Millions of Christians around the world today are celebrating the simple but majestic content of today’s reading – that Jesus is alive! We have focused much on the words of Jesus in the final hours before his death. In today’s story, although Jesus is absent from the scene, his words are still present and, like his words of the previous days, much is revealed to us through them. To the fear, sadness, disappointment and confusion the women must have felt, shock is added as they encounter not only an empty tomb but two angels who ‘gleamed like lightning’ (v 4). What follows, however, are the words of Jesus quoted by the angels who urge the women to ‘remember how he told you’ that he would ‘be crucified and on the third day be raised again’ (vs 6,7). His words offer the proof of his authority: what he said would happen has happened. 

The resurrection shows once and for all that Jesus carries true power and authority and, ultimately, that what he says is true. Easter tells us that you and I can trust Jesus with our lives and that he will not let us down. He has embraced death and he has, as he said he would, come out the other side alive and victorious. 

Christ the Lord is risen today, Allelulia.’¹

Today, we celebrate Easter, and we declare, ‘Christ is risen: he is risen indeed’. However, when we read the resurrection account in Luke 24, no one seems to believe in it. The women who went to the tomb did not expect to see a risen Christ. They brought along spices to anoint the body of Jesus – and this shows that they expected the body to be there. Without any expectation of a resurrection, they needed to be convinced that Jesus was risen. It was not until they were asked why they were looking for the living among the dead, and reminded of the words of Jesus that he would rise again, (vs 5,6) that the women finally believed. 

The disciples were sceptical when they heard the testimony of the women. They considered it as an idle tale and did not believe that Jesus had risen from the dead. Peter decided to visit the tomb to see for himself – and he wondered at what he saw. The reality was slow to sink in. It shows how much Peter struggled to understand the reality of the resurrection. It was not until Jesus appeared to the disciples later on that they finally believed (vs 36–49).

No reason was given for the disciples’ initial doubt and failure to believe. The point of the narrative is not to highlight the reasons for their doubt, but to emphasise that they moved from doubt to faith. Some of us may be like them. We have doubts about our faith in Christ. Remember, Jesus is not shocked by our doubts. Just as Jesus helped Jairus,² as well as the women at the tomb and the disciples, to see and believe, so he wants to do the same with us today. 

Jesus’ invitation to take the next step, moving from doubt to faith, love, adoration and worship, remains open to all. Let us move from doubt to faith.

¹ Charles Wesley, 1707–88  ² Luke 8:49–56