“But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, ‘Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.'” (Luke 24:1-6a)
In the 21st century Christians are constantly reminded through the scriptures and the church of the significance and reality of the resurrection of Jesus. The fact that Jesus rose from the dead means our sins are forgiven, that we have a God who gives us peace, comfort, and joy and provides meaning and purpose for our lives.
Yet those in our modern culture still need to have the resurrection explained to them since our social structure no longer centers on the Judeo-Christian faith and the scriptures. Our culture dismisses the resurrection of Christ as a myth or fairy tale that merely stresses the hope of rebirth embodied in the season of Spring. They dismiss the scriptures as the struggles of a group of people trying to make sense out of the world, a world, then as now, filled with violence, hatred, pain, and injustice.
Yet the reality is we have the testimony of several reliable eyewitnesses that proclaim to us that Jesus did rise from the grave. Their testimonies form the basis of our own. These men and women had no reason to lie nor could they fabricate such a story. The followers of Jesus had never heard of anyone rising from the dead. The closest they had experienced were the three people Jesus raised from the dead. But someone raising himself from the grave was something they could not even conceive. The miracle of Jesus’ resurrection was so totally beyond their understanding that the women who were the first to hear it from the mouth of the angels did not know what to make of it. Neither could the disciples when they heard. They had no idea that Jesus was going to do what He did though He had told them. So we can understand why those disciples were confused at first. They needed someone to explain to them what had happened and why.
The great thing is that we do have that explanation embodied in the words of the gospels. Our faithful response to those words forms the testimony that we are to present to others that they too might believe, repent, and receive the mercy and forgiveness of a loving God. The truth and meaning that all men seek is embodied in Jesus and His Church