|
 Why
do you look for
the living among
the dead?
(Luke 24 : 5.
Read verses 1
thru 12)
In the last week
of February, the
unbelievers put
Jesus in the
spotlight again.
It seems that
the ill-deserved
financial
success of Dan
Brown’s Da Vinci
Code (book and
motion picture)
has encouraged
authors, film
and documentary
producers to
attack the
person of Jesus
Christ, taking
advantage of
people’s
credulity, their
intellectual
laziness, and
their eagerness
for
sensationalism.
Create a media
phenomenon, with
the objective to
demean Jesus
Christ, seems to
have become a
new means of
making easy
money. So, after
Dan Brown, came
James Cameron
and Simcha
Jacobovici who
announced that
they have found
the bones of
Jesus. At their
news conference,
they promoted
their Discovery
Channel special
presentation
“The Lost tomb
of Jesus” that
was aired on
March 4th. At
the same time
they promoted
the book by Simcha
Jacobovici and
Charles
Pellegrino
entitled The
Jesus' Family
Tomb: The
Discovery, The
Investigation,
and the Evidence
That Could
Change History.
It is the
never-ceasing
resurgence of
unbelief that
tries to look
for Jesus among
the dead, that
is, to consider
him as a mere
mortal like us,
and not the Son
of the living
God, the Prince
of life.
Surprisingly
enough, Dan
Brown, James
Cameron and
Simcha
Jacobovici are
not the first to
look for Jesus
among the dead.
In our passage,
it’s the very
disciples of
Jesus - in this
case the “women”
- that were
confronted with
the question of
the angels: “Why
do you look for
the living among
the dead?”
These women -
Mary Magdalene,
Mary the mother
of James, and
Salome (Mark
16:1) - were
going to the
tomb very early
in the morning
of the first day
of the week to
render to the
mortal remains
of their master
a service that
they did not
have time to
perform because
of the Sabbath
that was about
to begin. To
these women,
Jesus was lying
dead in the cold
tomb of Joseph
of Arimathea.
Their only
preoccupation,
according to the
Gospel of Mark
(16:3), was to
find someone
strong enough to
roll away the
huge and heavy
stone giving
access to the
tomb. But
imagine their
surprise when
they arrived at
the gravesite:
they found that
the stone had
been rolled
away; and when
they entered the
tomb, they did
not find the
body of Jesus.
Bewildered,
confused,
puzzled, they
were searching
for an
explanation,
when two men -
certainly two
angels -
tenderly
reproached them
for looking for
Jesus at the
wrong place,
that is, “among
the dead” for
“He is not here;
He has risen!”
This message of
the angels is
what sets
Christianity
apart from all
other religions.
If one could
stand in a
cemetery and
call the names
of the founders
of the religions
of the world,
Mohamed, from
the depths of
his tomb, would
answer, “Here!”
Buddha would
answer, “Here!”
Confucius would
answer, “Here!”
But to the
calling of the
name of Jesus of
Nazareth, an
angel would
assuredly
answer: “He is
not here! He has
risen from the
dead!”
The Christian is
one who has in
his or her heart
this deep-seated
conviction
expressed by
Alfred H. Ackley
in his song: “I
serve a risen
Savior. He’s in
the world today.
I know that He
is living
whatever men may
say.” What a
marvelous thing
it is, when we
are burying a
loved one, to
know that our
Savior “is
not here”; that “He has
risen!” In
other words,
that He has
conquered death,
which is now
causing us to
shed so many
tears.
The tomb of our
Savior is empty!
The evidence for
that fact is
incontrovertible.
The empty tomb
is like a
fishbone stuck
in the throat of
the unbeliever:
the more he
moves about to
try to get rid
of it, the
deeper it goes
in. It is not
haphazardly that
James Cameron
and Simcha
Jacobovici have
tried to
discredit the
fact of the
empty tomb. They
know – and they
are right! -
that if one
could prove that
Jesus’ tomb is
not empty, one
would strike a
fatal blow to
Christianity.
But the
irrefutable fact
is that it is
empty!
I will conclude
with the last
strophe of a
poem attributed
to John
Clifford. (Allow
me only to
replace the
words “God’s
Word” by “Jesus’
resurrection.”)
“And so, I
thought, the
Anvil of Jesus’
resurrection
For ages skeptic
blows have beat
upon;
Yet, though the
noise of falling
blows was heard,
The Anvil is
unharmed, the
hammers gone.”
The empty tomb
is the anvil;
the efforts of
the unbelievers
to refute it are
the hammers. The
latter are
doomed to break
on the anvil,
which will
remain undamaged
for ever; for it
is in the empty
tomb that God
“has given proof
to all men” that
“He has set a
day when He will
judge the world
with justice by
the man He has
appointed,”
namely Jesus
Christ. (Acts
17: 31)
Pasteur
Hubermann Larose
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