Luke 24:1-10

“But very early on Sunday morning the women went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. ² They found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. ³ So they went in, but they didn’t find the body of the Lord Jesus.⁴ As they stood there puzzled, two men suddenly appeared to them, clothed in dazzling robes. ⁵ The women were terrified and bowed with their faces to the ground. Then the men asked, “Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? ⁶ He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Remember what he told you back in Galilee,⁷ that the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and that he would rise again on the third day.”⁸ Then they remembered that he had said this. ⁹ So they rushed back from the tomb to tell his eleven disciples—and everyone else—what had happened. ¹⁰ It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and several other women who told the apostles what had happened. ¹¹ But the story sounded like nonsense to the men, so they didn’t believe it. ¹² However, Peter jumped up and ran to the tomb to look. Stooping, he peered in and saw the empty linen wrappings; then he went home again, wondering what had happened.”

It’s here that we see three Responses to the resurrection, first the women:

• Rush to tell others

Verse 9 says:“So they rushed back from the tomb to tell his eleven disciples and everyone else what had happened.”They didn’t just share the Good news they rushed to share it. What is it that’s driving your life, what causes you to rush around? Are you rushing around because of the Redeemer or something else? There are many of us that are more in a rush over our jobs than we are for Jesus. In order to fulfill their purpose, they couldn’t stay in the place of death. God longs and loves to remove our pain and replace it with purpose, but you have got to stop living in the tomb. In order to share the truth, they had to leave the tomb. Many of us are ineffective at sharing truth because we are not living in that truth. We are trying to tell others the truth from the tomb. At some point we have to stop being defined by our pain and our past and start being defined by God’s plan.  What did these women do with the truth, they told others, they didn’t selfishly hoard the Hope they shared it. They publicly confessed Christ as the cure. Who are you sharing the good news with? Who are you going to promote self or the Savior? Are you going to follow your plan and be perplexed or God’s plan and find purpose? When we really grasp the truth that He is Risen it will not only excite us, but it will engage us in eternity. The second response to the resurrection was:

• Rejection

Verse 11 says:“But the story sounded like nonsense to the men, so they didn’t believe it.”Most of Christ’s disciples responded with doubt and dismissal. Do you know how discouraging that would have been for the women? Don’t let other people’s response and opinion of Jesus dictate your decision to share the Good news. One of the reasons we don’t share our faith is that we project our fears of how others will respond to the resurrection. Their response is their responsibility, but your response is to be dedicated no matter how discouraging it may seem. These disciples dismissed the resurrection because their decision was based on the sensible not the supernatural. At first it appears that these 9 disciples based their decision on Logic and facts, but they actually based it on their feeling. The facts were that Jesus had told them over and over He would rise from the dead, they had witnessed only a few weeks before Lazarus being raised from the dead. They had witnessed Jesus commanding the wind and the waves to be still as creation was calmed at Christ’s command. They had witnessed Him command water be to turn to wine, food to be multiply from five loaves and two fish to feed five thousand men. They had witnessed the wonders of God, yet they chose to live life with limits. Where in your life are you limiting the Lord and trying to put God in a box? Are you living life based on facts and feelings or by faith? Miracle after miracle yet they chose to believe in what makes sense according to ME. The result was that they stayed where they were. Unmoved and so they missed the moment to witness the greatest miracle because they minimized God. Do you have a Me perspective or a Master perspective? What miracles are you missing? The third response to the resurrection was to:

• Run–

Verse 12 tells us: “However, Peter jumped up and ran to the tomb to look”Peter and John chose to investigate Immanuel, God with us. They ran to the resurrection and even though John got their first he hesitated and held back. Maybe it was fear of what he would find or the fear that the Roman soldiers would see him, we don’t know what held him back. What is holding you back from really believing? Fear of your family how they will respond, maybe it’s the fear of what you will have to give up to go on with God. John hesitated and held back until Peter went in but when he finally did go in he saw and believed.

The women went from wondering to wonder

John went from being bewildered to believing

What about you how are you going to respond to the Resurrection? Are you going to run to Jesus? Are you going to rush to tell others about Him or will you refuse and reject Him?