April 24, 2000

GREAT QUESTIONS OF THE BIBLE:
"Why do you look for the living among the dead?"
Luke 24:5
___By Leroy Fenton,
___Pastor, First Baptist Church, Waxahachie
___"Electrifying" is hardly an adequate adjective. Can there be good news from a cemetery? What was that you asked: "Why do you look for the living among the dead?"

LEROY FENTON Pastor, First Baptist Church, Waxahachie

Wait a minute! This I have to think about. The question was as startling as the dazzling heavenly beings who asked it. Coming to the tomb, the women were overwhelmed with surprise. The evidence they found was convincing enough to believe in the Resurrection.
___They came with no spoken questions. Any questions they might have thought were earthy and mundane, emotionalized by their grief. Where will we find him? Why did he have to die? How will we remove the stone to get inside the sealed tomb? Their questions had no sense of eternity or hope.
___ These heavenly beings, angels, added content to their inquiry, putting words in the mouths and thoughts in the minds of the women. "Living?" They looked for the dead man, Jesus; they looked for the dead among the dead. They came to anoint his dead body with spices but found them useless and unneeded (24:1) They came to find the expected and found the miraculous. The came to give support but were surprised. They came to a common experience of compassion and found an uncommon expression of power. They came to respect a dead leader but reverenced a living Lord.
___ Can we believe in the Resurrection? These women document astounding information.
___ First, they found the stone rolled away. This was the first surprise.
___ Then, they entered the tomb and found it empty. Inside the tomb were grave cloths but no body.
___ Next came the testimony of angels. As they carefully pondered what they had found or had not found, these two heavenly beings that "gleamed like lightening" appeared at their side with the question and a statement. The question raised the possibility that Jesus was living rather than dead. What they had seen with their eyes seems to be verified by the testimony of these two shining figures. The statement answer was ever so clear, "He is not here; he has risen."
___ Fourth was the fulfillment of the personal prophecy of Jesus about himself: "Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again." It happened like he said it would. Another support is their experience in that they "remembered his words." Recalling what Jesus had spoken to them brought a sense of confidence.
___ The concluding testimony of their faith in their personal documentation is their witness. They hurried from the tomb to tell others of their powerful discoveries. What they had seen, heard and experienced must be shared with others. Though they knew for certain that three days earlier Jesus had been crucified, everything they encountered gave evidence that Jesus was, indeed, alive.
___ The evidence demands our faith. "He is not here: He is risen!"
___ This question is not only for the women but also for the world.


Previous Columns: 7/14, 7/21, 7/28, 8/4, 8/11, 8/18, 8/25, 9/1, 9/8, 9/15, 9/22, 9/29, 10/6, 10/13, 10/20 10/27, 11/17, 11/24, 12/1,12/15, 12/1,1/5, 1/12. 1/19, 1/26, 2/2, 2/9, 2/16, 2/23, 3/1, 3/8, 3/15, 3/27, 4/3, 4/10, 4/17

Send this story to a friend

---

Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!