"Why Seek Ye the Living Among the Dead?"

 

The crucifixion of Christ, and His resurrection are the cornerstones of the Christian faith. There is no point to Christianity without them. The resurrection alone, is what makes Jesus different from all other spiritual figures, and is also a necessary part of the atonement work of Christ:

"And if Jesus be not raised, your faith is in vain; ye are yet in your sins."  1 Cor. 15:17

All four Gospels contain an account of the empty tomb, and the resurrection of Jesus (Mt. 28, Mk. 16, Lk. 24, Jn. 20). The Gospels tell us that on the first day of the week, as the women went to the tomb of Jesus to anoint His body, they were shocked to find that the large stone, with which the tomb had been sealed, had been rolled away. Angels who were present there spoke to them and told them, "He is not here", and "He is risen" (Mt. 28:6, Mk. 16:6, Lk. 24:6). In one account, the resurrected Jesus Himself asked one of the women, "Whom seekest thou?" (Jn. 20:15). In Lk. 24:5, the angel asks, "Why seek ye the living among the dead?" They were all saying the same thing: if you are looking for Jesus, you have come to the wrong place. He is not to be found among the dead.

Not only did Jesus attain this great resurrection victory for Himself, but He attained it for all of us as well. What a great thing we have to celebrate! Yet in the Church, and in our lives as believers, we have placed Jesus back among the dead by changing the day proclaiming the resurrection of Jesus Christ into a day of Easter baskets, Easter bunnies, Easter eggs, Easter hats and parades, and pretty, new pastel Easter outfits. None of these things have resurrection life in them. They are all things that will pass away. He is not there. He is risen.

With our Easter traditions, we have also made the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ unrecognizable to the Jews, because we, the Church, have systematically removed these awesome events from their true contexts of Passover, and the Feast of First Fruits, of which they are very much the central meaning and Messianic fulfilment. By using the word "Easter", we have associated this day, instead, with false goddesses, including Ishtar and Ashtoreth. These pagan gods are not lovely and harmless, as we like to consider our Easter traditions, but they represent, instead, something very dark and carnal indeed, and have nothing to do with Jesus Christ. He cannot be found in it. He is not there. He is risen.

We are making it impossible for ourselves, our children, and others to find the resurrected Christ, because of these godless customs and traditions in which we have entombed Him again.

On the day of resurrection, when the women found the tomb empty, and heard the revelation of the angels, they ran to tell the disciples. However, the disciples did not believe them (Mk. 16:11, Lk. 24:11). Our failure to declare the resurrection of Christ on this day, really reflects the same unbelief. Not only have we again entombed Jesus in our dead traditions, but we have rolled an even larger stone, a stumbling stone of unbelief, back over the entrance of that tomb.

 

In the early Church, believers would greet each other saying, "He is risen!", and the answering declaration would be, "He is risen indeed!". Today we greet each other saying instead, "Happy Easter".

The angel is again asking the Church, "Why seek ye the living among the dead?", and Jesus Himself is asking, "Whom sleekest thou?"

 

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