The Empty Tomb

Acts 2:4, 22-32

What could change a man from being afraid for his life and hiding behind locked doors, to one who boldly preaches the message he wanted to hide from a few weeks earlier?  It’s the power of the empty tomb!  In the passage for today, from the Lectionary of the first Sunday after Easter, we are looking at part of the first sermon that Peter preaches on Pentecost, right after the Holy Spirit has descended on the believers.

A few weeks prior to this Peter and all of the other apostles and disciples had been scared to death, petrified, in fear for their lives, and had run, abandoning Jesus to His enemies.  For several days they hid behind closed and locked doors, afraid that the Jewish leaders would come and take them captive, executing them as they had Jesus.  Now, several weeks later, Peter is standing right out in the open on the streets of Jerusalem, boldly preaching Jesus.  These same streets where Jesus had been dragged a few weeks earlier, carrying His cross and being beaten, now Peter is boldly proclaiming His resurrection and that He is the Messiah and Savior.  What would make a fearful disciple, one who had been so scared for his life that he would three times deny the One he loved, now speak out with power and fearlessness?  The empty tomb!  With the power of the Holy Spirit now upon him, he had the greatest, and only necessary proof of what he now preached - the empty tomb.  

Peter calls his audience to listen, and he presents them with Jesus.  He doesn’t start preaching a whole lot of philosophical fluff, something nice to tickle their ears and make them feel good about themselves.  No, he gets right down to telling them what they need to hear.  All through the years that Jesus had been among these people, preaching the Word of God and performing  miracles and signs, God was showing them that He was the One that He had sent (vs. 22).  God had shown them this quite plainly.  

Now Peter starts to get a bit bolder.  We see in verse 23 that he tells the crowds that they took God’s Chosen One and handed Him over to be crucified.  That must have taken some courage to say, as many in this crowd had probably stood right there in the heart of Jerusalem and cried out “Crucify Him!”, calling for His Blood.  Not exactly a “feel-good”, message to please the crowds!  God had planned this all before, this wasn’t something that took Him by surprise, but still that didn’t dismiss the guilt or responsibility of those who took part in Jesus’ crucifixion.

Here Peter gives the main point in his message - Christ’s tomb is now empty!  God did not leave His Chosen One to lie and rot in a grave.  For the rest of this passage in Acts, Peter quotes Old Testament Scriptures to back his point, quoting King David in Psalm 16:8-11.  Some in the crowds might have argued with Peter, saying that David was referring to himself in this passage, and that it couldn’t possibly be Jesus.  There are always those who will try to twist Scriptures, saying it doesn’t say what it obviously does.  Peter shuts down their argument by stating the obvious, King David died.  He was buried, and his grave is right there in Jerusalem.  If they dug it up, his bones would be right there for all to see.  So who was David talking about?  Some other great Old Testament figure?  Some other great foreign religious leader?  In each case their grave could be found and their decayed body and bones brought forth.

Jesus is the only one that has an empty tomb!  God did not leave His Chosen One to decay in the grave.  Most in the audience knew of Jesus’ execution and many might have even been there when He died and seen Him taken from the cross and buried.  They all could take a few minutes excursion from where they were right then and walk over and see what?  Not the body of Jesus, but an empty tomb!  Jesus and His followers had many enemies, both back then and on to today.  One thing that they have never able to do is refute that empty tomb.  Jesus’ enemies have never been able to produce a dead body to refute the Resurrection.

Peter was not afraid to boldly preach this fact to the crowds, many of whom still hated Jesus and were enraged with that empty tomb and the claims of a resurrection.  He knew what he had seen with his own eyes.  He knew the truth of God’s Word, and he knew that this was a message that the people needed to hear.  It’s still the message that people need to hear today.  The tomb is empty!  Don’t be afraid to let it be told.