In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed!
Mark 15.43 – 16.8
At that time, Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus. And Pilate wondered if he were already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead. And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the body to Joseph. And he bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud, and laid him in a tomb which had been hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid. And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week they went to the tomb when the sun had risen. And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the door of the tomb?” And looking up, they saw that the stone was rolled back; for it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe; and they were amazed. And he said to them, “Do not be amazed; you seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen, he is not here; see the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him, as he told you.” And they went out and fled from the tomb; for trembling and astonishment had come upon them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
Today we commemorate the Myrrh-bearing women, those brave saints who ventured out early on the third day after our Lord’s crucifixion, just as dawn was breaking, in the expectation that they would be able to complete the burial customs for their slain master. Rightly do the Fathers of the Church extol their virtues! Alone in the dim light they go, with none of the men going with them to move the heavy stone; and even though they know they will not have the strength to move the stone themselves, still they go. How brave they are to venture forth like this, vulnerable as they are, at a time when disciples of Jesus can expect no sympathy from the inhabitants of Jerusalem, from those people who only a few days before had cried out for Him to be crucified, despite all the mighty works He had done in their presence, despite all the miracles of healing He had done for them and those whom they loved.
And arriving in the garden, these women full of fear are confronted with something that astonishes them. already the stone has been moved; and Jesus is not within the tomb. And well might they be astonished; for they are being faced with by what may be considered the greatest locked-room mystery of all time.
A locked-room mystery, as you doubtless know, is something to be found in detective fiction. A crime has been committed; and the room it took place in is locked, with no being able to enter or leave it. Sometimes there are a certain number of people in the room, with the result that one of them must be the perpetrator; and the detective must figure out who that is, despite it seeming to be impossible that any of them did it. In other cases the room is empty, except perhaps for the victim if it is a murder mystery; and the detective must deduce how the crime took place and by whom, despite the seeming impossibility of anyone being in the room to commit the crime when it took place.
Some may find it curious that I compare the empty tomb to a locked room mystery. However, I must point out that, in fact, the earliest known example of a locked room mystery is recorded in the Bible itself, the story of Bel in the book of Daniel. In it the priests of the pagan idol Bel claim that their statue is alive. Their proof is that they offer it a huge amount of food each night before they lock the temple. And overnight, while the temple is empty, the food is consumed. Bel has eaten it! What more proof can anyone ask for.
Daniel, of course, knows that this is not possible; which means he knows that there must be a rational answer. And, without giving spoilers, he is proved to be right.
There is a long tradition, going back to the time of the Resurrection itself, of people trying to put forward what they call ‘rational explanations’ for what the Myrrh-bearing women encountered that day. They are trying to solve the ‘locked room mystery’ of how a dead man left a tomb made of solid rock, closed with a stone too heavy for a single man to move aside.
Some claim that He was never dead in the first place. But that is nonsense. Roman soldiers were good at their job; and they were experts at crucifixion. If they said a man was dead, he was dead.
We must also remember that this was a public execution, with hundreds of witnesses. They were convinced He was dead; they beat their breasts and cried out at the sight.
And the religious authorities were certain He was dead. They confirmed as much when they went to Pilate and asked for a guard to be set over the tomb to keep it secure.
So the man in that tomb was definitely dead. And dead men don’t move stones.
And, in any event, how could a man so terribly injured, if he happened to survive, move the stone unaided from inside? Impossible.
Others have argued that the women must have gone to the wrong tomb. That would seem odd, seeing as how they have been there only a few days earlier when His body was buried.
But even supposing they had lost their way in the dark, how would that explain why they didn’t recognise the tomb itself, with it’s distinctive large stone? Or why the guards didn’t challenge the women stumbling around in the dark as to what they were doing? Nor why, when they found out who they were, point them in the right direction? It certainly does not explain the angels they saw. Or are we to believe that they angels went to the wrong tomb as well?
But the big question mark over that theory is that why, if they did go to the wrong tomb, why didn’t the people of Jerusalem just start falling around laughing when they said He had risen and point out the right tomb to them? In particular, why didn’t the religious authorities do so?
Instead, they bribed the guards to lie about what happened. And even so, a few weeks later at Pentecost the people of Jerusalem knew the body was gone, with nothing like what we would call a ‘rational explanation’ to show where it was; that was why more than three thousand confessed Christ and were baptised that day.
Still others suggest that His followers must have stolen the body. But the tomb was sealed and guarded. Can anyone seriously believe that the men who ran away and hid themselves a few days earlier, too afraid to admit they knew Him or even go to mingle with the crowd when He was being executed, somehow found the courage to confront armed guards, break open the tomb, and steal a body so that they could claim falsely that He had risen? All somehow without letting the women among them know what they had done? And then go on to suffer torture and death in order to conceal their lie?
And, of course, the biggest barrier to any rational explanation is the massive stone itself: who moved it? A dead man inside the tomb did not. Neither did a man as badly injured as Christ was. The guards would have no reason to; and their presence prohibited the men who followed Him from doing so, even if they had the courage to come out of hiding and attempt it. And the Myrrh-bearing women, brave though they were, were not strong enough to do so.
No, there is only one solution to the ‘mystery’ that these women were faced with that day. And it is the answer that has held true down through the ages from the day the stone was moved until now. And that is that Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Amen.
The Holy Orthodox Order of St George the Great Martyr works tirelessly to help those in need. We focus particularly on our brothers and sisters in Christ who live in the Holy Land and those who suffer because of their Christian faith. However, we strive to help all in need. Funds are desperately needed at this time to help those facing the horrors of war in Gaza and Lebanon. Please help if you can by making a donation to the Order. And please keep all those who suffer in your prayers. Thank you and may God bless you.
For those who would like to read more on this subject, I recommend the book ‘Who moved the stone?’ by Frank Morrison
