust real Christians—who are very, very worldly.
3. Once more on this point, a subject more grievous still, there are some
professors who live in the dead.house of sin. Yet they say that they are Christ’s
people. Nay, I will not say they live in it, but they do what, perhaps, is worse—
they go to sin to find their pleasures.
IV. I want to warn you against UNREASONABLE SERVICES. Those good people to
whom the angels said, “He is not here, but is risen,” were bearing a load, and what
were they carrying? What is Joanna carrying, and her servants, and Mary, what are
they carrying? Why, white linen, and what else? Pounds of spices, the most precious
they could buy. What are they going to do? Ah, if an angel could laugh, I should think
he must have smiled-as he found they were coming to embalm Christ. “Why, He is
not here; and, what is more, He is not dead, He does not want any embalming, He is
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alive.” In other ways a great many fussy people do the same thing. See how they come
forward in defence of the gospel. It has been discovered by geology and by arithmetic
that Moses was wrong. Straightway many go out to defend Jesus Christ. They argue
for the gospel, and apologize for it, as if it were now a little out of date, and we must
try to bring it round to suit modern discoveries and the philosophies of the present
period. That seems to me exactly like coming up with your linen and precious spices
to wrap Him in. Take them away.
V. THE AMAZING NEWS which these good women received—“He is not here, but
He is risen.” This was amazing news to His enemies. They said, “We have killed
Him—we have put Him in the tomb; it is all over with Him.” A-ha! Scribe, Pharisee,
priest, what have you done? Your work is all undone, for He is risen! It was amazing
news for Satan. He no doubt dreamed that he had destroyed the Saviour, but He is
risen! What a thrill went through all the regions of hell! What news it was for the
grave! Now was it utterly destroyed, and death had lost his sting! What news it was
for trembling saints. “He is risen indeed.” They plucked up courage, and they said,
“The good cause is the right one still, and it will conquer, for our Christ is still alive at
its head. It was good news for sinners. Ay, it is good news for every sinner here.
Christ is alive; if you seek Him He will be found of you. He is not a dead Christ to
whom I point you to-day. He is risen; and He is able to save to the uttermost them
that come unto God by Him. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The resurrection of Christ
Let us consider, first, the evidences, and, second, the purposes of the second life of
Jesus—the life after the crucifixion.
I. AS TO THE EVIDENCES OF CHRIST’S RESURRECTION, THERE ARE BOTH
EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL LINES OF PROOF WHICH GUARD THIS GREAT
AND SUBLIME DOCTRINE OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH.
1. Jesus Christ actually died. A million and a half of awe-stricken witnesses saw
Him die.
2. The second fact in the series of proofs is that Christ was buried. Interment is
not often granted to crucified criminals. But Providence overruled the sordidness
of the cautious scribes and priests, in order to multiply the witnesses to the
resurrection.
3. The next fact is that the sepulchre somehow or other was emptied on the third
day. How came the sepulchre to be emptied? There are only two theories. The
rulers said the body was stolen out of it. The disciples said the body had risen
from it. It is manifest that the enemies would not steal the body of Christ, and
how improbable it is that His disciples should have done it. How could it have
been done by twelve men against sixty, when Jerusalem was filled with an excited
crowd, when the moon shone clearly in a cloudless oriental sky? No; it cannot be
believed, and we are driven back therefore to the theory that He actually rose.
4. The internal evidence is equally convincing. Consider the existence and the
spread of persecution for the testimony as to the resurrection of Christ.
II. Consider THE PRACTICAL PURPOSES WHICH THE RESURRECTION IS
INTENDED TO WORK OUT IN OURSELVES.
1. It is a manifestation, a vindication of ancient prophecy and of the personal
character of the Messiah as well.
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2. It is a seal of the acceptance of the sacrifice of Jesus, and by consequence of
infinite moment to confirm the hopes of the world.
3. It is an earnest of our own rising, a pledge of immortality for the race for which
the Second Adam died.
4. Look at the resurrection as an encouragement. There is a great error, brethren,
in Christendom just now, and that is that we believe in a dead Christ. He is not
dead, He is living—living to listen to your prayers, living to forgive your sins. (W.
M. Punshon, D. D.)
The living Christ
I. A SURPRISING FACT. Jesus among the dead!
1. The Saviour’s perfect humanity.
2. The Saviour’s perfect identity with the cause of man.
II. A MORE SURPRISING FACT. Jesus no longer among the dead!
1. His mission to the tomb was accomplished.
2. His vision of immortality was realized.
3. The true object of faith was secured. (The Weekly Pulpit.)
An Easter sermon
I. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RESURRECTION.
1. If Jesus really died and then rose from the dead, materialism is completely
overthrown.
2. Pantheism receives its death-blow with the establishment of Christ’s
resurrection.
3. All far-reaching scepticism is undermined.
II. THE FACT OF THE RESURRECTION. Conclusion:
1. We should live less in tombs. The grave is not half as large as we think. No life
is buried there. Everything Christ-like is risen. Let life, not death, be our
companion.
2. We must trust Christ implicitly. The living way has been set before us. He who
is the life of the world has lighted its highway from the cradle, not to, but through
the tomb. (D. O. Clark.)
The living dead
I. THE DEAD ARE THE LIVING. Language, which is more accustomed and adapted
to express the appearances than the realities of things, leads us astray very much
when we use the phrase “the dead” as if it expressed the continuance of the condition
into which men pass in the act of dissolution. It misleads us no less, when we use it as
if it expressed in itself the whole truth even as to that act of dissolution. “The dead”
and “the living” are not names of two classes which exclude each other. Much rather,
there are none who are dead. Oh, how solemnly sometimes that thought comes up
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before us, that all those past generations which have stormed across this earth of
ours, and then have fallen into still forgetfulness, live yet. Somewhere at this very
instant, they now verily are! We say, they were, they have been. There are no have
beens! Life is life for ever. To be is eternal being. Every man that has died is at this
instant in the full possession of all his faculties, in the intensest exercise of all his
capacities, standing somewhere in God’s great universe, ringed with the sense of
God’s presence, and feeling in every fibre of his being that life, which comes after
death, is not less real, but more real; not less great, but more great; not less full or
intense, but more full and intense, than the mingled life which, lived here on earth,
was a centre of life surrounded with a crust and circumference of mortality. The dead
are the living. They lived whilst they died; and after they die, they live on for ever.
And so we can look upon that ending of life, and say, “it is a very small thing; it only
cuts off the fringes of my life, it does not touch me at all.” It only plays round about
the husk, and does not get at the core. It only strips off the circumferential mortality,
but the soul rises up untouched by it, and shakes the bands of death from off its
immortal arms, and flutters the stain of death from off its budding wings, and rises
fuller of life because of death, and mightier in its vitality in the very act of submitting
the body to the law, “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” Touching but a
part of the being, and touching that but for a moment, death is no state, it is an act. It
is not a condition, it is a transition. Men speak about life as “a narrow neck of land,
betwixt two unbounded seas”: they had better speak about death as that. It is an
isthmus, narrow and almost impalpable, on which, for one brief instant, the soul
poises itself; whilst behind it there lies the inland lake of past being, and before it the
shoreless ocean of future life, all lighted with the glory of God, and making music as
it breaks even upon these dark, rough rocks. Death is but a passage. It is not a house,
it is only a vestibule. The grave has a door on its inner side. God has taken our dead
to Himself, and we ought not to think (if we would think as the Bible speaks) of death
as being anything else than the transitory thing which breaks down the brazen walls
and lets us into liberty.
II. SINCE THEY HAVE DIED, THEY LIVE A BETTER LIFE THAN OURS. In what
particulars is their life now higher than it was? First, they have close fellowship with
Christ; then, they are separated from this present body of weakness, of dishonour, of
corruption; then, they are withdrawn from all the trouble, and toil, and care of this
present life; and then, and not least, surely, they have death behind them, not having
that awful figure standing on their horizon waiting for them to come up with it I
These are some of the elements of life of the sainted dead. What a wondrous advance
on the life, of earth they reveal if we think of them I They who have died in Christ live
a fuller and a nobler life, by the very dropping away of the body; a fuller and a nobler
life by the very cessation of care, change, strife and struggle; and, above all, a fuller
and nobler life, because they “sleep in Jesus,” and are gathered into His bosom, and
wake with Him yonder beneath the altar, clothed in white robes, and with palms in
their hands, “waiting the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body.” For though
death be a progress—a progress to the spiritual existence; though death be a birth to
a higher and nobler state; though it be the gate of life, fuller and better than any
which we possess; though the present state of the departed in Christ is a state of calm
blessedness, a state of perfect communion, a state of rest and satisfaction; yet it is not
the final and perfect state, either.
III. THE BETTER LIFE, WHICH THE DEAD IN CHRIST ARE LIVING NOW,
LEADS ON TO A STILL FULLER LIFE when they get back their glorified bodies. The
perfection of man is, body, soul, and spirit. That is man, as God made him. The spirit
perfected, the soul perfected, without the bodily life, is but part of the whole. For the
future world, in all its glory, we have the firm basis laid that it, too, is to be in a real
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sense a material world, where men once more are to possess bodies as they did
before, only bodies through which the spirit shall work conscious of no
disproportion, bodies which shall be fit servants and adequate organs of the
immortal souls within, bodies which shall never break down, bodies which shall
never hem in nor refuse to obey the spirits that dwell in them, but which shall add to
their power, and deepen their blessedness, and draw them closer to the God whom
they serve and the Christ after the likeness of whose glorious body they are fashioned
and conformed. “Body, soul, and spirit,”—the old combination which was on earth is
to be the perfect humanity of heaven. We have nothing to say, now and here, about
what that bodily condition may be—about the differences and the identities between
it and our present earthly house of this tabernacle. Only this we know—reverse all the
weakness of flesh, and you get some faint notion of the glorious body. Why, then,
seek the living among the dead? “God giveth His beloved sleep”; and in that peaceful
sleep, realities, not dreams, come round their quiet rest, and fill their conscious
spirits and their happy hearts with blessedness and fellowship. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
A present Christ
I. THE TENDENCY TO THINK OF CHRIST AS PAST RATHER THAN PRESENT.
1. In His work of redemption.
2. In His converting power.
3. In His Pentecostal influences.
4. In His administration of earthly affairs.
II. THE HARMFUL EFFECTS OF THIS TENDENCY upon the Church, collectively
and individually, when indulged.
1. It tends to the exaltation of the purely dogmatic over the practical and
experimental confession of Christ.
2. It encourages the substitution of speculative theories of Christ’s atoning work,
for the actual power and continuance of that work itself in its application to
human needs.
3. It deprives the Church of its great incentive to an active co-operation in the
saving work of the Redeemer.
III. THE GROUNDS AND THE CONCLUSIONS of the higher and absolutely true
view of Jesus Christ as personally present at all times with His people, in the power
and richness of His Divine life. His promise, “Lo, I am with you alway, even to the
end of the world.” Observe therefore—
1. The necessity and comfort of habitually thinking of Christ as personally with us
in the present varied needs and trials and duties of life.
2. The cheering prospect that death will only set us free, as it set Him free, from
the restraints and limitations of this mixed world, and usher us into a state of
boundless spiritual activity.
3. The uniqueness and authority of the gospel of Christ as the revelation of this
life of the spirit, and as the power which can effectually save us from the fear and
power of death. (H. R. Harris.)
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Christ is risen
I. Christ is risen, and THE LAST OPPOSING MONARCHY HAS FALLEN. Death
reigns no more. Sin has been vanquished by Christ’s Cross, and the empire of the
Prince of Darkness has been for ever destroyed.
II. He has risen, and His OWN DIVINE WORDS HAVE BEEN FULFILLED. Christ
claimed to be supernatural in every sphere of being. Easter substantiates His claim to
mastery over death. If this promise has been fulfilled, so will all others be.
III. He has risen, and THE DEAD HAVE NOT PERISHED. Personal immortality for
each of us, and reunion with the loved and lost.
IV. Christ is risen, and NO LASTING CHRISTIAN CHURCH CAN REST ON A
CLOSED TOMB. (W. M. Statham, B. A.)
The resurrection of Christ
As the resurrection of Christ is believed chiefly on the authority of His disciples, it is
desirable to inquire respecting the circumstances in which they spoke.
I. THEY DID NOT EXPECT THAT HE WOULD RISE FROM THE DEAD, NOR
BELIEVE THAT HE HAD RISEN, EVEN WHEN IT WAS TOLD TO THEM.
II. THEY COULD GAIN NOTHING BY ASSERTING IT, IF IT WERE UNTRUE. As a
consequence of declaring His resurrection, they could foresee only affliction,
reproach, and death.
III. THE DISCIPLES WERE AS WELL QUALIFIED AS ANY OTHER MEN, TO
KNOW WHETHER THE THINGS WHICH THEY AFFIRMED WERE SO. The
subjects respecting which they testified were cognizable by the senses. Had they been
dark, abstruse principles—had they been some rare phenomena in the material
world, but removed from inspection by the several senses, there would have been
reason for suspecting their capacity to know, and fully to comprehend them.
IV. CHRIST APPEARED TO THEM MANY TIMES. Not once or twice only, but so
often as to leave no room for doubt.
V. There is one more circumstance which gives weight to the evidence that He had
risen. This relates to THE MANNER IN WHICH HE AT VARIOUS TIMES
APPEARED to His disciples and others, who were associated with Him. The
circumstances in which men’s imaginations are wrought into the belief that they have
seen spirits, are very peculiar. Except in cases of disease, they are not infested with
these unfounded notions in open day, and in the society of their friends. The regions
of the dead, the burial places of our acquaintance, and the scenes of some tragical
event, are the favoured retreats of these terrors. But never in the enjoyment of health,
in open day, and amongst tried friends, have men been known to be afflicted by these
creations of their own minds. Now, it was not in scenes like these that Christ
appeared to His disciples. And in most of these circumstances it is utterly impossible
for the imaginations of men to form images which they might mistake for living
beings. Nothing but a living man could perform the various things which the
disciples have attributed to Christ. In conclusion:
1. Christ’s resurrection must have been a matter of great joy to His disciples.
Now, instead of looking forward only to days of shame, and years of disgrace,
they began to anticipate glory, and honour, and immortality.
2. The resurrection of Christ establishes the truth of Christianity.
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3. The resurrection of Christ is a victory over the power of death.
4. If our resurrection be demonstrably established by the resurrection of Christ,
it becomes us to be cautious how we use these bodies in the present life. (J. Foot,
D. D.)
Lessons
1. In the fact of Christ’s resurrection we have the great proof of His Divine
mission, and a call to submit to Him as our teacher and Lord.
2. Let us improve this event as a demonstration that Christ’s sacrifice was
accepted, and an encouragement to trust in His righteousness for justification.
3. The resurrection of Christ is connected with the observance of the first day of
the week as the Christian Sabbath.
4. Let us see that this event has its proper purifying effect on our heart and
conduct. We are called to be conformed to the image of Christ in general, and we
are particularly called to be conformed to Him in His death and resurrection.
5. The resurrection of Jesus Christ presents the pattern and pledge of the happy
and glorious resurrection of all His followers. There will be a resurrection “both
of the just and of the unjust.”
6. The resurrection of Christ should keep us in mind that we shall stand before
Him as our judge. (James Foote, M. A.)
Angels as remembrancers
But now it should be more carefully observed that this reminding the women of what
had been said to them by Christ is probably but an example of what continually
occurs in the ministration of angels. The great object of our discourse is to illustrate
this ministration, to give it something of a tangible character; and we gladly seize on
the circumstance of the angels recalling to the minds of the women things which had
been heard, because it seems to place under a practical point of view what is too
generally considered mere useless speculation. And though we do not indeed look for
any precise repetition of the scene given in our text, for angels do not now take visible
shapes in order to commune with men, we know not why we should not ascribe to
angelic ministration facts accurately similar, if not as palpable, proceeding from
supernatural agency. We think that we shall be borne out by the experience of every
believer in Christ when we affirm that texts of Scripture are often suddenly and
mysteriously brought into the mind, texts which have not perhaps recently engaged
our attention, but which are most nicely suited to our circumstances, or which
furnish most precisely the material then needed by our wants. There will enter into
the spirit of a Christian, on whom has fallen some unexpected temptation, a passage
of the Bible which is just as a weapon wherewith to foil his assailant; or, if it be an
unlookedfor difficulty into which he is plunged, the occurring verses will be those
best adapted for counsel and guidance; or, if it be some fearful trouble with which he
is visited, then will there pass through all the chambers of the sou] gracious
declarations which the inspired writers will seem to have uttered and registered on
purpose for himself. And it may be that the Christian will observe nothing peculiar in
this; there may appear to him nothing but an effort of memory, roused and acted on
by the circumstances in which he is placed; and he may consider it as natural that
suitable passages should throng into his mind, as that he should remember an event
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at the place where he knows it to have happened. But let him ask himself whether he
is not, on the other hand, often conscious of the intrusion into his soul of what is base
and defiling? Whether, if he happen to have heard the jeer and the blasphemy, the
parody on sacred things, or the insult upon moral, they will not be frequently
recurring to his mind? recurring, too, at moments when there is least to provoke
them, and when it had been most his endeavour to gather round him an atmosphere
of what is sacred and pure. And we never scruple to give it as a matter of consolation
to a Christian, harassed by these vile invasions of his soul, that he may justly ascribe
them to the agency of the devil; wicked angels inject into the mind the foul and
polluting quotation; and there is not necessarily any sin in receiving it, though there
must be if we give it entertainment in place of casting it instantly out. But why should
we be so ready to go for explanation to the power of memory, and the force of
circumstances, when apposite texts occur to the mind, and then resolve into Satanic
agency the profanation of the spirit with what is blasphemous and base. It were far
more consistent to admit a spiritual influence in the one case as well as in the other;
to suppose that, if evil angels syllable to the soul what may have been heard or read of
revolting and impure, good angels breathe into its recesses the sacred words, not
perhaps recently perused, but which apply most accurately to our existing condition.
We do not wish to draw you away, in the least degree, from the truth that “the eternal
uncreated Spirit of God alone, the Holy Ghost, is the author of our sanctification, the
infuser into us of the principle of Divine life, and He only is able to overrule our wills,
to penetrate the deepest secrets of our hearts, and to rectify our most inward
faculties.” But surely it does not infringe the office of the Holy Ghost to suppose, with
Bishop Bull, that “good angels may, and often do, as instruments of the Divine
goodness, powerfully operate upon our fancies and imaginations, and thereby
prompt us to pious thoughts, affections, and actions.” They were angels, as you will
remember, which came and ministered to our Lord after He had been exposed in the
wilderness to extraordinary assaults from the devil. He had the Spirit without
measure; but, nevertheless, as though to mark to us the agency which this Spirit is
often pleased to employ, it was in and through angels that consolation was imparted;
even as, in the dread hour of His last conflict with the powers of darkness, “there
appeared an angel unto Him from heaven, strengthening Him.” Not only, therefore,
can I regard it as credible that angels stir up our torpid memories and bring truths to
our recollection, as they did to the women at the sepulchre of Christ—I can rejoice in
it as fraught with consolation, because showing that a created instrumentality is used
by the Holy Ghost in the renewing our nature. And surely it may well excite gladness
that there is around the Christian the guardianship of heavenly hosts; that, whilst his
pathway is thronged by malignant spirits, whose only effort is to involve him in their
everlasting shame, it is also thronged by ministers of grace, who long to have him as
their companion in the presence of God; for there is thus what we might almost dare
to call a visible array of power on our side, and we may take all that confidence which
should result from being actually permitted to look on the antagonists, and to see
that there are more with us than there are against. But it is hardly possible to read
these words of the angels and not to feel how reproachfully they must have fallen on
the ears of the women! how they must have upbraided them with want of attention
and of faith. For had they but listened heedfully to what Christ had said, and had they
but given due credence to His words, they would have come in triumph to welcome
the living, in place of mournfully with spices to embalm the dead. But God dealt more
graciously with these women than their inattention, or want of faith, had deserved;
He caused the words to be brought to their remembrance, whilst they might yet
inspire confidence, though they could hardly fail also to excite bitter contrition. (H.
Melvill, B. D.)
20

Risen
A rising Saviour demands a rising life. For remember, brethren, there are two laws.
One law, by which all men gravitate, like a stone, to the earth—another law, equally
strong, the law of grace, by which every renewed man is placed under the attractive
influence of an ascending power, by which he must be always drawn higher and
higher. For just as when a man, lying upon the ground, gets up and stands upright,
his upright posture draws up with it all his limbs, so in the mystical body of Jesus
Christ, the risen Head necessarily draws up all the mystical members. The process of
elevation is one which, beginning at a man’s conversion to God, goes on day by day,
hour by hour, in his tastes, in his judgments, in his affections, in his habits. First it is
spiritual, then it is material. Now, in the rising spirit of the man, first he sees higher
and higher elevations of being, and gradually fits for the fellowship of the saints and
the presence of God. And presently, on that great Easter morning of the resurrection,
in his restored body, when it shall wake up, and rise satisfied with its Redeemer’s
likeness, made pure and ethereal enough to soar, and blend and co-operate with the
spirit in all its holy and eternal exercises. But what I wish to impress upon you now
is, that this series in the ever-ascending scale begins now; that there is, as every
believer fee]s, a daily dying, so there is also, as our baptism tells us, a daily
resurrection. It is always well to take advantage of particular seasons to do particular
proper things. Now to-day the proper thing is to rise, to get up higher. This Easter
day ought not to pass without every one of us beginning with some new affection,
some new work. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
MEYER, " THE EMPTY TOMB
Luk_24:1-12
The most perplexing question for those who deny Christ’s resurrection is, “What
became of His body if He did not rise?” If foes stole it, they would have produced it in
disproof of the allegations of the Apostles. If friends had taken it, they would
certainly have borne it off wrapped in the cerements of death; but these were left
behind and wrapped together in such an orderly fashion that evidently there had
been neither violence nor haste.
Notice the stress that the angels laid on Christ as the living one. They had doubtless
overheard that sentence of His spoken in Galilee and recorded in Luk_9:22. Too
many seek the living Christ amid the wrappings of ceremony and creed. He is not
there. He has gone forth, and we must follow Him where Easter is breaking.
Women were the first evangelist-messengers of the Resurrection. The very ardor of
their belief seems to have prejudiced their message; the Apostles “dis-believed,”
Luk_24:11 (R.V.). But the orderly arrangement of the tomb proved to Peter that
clearly it had not been rifled.
PETT, “‘But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb,
bringing the spices which they had prepared.’
21

‘On the first day of the week.’ This is literally ‘on the first of the sabbaths’. It is a
phrase that regularly indicates what we see as the first day of the week. But the word
‘sabbaths’ was used to indicate the seven days in a seven day period ending on a
sabbath. Thus the ‘first of the sabbaths’ was Sunday (commencing at sunset on
Saturday).
‘At early dawn.’ Literally ‘at deep dawn’. Mark indicates that this is just after the sun
has come up. It is indeed unlikely that at such a perilous time for the followers of
Jesus, when danger would be seen as lurking everywhere, the women would venture
abroad in the dark.
‘They came to the tomb, bringing the spices which they had prepared.’ we must
remember here that Luke is intending to give the gist of what happened without
going into too much detail. We discover elsewhere that Mary Magdalene (John 20:1)
and the other Mary (Matthew 28:1) went ahead in order to try to work out a way of
removing the stone blocking the entrance and getting into the tomb. It would seem
that at what they found the other Mary went back to warn the women, while Mary
Magdalene sped off to tell the leading Apostles. But Luke is more interested in what
happened to the whole body of women.
Verses 1-12
All Are Puzzled Over The Empty Tomb (24:1-12).
When at last the time came for them to be able to go to the tomb, the women carried
out the final preparations on the spices and ointments ,and as Mark suggests, having
found that they had insufficient for the purpose among them, had to hurry out to buy
more. Both activities were likely in the circumstances, for they would carry some with
them, but as they were only in Jerusalem as visitors and would be unlikely to have
with them all that was necessary for a burial, once they had pooled their resources it
was always likely that they would not have enough. These differing descriptions of
their activities in fact bear the stamp of genuineness, for no one was particular about
the detail, which would hardly be seen as important, but the various statements all fit
in place and depict a situation that with a little thought we will see was most
probable.
Having finalised their preparations they then went to the tomb and found it open,
with the stone rolled away. Baffled by this unexpected event they entered it, only to
discover to their dismay that the body had gone. But even while they were still
looking at each other and wondering what to do next, two men whose clothes shone
brilliantly, appeared to them and explained that Jesus had risen as He had promised.
Recognising that something remarkable must have happened, although probably not
sure what, they raced back to the Apostles and told them all that they had seen and
22

heard, but none of the men believed them. They dismissed their story as fairy tales.
Although, Luke tells us, Peter did at some stage go to the tomb to see for himself
what the situation was. And at what he saw he was clearly made to think deeply. John
tells us that this was as a result of the arrival of Mary Magdalene to inform them
about the empty tomb (John 20:1-10).
This account reads like history (contrast the later so-called Gospels written in the
second century and later), and its soberness must be seen as confirming its accuracy.
Someone who invented such a story would have made it far more exciting, for its
potential was huge. Had they been writing with the intention of ‘making an
impression’ they would have written it very differently. That was how people who
were not serious historians wrote in those days. Nor, unless that was what had really
happened, would any Christian inventor have had the women discover the truth first,
with the Apostles then revealing their unbelief by refusing to accept what they said. It
was too much of a slight, both on these revered women and on the Apostles, and it
was putting the emphasis on the kind of witnesses who would be considered by all to
be the least reliable. The facts thus speak for themselves. Those who do not want to
believe them because of their own presuppositions, or are predisposed to reject
anything that they cannot fully explain, will no doubt continue to argue about them.
But we would suggest that anyone who is genuinely seeking with an open mind to
discover what really happened, and is willing to accept eyewitness testimony, can
only be convinced that this is a true record of events. It is not the kind of description
that people would invent, and is so much more sober than anything that they would
have suggested if they had been making it up, that it demonstrates that they
restricted themselves simply to the facts. They were not out for effect. They were out
to tell what they saw, and to tell it soberly.
Analysis of 24:1-12.
a But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, bringing the
spices which they had prepared, and they found the stone rolled away from the tomb,
and they entered in, and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus (Luke 24:1-3).
b It came to about that while they were perplexed about it, behold, two men stood by
them in dazzling apparel (Luke 24:4).
c And as they were afraid and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said to them,
“Why do you seek the living among the dead?” (Luke 24:5).
d He is not here, but is risen. Remember how He spoke to you when He was yet in
Galilee” (Luke 24:6).
e “Saying that the Son of man must be delivered up into the hands of sinful men, and
be crucified, and the third day rise again” (Luke 24:7).
d And they remembered his words, and returned from the tomb, and told all these
things to the eleven, and to all the rest (Luke 24:8-9).
c Now they were Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and
23

the other women with them told these things to the Apostles (Luke 24:10).
b And these words appeared in their sight as idle talk, and they disbelieved them
(Luke 24:11).
a But Peter arose, and ran to the tomb, and stooping and looking in, he sees the linen
cloths by themselves, and he departed to his home, wondering at what had happened
(Luke 24:12).
Note how in ‘a’ the women come to the tomb, find the stone rolled away, enter it and
find it empty, (and are perplexed), while in the parallel Peter comes to the tomb,
finds it empty, and goes home wondering at what he has seen. In ‘b’ the women are
perplexed before the angels and in the parallel the disciples are disbelieving before
the women. In ‘c’ the women are asked by the angels why they seek the living among
the dead, and in the parallel we are told who these women were. In ‘d’ they are told to
remember what Jesus had said and in the parallel they do remember. And finally in
‘e’, and centrally, we are told how the words of Jesus have been fulfilled in His
resurrection.
2 They found the stone rolled away from the
tomb,
CLARKE, "They found the stone rolled away - An angel from God had done
this before they reached the tomb, Mat_28:2 : On this case we cannot help
remarking, that, when persons have strong confidence in God, obstacles do not
hinder them from undertaking whatever they have reason to believe he requires; and
the removal of them they leave to him: and what is the consequence? They go on
their way comfortably, and all difficulties vanish before them.
GILL, "And they found the stone rolled away the sepulchre. Which Joseph
had laid there, security of the body, and in the sight of these women; and which gave
them a concern, as they went along, seeing they were all women, who should roll
away the stone for them, Mar_16:3 but when they came to the sepulchre, to their
great surprise, they found it rolled away, which was done by an angel, Mat_28:2.
HENRY,"II. The surprise they were in, when they found the stone rolled away and
the grave empty (Luk_24:2, Luk_24:3); they were much perplexed at that (Luk_
24:4) which they had much reason to rejoice in, that the stone was rolled away from
the sepulchre (by which it appeared that he had a legal discharge, and leave to come
out), and that they found not the body of the Lord Jesus, by which it appeared that he
had made us of his discharge and was come out. Note, Good Christians often perplex
themselves about that with which they should comfort and encourage themselves.
24

BENSON, "Luke 24:2-8. They found the stone rolled away — Their inquiry
among themselves, while they were going along, had been, Who shall roll us
away the stone? That difficulty, however, they found removed, but alas! when
they entered in, they found not the body of the Lord Jesus. About this, as we may
well suppose, they were much perplexed. God, however, was graciously pleased
soon to remove their perplexity. For, behold, two men stood by them in shining
garments — Or, suddenly appeared to them, as the word επεστησαν may be
properly rendered. It does not imply that the angels, at their first appearing,
were close by the women, as may be proved from the Greek translation of
Genesis 18:2, where, though it be said, that Abraham lifted up his eyes, and
looked, and, lo, three men ( ειστηκεισαν επανω αυτω) stood by him, it is added,
that when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, which shows
that they were at some distance from him. It is probable that both these angels
were in a sitting posture when they first showed themselves to the women,
because Mark affirms it expressly of the one whom he mentions, (Luke 24:5,)
and because they showed themselves in this posture afterward to Mary
Magdalene, John 20:12. Or, the evangelists may be reconciled by supposing that
the angel of whom Mark speaks, arose when the women went down into the
sepulchre. See on Mark 16:3-6. And as they were afraid — Mark says,
εξεθαμβηθησαν, affrighted, or terrified, at this extraordinary and surprising
sight; and bowed down their faces to the earth — Fixed their eyes upon it, in
token of the profoundest respect; they — Namely, the angels; said unto them —
This evangelist, having no intention to tell which of the angels spake, attributes
to them both words, which, in the nature of the thing, could be spoken only by
one of them, probably the one mentioned by Matthew and Mark, it being the
custom, as has been just observed, of the sacred historians to mention one person
or thing only, even in cases where more were concerned. Why seek ye the living
among the dead? — Why are you come hither with materials for embalming one
who is possessed of an immortal life? He is not here, but is risen — He has
quitted the grave to return no more to it. Remember how he spake when he was
yet in Galilee — Thus they refer the women to his own words, which if they and
his other disciples had duly believed and observed, they would more easily have
credited the fact when it took place. That the tidings, therefore, might not be
such a surprise to them as they seemed to be, the angels repeat to them what
Christ had often said in their hearing. And they remembered his words — When
they were thus reminded of them. And now, doubtless, they were ashamed of the
preparations they had made to embalm him on the third day, who had so often
said, he would on the third day rise again.
PETT, “Verse 2-3
‘And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, and they entered in, and
did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.’
What the group of women found is simply and briefly described. They found the
tomb open with the stone rolled away from the entrance, but when they entered
it did not find the body of the Lord Jesus, which is what they were looking for.
This perplexed them. What were they going to do now? This situation was totally
unexpected and would suggest to them that someone had removed the body. But
the question was, who? And where had they taken it?
25

There is no difficulty in the suggestion that the women all entered the tomb. In
Jerusalem today there is an ancient tomb called the Garden Tomb. While it may
or not be the actual tomb in which Jesus was buried, it illustrates the type of
tomb in which He was probably laid, and there would certainly have been little
difficulty in a small group of women crowding inside.
3 but when they entered, they did not find the
body of the Lord Jesus.
CLARKE, "And found not the body of the Lord - His holy soul was in
Paradise, Luk_23:43; and the evangelist mentions the body particularly, to show that
this only was subject to death. It is, I think, evident enough, from these and other
words of Luke, that the doctrine of the materiality of the soul, made no part of his
creed.
GILL, "And they entered in,.... To the sepulchre, being invited, encouraged, and
led on by the angel that sat upon the stone; for the Jews' sepulchres were built large
enough for persons to go into; See Gill on Mar_16:5.
and found not the body of the Lord Jesus; as they expected, having seen him
put there, and had observed in what cave in the sepulchre, and in what form he was
laid.
HENRY,"
JAMIESON, "
CAVIN, "
4 While they were wondering about this,
suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like
lightning stood beside them.
GILL, "And it came to pass as they were much perplexed thereabout,....
About the body of Christ, and its being gone, what should become of it, whither it
was removed, and by what means, and by whom; whether by a friend, or foe, for they
had no thought, nor expectation of a resurrection;
26

behold, two men stood by them in shining garments; who were angels in the
form of men; and as these were the first witnesses of Christs resurrection, there were
two of them; for by the mouth of two or three witnesses every thing is established.
Matthew and Mark take notice but of one; but John makes mention of two, as here,
seen by Mary Magdalene, though in a different posture; they were sitting, the one at
the head, the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain; but when the rest of
the women came, they were risen up, and stood close by them, on a sudden, at an
unawares, being arrayed in white raiment, as white as snow, as a token of their purity
and innocence, and as bringers of good tidings; and as joining in the triumph of their
Lord's resurrection: their garments were bright and glittering like lightning, to set
forth the glory and majesty of these celestial spirits, and that they might be known to
be what they were.
HENRY,"III. The plain account which they had of Christ's resurrection from two
angels, who appeared to them in shining garments, not only white, but bright, and
casting a lustre about them. They first saw one angel without the sepulchre, who
presently went in, and sat with another angel in the sepulchre, one at the head and
the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain; so the evangelists may be
reconciled. The women, when they saw the angels, were afraid lest they had some ill
news for them; but, instead of enquiring of them, they bowed down their faces to the
earth, to look for their dear Master in the grave. They would rather find him in his
grave-clothes than angels themselves in their shining garments. A dying Jesus has
more beauty in the eyes of a believer than angels themselves. These women, like the
spouse, when found by the watchman (and angels are called watchers), enter not
into any other conversation with them than this, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?
COFFMAN, "Two men stood by them ... These were angels, as indicated by the
dazzling raiment; and it is interesting that commentators generally set
themselves in motion immediately to show that this does not contradict the other
two synoptics' mention of but "one" angel. Thus, Lamar:
Matthew and Mark mention but one of these, for the reason, perhaps, that only
one of them spoke. But in doing so he REPRESENTED both, and therefore it
was virtually, as in our text the speech of both.[1]
If indeed this episode is the same as that mentioned in Matthew and Mark,
Lamar's words are surely applicable; but the conviction maintained here is that
this was a totally different episode, like the appearance to the disciples on the
way to Emmaus. As noted under Luke 24:3, the women here were those who
"followed him" from Galilee; but of those women mentioned in Matthew and
Mark (and also by Luke in Luke 24:10), it is evident that they ACCOMPANIED
Jesus in the same manner as the Twelve. See Luke 8:1-3, where this is plainly
stated of Mary Magdalene, Joanna the wife of Herod's steward, and Susanna,
these being women of wealth who funded the travels of Jesus and the Twelve. It
is reasonable to suppose that this particular group of affluent women remained
with the Twelve during the first day of the resurrection. Certainly, there were
OTHERS besides the Eleven present in that upper room when the disciples
returned from Emmaus; for Luke says they "returned to Jerusalem, and found
the eleven gathered together and "them that were with them" (Luke 24:33)! An
element of conjecture is in such an interpretation, but certainly far less than in
supposing that these women reported two angels, if in fact there had been only
one. During those two years of Paul's imprisonment in Caesarea, Luke had
27

ample opportunity to visit some of the women who were in that company; and it
must be concluded that these were among the eyewitnesses mentioned in his
introduction.
It is also significant that Mary Magdalene, blinded by grief and inattentive to
anything else, was not impressed by the angel at all, but here the women were
frightened and fell upon their faces. If all of the intensive activities of that day
were known, such problems would disappear; but it was part of the Father's
wisdom to give men just the amount of revelation which would leave them free to
make their own moral decision.
Why seek ye the living with the dead ...? These words particularly impressed
Barclay who said:
There are many who still look for Jesus among the dead. There are those who
regard Jesus as the greatest man and the noblest hero who ever lived, who lived
the loveliest life ever lived on earth and who then died. That will not do! Jesus is
not dead; he is alive! He is not a hero of the past, but a living presence today![2]
[1] J. S. Lamar, The New Testament Commentary, (Cincinnati, Ohio: Chase and
Hall, 1877), p. 276.
[2] William Barclay, The Gospel of Luke (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press,
1956), p. 305.
ELLICOTT, “(4) Two men stood by them.—St. Mark and St. Matthew mention
one only. Had St. Matthew given the two, it might have been urged by adverse
critics that this duplication of phenomena, as in the case of the demoniacs
(Matthew 8:28), and the blind men at Jericho (Matthew 20:30), was an
idiosyncrasy of his. As it is, we must suppose that each set of informants—the
two Maries, and the “others” from whom it seems probable that St. Luke’s
report was derived—described what they themselves had seen. At such moments
of terror and astonishment, perception and memory are not always very definite
in their reports.
PETT, “Verse 4
‘And it came to about that while they were perplexed about it, behold, two men
stood by them in dazzling apparel,’
And it was while they were still perplexed, a state which would certainly have
continued for some time had they not met the angels, that they became aware of
two men standing by them in ‘dazzling clothing’. Both Mark and Matthew only
mention one. Mark describes one who was sitting in a particular place who spoke
to them. This does not discount the presence of a second, but emphasises who the
main player was. Mark always concentrates on the particular one who is most
important in the story, and ignores any other. In contrast Matthew elsewhere
(but not in this case), and sometimes Luke, advert to more of the detail so that
Matthew in a number of cases, and Luke in this case, regularly speak of twos
where Mark has only one, possibly in the case of Matthew because having been
28

there he actually remembered more of the detail. For two angels compare also
John 20:12; Acts 1:10. See also Genesis 19:1 ff.
The dazzling clothing is clearly intended to indicate supernatural visitants, even
though they are called ‘men’. For such an idea compare Daniel 10:5; Ezekiel 8:2;
Acts 12:7, and see Luke 2:9. These were men ‘of the light’, or ‘angels of light’
(for the idea compare 2 Corinthians 11:14). The message they brought was
therefore light and not darkness (Acts 26:18).
5 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?
CLARKE, "Why seek ye the living among the dead? - This was a common
form of speech among the Jews, and seems to be applied to those who were foolishly,
impertinently, or absurdly employed. As places of burial were unclean, it was not
reasonable to suppose that the living should frequent them; or that if any was
missing he was likely to be found in such places.
GILL, "And as they were afraid,.... That is, the women were afraid of these
angels; these bright appearances and majestic forms, as it was usual for good men
and women to be, as appears from the cases of Zacharias, the Virgin Mary, and
others:
and bowed down their faces to the earth, through great fear and reverence of
these heavenly spirits, and as not being able to bear the lustre of their countenances
and garments:
they said unto them, that is, the angels:
why seek ye the living among the dead? intimating, that Christ, though he had
been dead, was now living, and not to be sought for in a sepulchre; a way of speaking,
much like this, is used in a parable of R. Levi's, concerning Pharaoh's not finding the
name of God among the gods of the nations, upon searching for it. Moses and Aaron
said to Pharaoh,
"thou fool, is it usual for the dead to "seek" them among the living? ‫אצל‬ ‫החיים‬ ‫שמא‬
‫,המתים‬ "or ever the living among the dead?" our God is living, these thou speakest of
are dead (i).''
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Nor is Christ to be found among dead sinners, or lifeless professors, but among living
saints, and among the churches of the living God; nor is life to be found among the
dead works of the law, or to be obtained by lifeless performances on the dead letter of
the law.
HENRY,"They upbraid the women with the absurdity of the search they were
making: Why seek ye the living among the dead? Luk_24:5. Witness is hereby given
to Christ that he is living, of him it is witnessed that he liveth (Heb_7:8), and it is the
comfort of all the saints, I know that my Redeemer liveth; for because he lives we
shall live also. But a reproof is given to those that look for him among the dead, - that
look for him among the dead heroes that the Gentiles worshipped, as if he were but
like one of them, - that look for him in an image, or a crucifix, the work of men's
hands, or among unwritten tradition and the inventions of men; and indeed all they
that expect happiness and satisfaction in the creature, or perfection in this imperfect
state, may be said to seek the living among the dead.
JAMIESON, "Why, etc. — Astonishing question! not “the risen,” but “the Living
One” (compare Rev_1:18); and the surprise expressed in it implies an incongruity in
His being there at all, as if, though He might submit to it, “it was impossible He
should be holden of it” (Act_2:24).
SBC 5-6, “I. The first thought that these words of the angel messenger, and the
scene in which we find them, suggest, is this: The dead are the living. Language,
which is more accustomed and adapted to express the appearances than the realities
of things, leads us astray very much when we use the phrase "the dead" as if it
expressed the continuance of the condition into which men pass in the act of
dissolution. The dead are the living who have died. Whilst they were dying they lived,
and after they were dead they lived more fully. All live unto God. How solemnly
sometimes that thought comes up before us, that all those past generations which
have stormed across this earth of ours, and then have fallen into still forgetfulness,
live yet! Somewhere at this very instant, they now verily are! Death is no state; it is an
act. It is not a condition; it is a transition.
II. This text—indeed, the whole incident—may set before us the other consideration:
Since they have died, they live a better life than ours. In what particulars is their life
now higher than ours? (1) They have close fellowship with Christ. (2) They are
separated from the present body of weakness, of dishonour, of corruption. (3) They
are withdrawn from all the trouble and toil and care of this present life. (4) They have
death behind them, not having that awful figure standing on their horizon waiting for
them to come up with it.
III. The better life which the dead are living now leads on to a still fuller life when
they get back their glorified bodies. "Body, soul, and spirit"—the old combination
which was on earth—is to be the perfect humanity of heaven. The spirits that are
perfected, that are living in blessedness, that are dwelling in God, that are sleeping in
Christ, at this moment are waiting, stretching out expectant hands of faith and hope;
for that they would not be unclothed, but clothed upon with their house which is
from heaven, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.
A. Maclaren, Sermons preached in Manchester, 1st series, p. 97.
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Christ, a Quickening Spirit.
I. Observe how Christ’s Resurrection harmonises with the history of His Birth. David
had foretold that His soul should not be left in hell (that is, the unseen state) neither
should the Holy One of God see corruption. In the angel’s announcement of His Birth
His incorruptible and immortal nature is implied. Death might overpower, but it
could not keep possession—it had no dominion over Him. He was, in the words of
the text, "the Living among the dead. The grave could not detain Him who had life in
Himself. He rose as a man awakes in the morning, when sleep flies from him as a
thing of course.
II. Jesus Christ manifested Himself to His disciples in His exalted state, that they
might be witnesses to the people; witnesses of those separate truths which man’s
reason cannot combine, that He had a real human body, that it was partaker in the
properties of His Soul, and that it was inhabited by the Eternal Word. They handled
Him; they saw Him come and go, when the doors were shut; they felt what they could
not see, but could witness even unto death—that He was their Lord and their God: a
triple evidence, first, of His Atonement; next, of their own resurrection unto glory;
lastly, of His Divine power to conduct them safely to it. Thus manifested, as perfect
God and perfect man, in the fulness of His sovereignty, and the immortality of His
holiness, He ascended up on high to take possession of His kingdom.
III. As Adam is the author of death to the whole race of men, so is Christ the origin of
immortality. Adam spreads poison; Christ diffuses life eternal. Christ communicates
life to us, one by one, by means of that holy and incorrupt nature which He assumed
for our redemption: how, we know not; though by an unseen, still by a real,
communication of Himself. How wonderful a work of grace! Strange it was that
Adam should be our death: but stranger still and very gracious, that God Himself
should be our life, by means of that human tabernacle which He has taken on
Himself.
J. H. Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons, vol. ii., p. 139.
ELLICOTT, “(5) Why seek ye the living among the dead?—Better, as in the margin,
Him that liveth. The question was enough to change the whole current of their
thoughts. The Lord whom they came to honour as dead was in very deed “living,” was
emphatically “He that liveth,” alive for evermore (Revelation 1:18). The primary
meaning of the words is, of course, limited to this; but like the parallel, “let the dead
bury their dead” (see Note on Matthew 8:22), they suggest manifold applications. It
is in vain that we seek “Him that liveth” in dead works, dead formulæ, dead or dying
institutions. The eternal life that is in Christ is not to be found by looking into the
graves of the past in the world’s history, or in those of our individual life. In both
cases it is better to rise, as on the “stepping-stones of our dead selves,” to “higher
things.”
PETT, “The appearance of the men was such that the women were afraid, and ‘bowed
down their faces’ before the men. This may have been because of the brightness of
the light, or simply because they were filled with awe. But the men gently asked them,
“Why do you seek the living among the dead?” Given what follows it was a clear
indication that the reason why Jesus’ body was not here was because He was alive,
and that that was because He had ‘risen’. The words are a gentle rebuke. The
suggestion is that the women should not have been looking for Jesus in the tomb on
the third day, for Jesus had told them that by then He would have risen from the
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dead. The thought is that had they been spiritually aware they would have known.
6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how
he told you, while he was still with you in
Galilee:
BARNES, "He is not here, but is risen,.... So in Mat_28:6 see the note there:
remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee; for these
women that followed him from Galilee were along with the disciples when he said the
following words to them; and which are recorded in Mat_17:22.
GILL, "He is not here, but is risen,.... So in Mat_28:6 see the note there:
remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee; for these
women that followed him from Galilee were along with the disciples when he said the
following words to them; and which are recorded in Mat_17:22.
HENRY," They assure them that he is risen from the dead (Luk_24:6): “He is not
here, but is risen, is risen by his own power; he has quitted his grace, to return no
more to it.” These angels were competent witnesses, for they had been sent express
from heaven with orders for his discharge. And we are sure that their record is true;
they durst not tell a lie. 3. They refer them to his own words: Remember what he
spoke to you, when he was yet in Galilee. If they had duly believed and observed the
prediction of it, they would easily have believed the thing itself when it came to pass;
and therefore, that the tidings might not be such a surprise to them and they seemed
to be, the angels repeat to them what Christ had often said in their hearing, The Son
of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and though it was done by the
determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, yet they that did it were not the less
sinful for doing it. He told them that he must be crucified. Surely they could not
forget that which they had with so much concern seen fulfilled; and would not this
bring to their mind that which always followed, The third day he shall rise again?
Observe, These angels from heaven bring not any new gospel, but put them in mind,
as the angels of the churches do, of the sayings of Christ, and teach them how to
improve and apply them.
JAMIESON, "in Galilee — to which these women themselves belonged (Luk_
23:55).
COFFMAN, "Angels of heaven announced the resurrection of Jesus, because no
human eye beheld the wonder. The fact certified by the heavenly messengers
here is the most important of all human history. Hobbs said:
32

Luke's medical training would have prejudiced him against a bodily
resurrection. Yet, having traced all things accurately, he was so convinced of its
reality that he recorded one of the most beautiful and complete accounts of it. ...
This man of science, this historian of the first rank stands as a bulwark against
those who would deny this Miracle of Miracles in which Jesus was declared to be
the Son of God with power by his resurrection from the dead.[3]
The resurrection is the central fact of the gospel. "Without it the words of Paul
would stand as the epitaph of a dead Christianity, `Your faith is futile, and you
are still in your sins' (1 Corinthians 15:17)."[4]
[3] Herschel H. Hobbs, An Exposition of the Gospel of Luke (Grand Rapids,
Michigan: Baker Book House, 1966), p. 346.
[4] Donald G. Miller, The Layman's Bible Commentary (Richmond, Virginia:
The John Knox Press, 1959).
PETT, “Verse 6-7
“He is not here, but is risen. Remember how he spoke to you when he was yet in
Galilee, saying that the Son of man must be delivered up into the hands of sinful
men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.”
The men then made clear exactly what they meant, ‘“He is not here, but is risen’.
And lest there be any doubt they linked it with Jesus’ promise, given while they
had all been with Him in Galilee, that having suffered, and having died, He
would rise again on the third day. The words are not an exact quotation but
combine the ideas in Luke 9:22 (‘must’) with Luke 9:44 (‘be delivered’).
The main difference between this quotation here by the men, and what Jesus had
said (see Luke 9:22; Luke 9:44), lies in the change from ‘killed’ to ‘crucified’, an
indication of the accuracy of Luke’s recording. Initially the form of death had
not been spelled out. Now it was crystal clear. We can understand that the
women, burdened with grief, were astounded. While Jesus had spoken of such a
thing they had never really considered the genuine possibility of it as a real
current event. And now it seemed that the promise which had seemed so strange
at the time had been genuinely fulfilled. They no doubt found the thought both
amazing and exciting.
There is no reason for assuming that Luke’s mention of Galilee on the lips of the
angels indicates that he has altered Mark’s words in Mark 16:7. The angel would
not have been limited to two sentences, and what Mark says is of a very different
import to what we find here in Luke. Thus we may reasonably accept that he
said both. But Luke would not want to mention the words spoken in Mark’s
Gospel, for he does not want to involve the appearances in Galilee. He wants to
concentrate attention on Jerusalem, which to the Gentiles to whom he was
writing was seen as the centre of Israel’s religion. It is from Jerusalem that the
Gospel will go out (Acts 1:8).
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