Jonah Albrecht

Easter Sunday

April 20th, 2025

Luke 24:1-9

The Empty Tomb Echoes One Word: Peace

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 5 And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” 8 And they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.

INJ who died once for sin, and rose again to guarantee our justification, DFR:

An echo is a repetition of sound caused by the reflection of sound waves off a surface, like a wall or cliff. If you are alone, it can be quite the eerie experience hearing your own voice come back to you. Echoes actually have many practical uses. Whether you consider it cheating or not, Fishermen use echoes in Sonar to identify where the fish are. Bats and dolphins use echolocation to hunt their prey, which comes in handy when their environment isn’t conducive to using their eyesight. Even the medical field makes use of echoes in echocardiograms. Doctors use these to identify the problems within the heart and blood vessels.

The Bible often makes use of echoes and encourages the Christian do the same. It’s not the echoing of sound waves, but rather letting the teachings of Scripture reverberate within your heart and your mind. We practice this every single year. Every Lenten season we reread through the entire passion history. Every year we read through the Easter account. You would think we would hear everything we need to know, that there is nothing more for us to learn.

It’s not like you have never heard the story of Jesus before. You know what happened, you know what he went through. And you knew full well on Friday night what we would celebrate this morning. Even if you’ve never stepped foot in church, you probably would have some idea of who Jesus is. But why the echo, why the repetition? Because that is how important Jesus’ death and resurrection is to your life. We echo this comfort for without it we are a hollowed out chamber of deadness. This morning we pay particularly close attention to the empty tomb of Jesus and the one word it echoes: Peace.

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb

Imagine the how peaceless the women and other followers of Jesus must have felt following Good Friday. Though Jesus had told them many times that He would die and rise again, the grief of His death took away any remembrance of those words. Put yourself in their shoes for a moment. Within 24 hours the person you love most is taken away from you. And it happens like a whirlwind. By the end of it, they are dead – and as far as you know, you’ll never see them again. It’s hard for us to imagine because we do know that death is not the end of the line for a Christian, and yet, doesn’t grief overshadow that comfort? All you can think about is the one you have lost. That is what these women were enduring.

If that’s not bad enough, now consider this. It is your fault your loved one is gone. No one wants to carry that burden and the guilt that comes with it. But that is the truth when it comes to Jesus. It’s not just the women or His followers who bare the burden of His death, but also you and me. All people are directly responsible for Jesus laying in that tomb. It was our sins that destroyed the peace between God and mankind; that separated us from His love completely. As much as we want to dodge the responsibility and place the blame of our Savior’s death on someone else, we really can’t do that. We saw it on Good Friday. The cross echoes out the verdict of our sin “guilty, guilty, guilty.”

A member of our church in Cheyenne, Wyoming wrote a self-reflective poem recently about the events of Jesus’ death and resurrection. I want to share part of it with you this morning:

It was my palm that struck His face

All while He demonstrated grace

It was my mouth that spat into

The eye that would turn black and blue

It was my shoulder hurling hide

That ripped the flesh off of His side

It was my voice that rang out clear

To crucify our Savior dear

It was my fingers then that wove

This crown of thorns meant to depose

It was my hand that drove those spikes

Into the healing hands of Christ

The more we self-reflect and echo within our hearts and minds the reality of our sinfulness; the more we realize how much we need a Savior. We see just how empty our lives are without His love and His forgiveness. We know how hopeless it is to have peace because by nature, we are at enmity with the only one who truly knows what it means to love someone else.

We don’t know what the women were thinking while they were on the way to the tomb. Were they rethinking what they witnessed on Calvary Friday afternoon? Were they only concerned with how they were going to roll the stone away? Though we can’t answer these questions, we do know they expected to find Jesus lying there in the tomb. They expected to cry and mourn the loss of their friend and teacher. More than that, they lost the one person they knew to be holy, He who had perfect peace with God the Father – their Lord and Savior they thought to be dead.

Whenever we become indifferent to our sin, we ought to remind ourselves that Jesus had to enter into death because of them. God judged Him. Guilty as the worst sinner. Guilty as deserving death. Guilty as not His Son. This isn’t a once-a-year sort of thing. We shouldn’t be contemplating our sinfulness only when we are celebrating Lent. But rather every day our sinful flesh rears its ugly head. Every time greed, pride, lust, or envy rises in our hearts. Every moment we pass by the cross, we should think about what it cost. The life of Jesus.

3 but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 5 And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.”

Talk about a whirlwind of emotions for these women. They went from expecting to see the lifeless body of Jesus, to seeing no body and two angels standing before them. Did you catch what the angels said to the women. They ask a rhetorical question: “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” In other words, the first message on Easter morning that Jesus had risen was not a new proclamation, but an echo of what had been spoken of before!

All that the angels told the women was simply an echo of what they had already heard from the mouth of Jesus Himself! Jesus told them in Luke 9, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” He also told them in Matthew 20 that He came “to give His life as a ransom for many.” And even if they didn’t remember Jesus’ words, the angels’ testimony was an echo of King David in Psalm 16 you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.  Or the words of Job, “I know that my Redeemer lives!”

There are countless passages that the angels’ words here echo. Showing, yes proving to the women and to each of us that this was God’s plan from the beginning. Jesus would die because that is what our sins deserve. But Jesus would rise again because He is our God and Savior who is perfect and righteous and death has no power over Him. It is a mystery in many ways, but a mystery that gave those women at the tomb hope. It is a mystery that gives you life and salvation. It is a mystery that echoes one word: Peace.

8 And they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.

Normally an empty tomb would be of great concern. The ancient Egyptians were masters at mummifying their pharaohs and people. Some of the oldest structures we have on this earth are the Pyramids which served as tombs for those pharaohs. Many times, when archaeologists would enter the Pyramid to discover whose tomb it was, everything had already been ransacked by thieves. They came in, plundered whatever they could, sometimes including the mummy, then left it.

The empty tomb on Easter morning was not some raid done by thieves. Remember, the Chief Priests had asked Pilate to put a guard by the tomb for that very reason! This empty tomb, with its stone rolled away was a victorious triumph of the Son of God over death. Remember some of the emotions they probably felt as they made their way to the tomb that morning. Sadness, weeping, and maybe guilt. All that was gone in an instant. The moment it was shown to them that Jesus had risen from the dead, everything changed. It’s almost like a lightbulb clicked on and the gloom was replaced with joy.

Jesus is Risen. Three words that assured, not just those women, but all of us here today that God has accepted Jesus’ payment for our sins. He will not judge us according to our sinfulness, but according to Jesus’ perfection. His empty tomb means that you have peace in the most important sense of the word – you are a child of God through faith in Jesus – perfect in God’s eyes.

Paul explains how this is possible in Romans 6: We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.

This is the message to echo in your heart when you are weighed down by the guilt of your sin. That guilt has been taken away. God has forgiven every single one of your sins and remembers them no more. You have been set free from sin by your Savior so that you would join Him in the resurrection on the Last Day. Jesus is Risen is now your victory cry over the devil, your flesh, and the grave. The Holy Spirit echoes in your heart: The Strife is O’er, the Battle Done.

If that is what we are given through Jesus’ death and resurrection; is it any wonder that the first command to the women that morning was to echo the victory cry? To proclaim to the disciples and beyond that Jesus is risen from the dead? The power that sin, death, and the devil have over us is destroyed and peace with God is restored through Him. Peace, peace, peace. The message of the empty tomb has been echoed every single day since that first Easter dawn. It doesn’t take a special church holiday to hear that Jesus died for your sins and rose again for your salvation.

Every day is that special day because you live under God’s grace. And the tomb Jesus leaves empty? It changes the cross from echoing guilty, guilty, guilty, to an echo of His final breath that you can carry with you forever: It is finished. It is finished. It. Is. Finished. He is Risen! Amen.