Roll Back the Stone

“ If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. ”

And they sealed his tomb with a heavy stone door. That was the last they'd seen of Jesus since Friday at dusk. A guard was set about the door to keep it from anyone who might steal the body and pretend that He had risen to life again. It looked pretty permanent. Although Mary Magdalene and her small contingent of women were quite brave to come this morning to better prepare His body for burial, they had no idea how they would get into that tomb. The door took several strong men to roll it open. And what would the guards do to them? It sounded hopeless.

We know what happened next: an earthquake and a mighty angel, guards fainting from fright and then abandoning their posts when the object of their watch was no longer safe inside the stone chamber of his tomb. The women came upon the scene of an evident drama and saw an empty cave and heard an angel say: “Jesus is risen! He is not here any longer—see where He was laid. Go, tell Peter and the disciples that He will see them in Galilee.”

The apostles John and Peter came running and saw the empty tomb and the grave clothes lying, just as Jesus would arrange his bedclothes, and they knew. Later that day, Peter would see Christ with his own eyes. Mary saw him near the tomb, thinking at first He was the gardener. Two disciples would walk and talk with Him the seven miles to Emmaus. That evening the whole assembly of the apostles, except Thomas, and other disciples would be astonished to have Him walk through a bolted door to greet them, explain it all to them, breathe on them and give them the Holy Ghost for remission of sins. All this, on that Resurrection Day. It would happen when the stone was rolled away.

A bolted door could not hold Him out, and a stone door and hewn rock burial chamber could not hold Him in. Both were too much for His followers.

What should have happened was all of Jerusalem going out to see the miracle, to seek the risen Lord and beg His forgiveness for having executed Him. What should have happened was the priests of the Temple, realizing that they couldn't kill God, that He was indeed their Messiah and that they needed to admit their faithlessness. What should have happened was the repentance of the children of Israel, of Herod, of the Roman soldiers who saw the miracle, of the entire world. But there was a stone door on a tomb that was not rolled back, a heavy stone sealed and guarded, too heavy for any man to open by himself. A stone covering the hearts of so many who just would not believe.

Stones figure largely in Jewish history. Jacob slept on one when he saw angels going up and down a stairway to heaven. Genesis 28 He said: “this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house.” Genesis 28:22 God gave Moses “upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.” Exodus 31:18 David killed the giant Philistine with a smooth river stone flung from his sling. 1 Samuel 17 And Psalm 118 prophesied of Christ that “The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.” Psalm 118:22 As Isaiah, also speaking of Christ, said: “And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.” Isaiah 8:14 “Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.” 28:16 The Babylonian king saw a night vision, interpreted by Daniel, about a huge metal image of a man, destroyed by a stone falling on its feet and growing into a mountain as big as the earth. Daniel 2:34-35 And a stone sealed the lion's den where Daniel spent the night, unharmed. Daniel 6:17 Solomon, in his Proverbs, observed: “A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty; but a fool's wrath is heavier than them both.” Proverbs 27:3

So the fools' wrath against Jesus would not allow the truth to penetrate. The priests who had set the guard on His tomb, when they heard the report of the guards about the earthquake, the bright angel, the stone moved back and the empty tomb, thought only of how they might turn the story to their advantage. They paid a bribe to the soldiers to say the disciples had rolled back the stone and stolen the body of Jesus while they slept their guard away.

No mere man could remove that stone door. It would be like a dead man today getting out of a coffin, sealed under its concrete lid and 40 inches of wet earth. It would be like any person to removing the stone door that lies over their hearts with disbelief and fear and guilt and sinful attachment and the addiction of being a fallen human soul. We begin our lives already sealed in a tomb. This race of man sealed its fate long ago and there was no one strong enough or good enough to rescue us from it, no one with faith enough to believe we had any chance. We might hope for something better, but most of us could not even think it, most of us guarded our hearts well against a false hope that heaven might wait for us, that God Himself would send a lamb to be sacrificed in our place.

The stone doors that cover our hearts have to be rolled back. We lie upon cold stone and haven't the strength to get up, let alone grip that great round door and move it so much as an inch. Hopeless! Who can save us?

CHRIST our Passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast, Not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 1 Cor. v. 7. CHRIST being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Rom. vi. 9. CHRIST is risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 1 Cor. xv. 20. Christ is Risen! He is Risen!

This isn't just about Him. This is about ourselves. Will we lie still in graves of human sin and solitude when the Lord of Life Himself has risen to life from the death of a cruel and tortuous execution and now cannot be killed or harmed ever again? He extends his scarred hands to you and offers to roll back the stone, to let you not out , but in , into His Kingdom. It is a Kingdom of Life, a Kingdom of Light. Your eyes will hurt at first, but they will adjust. You have been a while in this coffin. Your life you despaired of. The hope, the joy, the forgiveness, the new life were just fool's dreams to you, a NeverNeverLand for children only. How can anyone live in grace, in redemption, in newness, in the Holy Spirit? Only to fall again, they mean—and this time never to rise again. Why even try? It won't work. I can't be a saint. I only know hypocrites in the Church anyway. There is no way out of this grave. Don't tease me. Go away.

We've heard the Easter story so often, it seems to be about someone else. A long ago and far away kind of story, a fairy tale for our enjoyment, or just a fantasy, a myth to teach us a point about something; but not history, not as factual as the nightly news, and anyway, it's got nothing to do with me.

Nothing could be further from the truth. This is your story. This is your life the Gospel is telling of. He went down to hell yesterday and told it to the dead who had died before His crucifixion. He rises today to open that stone door once and for all. St. Joseph of Arimathea's tomb never held another body after Jesus rose from the dead. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.” John 11:25-26 St. Joseph never died. His body lies somewhere, but the man lives still. So it is with all the saints. They live still. There is no death. Christ is Risen!

St. Paul was beheaded, but he lives. He wrote to the Colossian Church, “If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.” Col. 3:1-4 The story is about you. Roll back the stone. Come out and into His Kingdom. You haven't the strength yourself, and you don't know the way, but you only have to want this life, to ask for it. You only need to respond in faith: “He is Risen!”

PFH+