Celebration of Easter: The Empty Tomb

“But the angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay…’” (Matt. 28:5-6 ESV).  

Every Easter, we celebrate the miraculous event of an empty tomb. We sing and praise God that the stone covering the tomb of Jesus was rolled away. This empty tomb proves that the resurrection is real. And if the resurrection is real, then we can rejoice in Christ’s victory over death! Paul emphasizes this so strongly that he tells us that if the resurrection had not happened, then “your faith is futile and you are still in your sins” (1 Cor. 15:17). Christ’s victory over death means freedom from sin. It means eternal life is waiting for us. It means we can have a real relationship with Jesus Christ, because He is alive! 

But how often do we leave Easter Sunday with the same lethargic faith with which we entered it? We hyperfocus on the resurrection, only to return to our mundane routines. The empty tomb becomes a passing thought. Of course, even in this state, Jesus Christ is still active. His blood still covers all of our sins, and we are still reconciled to the Father. But is this really the relationship with Jesus that we want? The kind where we only get excited about Him during Christian holidays? 

A few years ago, I had the incredible opportunity to visit two different tombs in Israel. Well, the first one was more of a drive-by scenic experience. Traveling on a 50-seater passenger bus going up a mountain on a long winding road with the Sea of Galilee on our right and the side of the mountain on our left. As we were driving, the tour guide pointed out that we would shortly pass a tomb. Smaller and uninteresting, according to her, and inaccessible, therefore, we would not stop. I immediately saw the small, empty tomb with a stone right next to it and a road barrier in front of it, which prevented anyone from pulling over to access it. I was able to snap a photo of the empty tomb as we rolled past.  

The second tomb was the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem. It is a beautiful sanctuary filled with flowers and trees, with places to sit in quiet reflection and imagine Christ walking with you. You can enter the tomb and see the place that failed to hold our Savior, easily imagining the stone rolling away. Feelings of joy welled up inside us, and the only way we could respond was in worship. It became the place that I wanted to go back to; it stirred not only my senses but my spirit. 

These two very different images of the empty tomb can reflect our own relationship with Jesus Christ. How drawn are we to the wonder of the resurrection? 

Will we simply acknowledge Christ’s resurrection in passing, treating Easter as a moment to check the box of occasional church attendance? Or will we linger at the tomb, allowing its truth to shape us, and continue cultivating a relationship with Him long after Easter has passed? 

The invitation of the empty tomb is not just to observe it, but to remain. We can sit in its significance, to be changed by it, and to walk daily in the new life it represents.  

Written by: Jacob Head (TFC ’24), Admissions Counselor