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‘He is risen: He is not here: behold the place where they laid Him.’
Mar_16:6
There is evidently a Divine beauty in the fact, and it has beautiful analogies.
I. Why no man saw Him rise.—It could not have been otherwise, unless all the surrounding circumstances had been different. For this to be other, events and men must also have been other than they were. For not only the general body of the Lord’s followers, but the seventy, the nearer and truer ones who formed the one hundred and twenty at the beginning of the Acts, were utterly scattered; and even the eleven, all but John, who was probably with the Blessed Virgin. As to whether the guards beheld Him or not we are in ignorance. They are said to have trembled and become as dead men for fear of the angel; but nothing is said of their seeing Christ. They were clearly not worthy to see Him, and their testimony would have been worthless.
II. Would it have been better that the act of resurrection should have been seen?—Simple faith answers No. Let us see why God’s dealings were best. It may be that a loving report to the Apostles was conveyed in the circumstances, as if it had been said, ‘You would not be with Me in the hall. You did not see Me die. Shall you see Me rise?’ But, be this as it may, it is probable, from the subsequent conduct of the Apostles, that they were not prepared for such a sudden and, to them, astounding sight as Christ’s rising. They could scarcely have borne it, nor comprehended it, nor, perhaps, believed in it. Their faith still required education, and little by little grew to accept what they scarce believed in for joy when it was manifested. But, so far as we are concerned, this backwardness and slowness to believe, this state of mind, the very contrary of credulity, and the number of appearances, each of which is to us a separate proof, makes the evidential value of the manifestations of Christ risen much greater than that of Christ arising could have been—so far as we can perceive.
III. The argument from analogy.—Is not the secrecy of the rising just what might have been expected from analogy? Were not the revelations of God to Abraham and Jacob private? Was not Moses alone at the burning bush, and when God passed by manifesting His glory? Only three persons were present at the Transfiguration. It is true that the eleven beheld the Ascension, but then they had been purified and strengthened by the great forty days.
—
Rev. W. E. Heygate.
Illustration‘Who ever saw the earliest rose
First open her sweet breast?
Or, when the summer sun goes down,
The first soft star in evening’s crown
Light up her gleaming crest?
Fondly we seek the dawning bloom
On features wan and fair;—
The gazing eye no change can trace,
But look away a little space,
Then turn, and lo!‘tis there
As when, triumphant o’er His woes,
The Son of God by moonlight rose,
By all but Heaven unseen.’
EASTER LESSONS
I. Jesus has proclaimed release from the wrath of God.—That black cloud, which had hung over the earth since the first Adam fell, was cleared away on the bright Easter morning when the Second Adam rose. That heavy debt which we owed to our Heavenly Father, and which we had not wherewithal to pay, was paid when Jesus rose on Easter morning.
II. ‘He is risen,’ and we are freed from the power of sin.—Sin is no longer the ruling influence, and need no more have dominion over our mortal bodies. Satan cannot now lead us captives at his will. We are become more than conquerors through Him Who fought out that bitter battle on Good Friday, and rose triumphant on Easter morning.
III. ‘He is risen,’ and we are freed from the power of sorrow.—I do not tell you that we shall never more know sorrow, that this world has ceased to be a vale of tears; but I do tell you, O mournful ones, that you must not sorrow as those without hope. There is no grief so dark, no misfortune so desperate, that the light of the Resurrection cannot shine upon it and bring comfort. In the chamber of sickness, in the pinched home of poverty, in the prison cell, or the workhouse ward, in the agonised horror of the hospital, at the brink of the very grave itself, the power of the Resurrection asserts itself, and because Christ is risen, strength is given to us to rise out of the darkness of misery into the pure light of holy resignation.
IV. ‘He is risen,’ and therefore the whole character of death is changed.—The grave is no more a pit of destruction, but is now
That blessed tomb,
Become the room
Where lay Creation’s Lord asleep.
Death is no longer the grisly king of terrors, but the kind Friend who comes to set the sufferer free.
V. Jesus has risen, but have we risen with Him?—Are we trying to lead the higher life, and to seek those things which are above? Otherwise what is the joy of Easter to us—what the blessings of the Resurrection? We cannot be partakers of that Resurrection if, whilst Christ is risen, we lie still in the grave of corruption; if, whilst He has triumphed over sin, we are yet its slaves.
Illustration
‘It is no wonder that the Fathers of the Church lavished upon Easter Day every epithet of praise and affection; it is no wonder that they call it the Great Day, the Day of days, the Queen of days, the Sovereign of all Festivals. In the words of one, it is the Bright Sunday—God’s Sunday—the Lord’s Day of joy. In the language of another it is “God’s own Easter Day, the feast of feasts, solemnity of solemnities, so far passing all other feasts holden not only by or for men, but even those held in honour of Christ Himself, as the sun doth surpass and excel the stars” (St. Gregory Nazienzen). And yet another (St. Chrysostom) calls it “the desirable feast of our salvation, the day of our Lord’s Resurrection, the foundation of our peace, the occasion of our reconciliation, the end of our contentions and enmity with God, the destruction of death, and our victory over the devil.” No wonder that in the primitive Church Easter was one of the three special seasons chosen for the baptism of converts, and that at this holy Festival certain of the Christian Emperors were wont to loose from prison all except the worst of criminals, since “as Jesus delivered us from the grievous prison of our sins, and made us capable of enjoying immeasurable blessings, so ought we in like manner, as far as possible, to imitate the mercy and kindness of our Lord” (St. Chrysostom).’