Why Do You Seek the Living Among the Dead


Over the last days, we have been looking at some of the more important characters of Holy Week, looking in depth at Judas Iscariot and Simon Peter. Both were Jesus’ disciples, but Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus and Simon Peter denied that he even knew Jesus. While both ministered alongside Jesus for three years, when Jesus was crucified, they, along with the other disciples, abandoned Jesus. 

There are certainly other characters involved in Holy Week. Perhaps next time we could look at Pilate or Caiaphas. But none of these, nor Joseph of Arimathea, who gave his tomb to bury Jesus, nor the women who discovered the empty tomb, none of these are the central character to Holy Week.

The main character in Holy Week is none other than Jesus. Remember in the Garden of Gethsemane, when Jesus was praying? He had a choice in the matter here. He could have said, “No, I’m not doing this.” But instead he prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done. He chose the cross.

When Jesus went to trial, he refused to speak up in his own defense. Why? Because he would have swayed Pilate, Caiaphas, and even Herod with his wisdom and innocence. But instead, he chose the cross. 

And so Jesus died a criminal’s death on the cross. He died, and was buried in a tomb. His very interesting three year ministry was over. Except that it wasn’t. 

We can find the rest of the story in Luke 24:1-10. On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ”Then they remembered his words.

When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. 

Perhaps my favorite moment in this passage is when Jesus asks, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?

This is a brilliant question. It is brilliant because with that one question he changes our focus. Our focus changes from death to life. In reality, all life apart from God is really merely a slow death. As Jesus said in John 10:10, “The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy, but I have come to bring life, and life abundant. 

When we live life under our own power, in our own strength, we are seeking the living among the dead. But Jesus alone gives life. There is no life apart from him. As he told Mary and Martha before he raised Lazarus from the dead: I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even if he dies. And those who live and believe in me will never die.” (John 11:25-26) 

Therefore, our Christian focus is no longer the cross, but the empty tomb. We do not focus on the death of Jesus, but his resurrection. Some Christians like to point to Jesus death as the turning point of history. When he said, “It is finished” he did away with the old system of sacrifices, as he took all of the sin of the world, past, present, and future, upon himself. However, when he rose again, his resurrection refocused everything, from death, to life. 

Because he lives, we, too, can live. Because his tomb is empty, we know his claims are true. He was not simply a martyr who believed in a cause enough to die for it; he died for us, but he rose again! 

And if our lives are oriented toward the resurrection, then we will live and strive as though knowing Jesus and being with Jesus is the greatest possible future.  We learn that from the apostle Paul in Philippians 3:10—“I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

“Why do you look for the living among the dead” moves us from the death of the cross to the life of the resurrection.  That redirection enables us to live lives of radical sacrifice, love, and hope.

Now, can you imagine how the women were feeling when they went to the tomb on the first day of the week? Mourning. Wondering. Fear. With all the strong emotions, it’s tempting to interpret everything through their feelings. We can feel so deeply that we give our feelings the last word. We can say to ourselves or others, “I don’t care what they say or what the facts are or even what the Bible says.  I know how I feel!!”

But this question—“Why do you look for the living among the dead?”—confronts their feelings. The question confronts the authority of their feelings by pointing to a higher authority, a more sure source of knowing. The question points to God’s word. We have to believe… and remember. Our feelings can betray us. But remember what Jesus told his disciples shortly before he was crucified: (John 14:1-4) “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.

We most need that redirection from feeling to Scripture when our feelings are strongest and our experiences most surprising. That’s when we need to be focused on God’s word because that’s when our hearts and minds are most vulnerable.  This question powerfully redirects the mourning disciples from their feelings and fear to the solid promises and reality of the Gospel. Living in light of the resurrection keeps us living in light of God’s promises. No matter what is going on around you, you can trust in God’s promises. Do you actively live in that light? If not, why not? A key is spending regular time in the scriptures. That way, when you need them most, when you are feeling your worst, you will have them as a treasure to give you hope.

Finally, when we refuse to look for the living among the dead, we are moved from grief to joy. If Jesus is alive and is not dead, then all who trust in Him have the supreme reason to rejoice. As Peter writes in 1 Peter 1:3-4 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead….

Verse 6:“In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.”

Because of the resurrection, we have a new birth and an eternal inheritance that gives us joy and praise greater than our grief. So much so, Peter writes in verses 8-9:
Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now [while suffering through trials] “you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

If you want to be happy and full of joy in this life and the life to come?  Focus on Jesus’ resurrection. Jesus was raised from the dead and He Himself is our inheritance. He gives us joy unspeakable, even in the face of our own struggling and suffering.

We do not seek the living among the dead. Jesus is alive, and everything has changed because he lives!

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