15:37 And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. 38 And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. 39 And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”…[Pilate] granted the corpse to Joseph. 46 And Joseph bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock. And he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. 47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid…16:2 And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. 3 And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” 4 And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. 5 And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. 6 And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. (Mark 15-16 selected verses)

We are now coming into Holy Week which culminates in the death and resurrection of our Lord. We follow our Lord from his triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday through his final instruction to his disciples and the institution of the Lord’s Supper. We sleepily keep watch with him as he goes to dark Gethsemane to pray and is betrayed. We follow along helplessly as he is dragged before unjust courts. He is mocked, spit upon, and mercilessly beaten before taking up his cross to Calvary where he was crucified. For three hours he hanged there until he uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. What a cry that must have been. The curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom, from heaven to earth. The word of his voice caused the earth to quake and the faith of a centurion to shake who said, “Truly this man was the Son of God.” Joseph of Arimathea came to request the body of Jesus, and after Pilat confirmed that Jesus was dead he granted the corpse to Jesus, he laid him in the tomb, and rolled a stone against the entrance. Now the women saw where he was laid. They had been with him. They saw him scourged. They him crucified. They saw him die. They saw him buried. Then, very early on Sunday morning, the women returned to the tomb where they had seen him laid and were even discussing how on earth they were going to move the stone that they saw placed in front of it. But when they looked they saw that the very large stone had already been rolled away. Something happened that they did not see. They went inside they were alarmed to see a young man sitting there in a white robe. “Do not be alarmed” he said, “You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.” It is true. He was crucified and they had seen it. They saw him laid were this angel was sitting. “He has risen; He is not here. See the place where they laid him.” Like those first two witnesses of the resurrection, we know what we have seen. We have seen pain and suffering in our own lives and in the world around. We see death and injustice. We are eyewitnesses of many things. It’s not about what they had seen, but what they had not seen. They say he was not where they had seen him before. For he is risen! Before they saw him alive, first they heard that he is alive. Even if you have not seen the empty tomb yourself, don’t look for him there because you wont find him them. First you encounter him in the Gospel. In the Easter proclamation that he is risen! This word shakes heaven and earth producing faith in your heart which says, “Truly this man is the Son of God.”