The Women at the Grave

Minister:
Date: AM
Text: Luke 24:1-10
Psalters: 298, 266, 79, 29
  1. Their sorrow.
    1. The women were filled with sorrow because their Teacher/Friend and their Hope had died.
      1. Those performing this final act of love: Mary Magdalene, Mary, Salome, Joanna, the mother of James, and also others.
      2. Obviously they had not witnessed the final burial of Jesus, only knowing where His body had been put.
    2. Two things about the thinking of these women who gather and walk together to the grave site.
      1. They loved Jesus so they had followed Him and ministered to His earthly needs, which led them to do this last task.
      2. They had forgotten or not heard what He had told them about going into Galilee (Mark 14:28).
  2. Also they were “much perplexed” (to be at a loss) when they realized that Jesus’ body was not in the grave.
    1. They were perplexed when they saw the great stone rolled away from the entrance of the sepulcher.
    2. They were perplexed that the Jesus’ body was gone; the grave was empty, but the grave clothes remained.
    3. They were perplexed by the presence of the angels: who came and went and came again; first one, then two.
      1. Not men, but angels (heavenly creatures) proclaim the gospel of the resurrection.
      2. The first presentation of the resurrection gospel was: “Why seek ye the living among the dead?” (5b).
      3. Further, “He is not here, but is risen” (6a).
  3. Then the women “remembered His words” (8).
    1. Jesus had said that He must die and rise again (Matt. 16:21; 17:22,23), but it laid deep in their sub-consciousness.
    2. Subsequently the resurrection was part of the disciples preaching.
    3. Do we remember that He is raised and lives in every situation of our lives?