The Tomb is Empty

“You are to say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him while we were asleep.’ 

Matthew 28:13

What is the significance of the empty tomb? The late Billy Graham relates the story when Konrad Adenauer, the first post war Chancellor of West Germany asked him: “Do you believe Jesus Christ really rose from the dead?” Billy Graham then answered, “Mr. Adenauer, if I didn’t believe that, I would have no gospel to preach.” Then the Chancellor concluded, “Outside of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, I know of no other hope for mankind.” 

Resurrection Sunday is a day of great rejoicing for those who believe that the tomb was really empty. For those who don’t, for those who are ambivalent about this, the whole story of Jesus loses personal significance. Of what use to us is a man who claimed he was God, who said he would rise from the dead, but had no power to do so? We would have no need for him aside from his good instruction. For that is what Jesus’ words would amount to- good advice like all the self help books for sale nowadays. 

But because Jesus’ tomb was empty, we can rely on all His promises, all of the promises in the Old Testament. Because He lives, we too shall live! The same power that raised Him from the dead can raise dead marriages to life, dead relationships, dead careers, dead hopes, dead dreams... There is resurrection power available for us who believe! 

The non-believer may ask us why we believe in Christ’s resurrection. Isn’t it all legend? Even the opponents during Jesus’ day admitted the tomb was empty. That’s why they invented the story that His body was stolen. But Jesus’ followers were too frightened to do anything like that. It was the women who discovered the tomb had no body in it. If a story had been concocted, they would not have used women as witnesses because their testimonies would not have been admitted in any court as commanded by the Talmud. The disciples lived lives of desperation and suffering because of what they believed and claimed. They were willing to die for the truth they believed in, and they did get martyred for being followers of Jesus. They lived in exciting times as defenders of the truth! 

We live in exciting times as well! Do we stand with Jesus just as the disciples did?