An Open Invitation
Luke 24:1-12
This Easter lesson might not be what you expect. On a day when everything is supposed to be clear, triumphant, and conclusive, the Gospel reading from Luke doesn’t offer answers. Not really. Today is the kind of Sunday where churches are full—people come looking for something good, some sort of clarity or truth to hold onto. But the Gospel text doesn’t tie things up in a neat bow. It leaves us wide-eyed, confused, and strangely quiet. Which might just be the point.
Luke 24:1–12 doesn’t begin with joy. It begins with grief. A group of faithful women approach the tomb not to celebrate, but to finish the burial. They bring spices, not songs. They come expecting death. And instead of finding a sealed tomb and a lifeless body, they find the stone rolled away and the body missing. Two men in dazzling clothes appear and speak the surprising words: “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.” This is where resurrection breaks in—but it doesn’t make immediate sense. Luke says the women are perplexed. Confused. Unsure what to do next.
When they go back to tell the other disciples, they’re not exactly welcomed with belief. Their testimony is dismissed as nonsense, an idle tale. Even though Jesus had told them repeatedly that he would rise, it didn’t click. Not yet. Because resurrection wasn’t something they had seen before—it was entirely uncharted territory.
And that’s important to remember. In their world, resurrection wasn’t expected to happen now. As we learn from John’s Gospel, Martha believed in the resurrection as something reserved for the end of time—a distant hope, not a present reality. So when Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life,” he redefines it completely. Resurrection is not just an event. It’s a person. It’s him. And what happened on that morning in Luke 24 wasn’t just a return to life—it was a step forward into something brand new.
That’s what made it so hard to grasp. Jesus didn’t just come back. He came through death and out the other side, into a life they had never seen before. This isn’t about survival. It’s about transformation. Resurrection, in Luke’s account, isn’t about explaining how or why—it’s an invitation to explore what now.
The most relatable figure in this passage might just be Peter. Unlike the other disciples who dismiss the women’s message, Peter can’t let it go. He runs to the tomb. He peers in. He sees the linen cloths. And he leaves… not with answers, but with wonder. That’s where Luke leaves us too—not with a resolution, but with curiosity. An open-ended discovery. A mystery we’re invited into.
That’s the shape of Easter morning. Not a clean conclusion, but an open investigation. Resurrection isn’t presented to us as something to be figured out, but something to be marveled at. The tomb is empty. Jesus is not there. And that changes everything—if we dare to lean in.
So what might this mean for us today? First, it seems clear that you don’t have to fully understand the resurrection to experience it. The women were perplexed, the disciples confused, and yet Resurrection was already happening. It was real. It was alive. And it was moving. Second, Jesus is alive. Not a memory or a metaphor—but living. And if something new and alive is what you long for, then let your curiosity lead you to him. Let wonder draw you closer.
There are really only two responses to Resurrection: dismiss it as nonsense, or begin to investigate. Follow the questions. Explore the possibilities. Consider what it might mean for your life now. And lastly, whatever Resurrection is—and we’ll spend the rest of this season unpacking it—it’s worth sharing. You don’t have to explain it perfectly. Just testify. Just point others to the empty tomb and invite them to come and see.
That’s what we’re doing here this Easter. And that’s what we’ll continue to do throughout this season. Jesus is alive. And everything is different now. So come marvel. Come investigate. Come and see.
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Peace Be With You,
Pastor Bruce
