Updated Monday, March 10, 2008

Formations lesson for March 23: The Empty Tomb

By Wayne Proctor

Focal Passage: Matthew 28:1-10

Thirty years ago I was in graduate school with a friend named Mike Piazza, not to be confused with the great baseball player. In a difficult year, Mike was an encouraging friend.

After graduation, I just didn't keep in touch. Then some years later I read a news account of someone by that name dying in a church-related vehicle accident. I feared it was my friend.

Recently, I decided to do an Internet search and see if I could find out whatever became of him. Bingo! I found out that he is apparently alive and well, and the president of a ministry in Texas whose purpose is to give hope and faith to those who are spiritually lost.

I liken in some ways Mary's search for Jesus to my search for a friend I feared dead.

In Matthew's account of the resurrection, it strikes me that there were three different sets of beings involved who would be impacted by the miracle.

The first was the angel (or angels as identified by Luke and John). This messenger from God had a dual task. First he was to roll back that monstrous stone, and secondly, he was to bring comfort to the women with the message, "Don't be afraid."

The second group was the Roman guards. These were tough guys. "No fear" types. They were chosen because they were good at their job. The earthquake and the angel, however, shook them up. Just like the brigade of guards who had come to arrest Jesus a few days earlier, these mighty warriors fell back and cowered like ghosts.

The third group was the women. While the different gospels give slight variations of the group's composition, Mary Magdalene proved to be the one constant.

Perhaps no one, man or woman, was more devoted to Jesus than Mary. I don't think it was an accident that Mary would be chosen to be the very first disciple to see and touch the risen Lord.

On the morning we call Easter, a word that would accurately describe Mary is "scared." While it's hard to know exactly what she expected when she went to the tomb that morning, I think she expected the worst, but hoped for the best. She expected death, instead she discovered life. Jesus was alive. It was a message she first doubted, but came to believe with all her heart. It was the great message that changed her life. How "relevant" is the resurrection? The answer is simple. The resurrection is everything.