Looking for Life in All the Wrong Places

GETTING STARTED

I know it sounds strange, but there is something very intriguing about an old, country cemetery. Maybe it is the quiet, something so hard to find in our world today. Perhaps it is the stories told by the simple inscriptions carved on simple headstones. It seems as though it is a place where stories are waiting to be found. But you know what will never be found in a cemetery? New life. In today’s passage, a group of women go to the tomb of Jesus to tend to his body. And they encounter something they never expected to find.

  • Where do you go when you are looking for new life, for something to refresh your spirit?

READ THE WORD: LUKE 24:1-12 (ESV)

1 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared.  2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 5 And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.”

8 And they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, 11 but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.

12 But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.

English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

DIGGING DEEPER

  1. What were the women expecting to find as they approached the tomb at dawn? How did they react to this unmet expectation (vs. 4)?
  2. How must the angel’s question in verse 5 have confused them further?
  3. What did the angel direct the women to remember, and what changed when they did so (vss. 6-9)?
  4. The apostles did not believe the women’s story. What was likely the cause of their disbelief?
  5. Are you—like the women in the passage—searching for life in the wrong place? What would it take for you to rise and run to find the truth of a risen Savior?

RESPOND TO GOD

“Why do you seek the living among the dead?” That question applies as much to us today as it did to the women then. We know that Christ lives. We say we believe it. So why do we still search for life among things that can never bring life? We will never find the abundant life in mausoleums of fame, or success, or affirmation, or sex, or riches, or power. But that will change if we will just “remember his words” (vs. 8). Remembering his words gives us the wisdom to make sense of perplexing situations. Remembering his words compels us to tell others of the miracle of a resurrected life.

  • Pray that God would convict you when you look for life outside of the risen Savior. Commit to hiding God’s Word in your heart so you can remember his words in perplexing situations.