The Empty Tomb Is Power

John 20:1-10 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” 3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10 Then the disciples went back to their homes.
 
THE Lord is risen! The burial cloths have no use. Is not this exactly what Jesus told them would happen? It is. But they still didn’t understand “he must rise from the dead”. So Peter and John looked around. Then they went back to their homes.  
    It is easy to wonder about this. What did they do when they went home? Why didn’t they go tell the other disciples or go tell the good news to the Jerusalem crowds. There were thousands who seven days earlier had praised, “Hosanna. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”? Wouldn’t  they want to know He is risen?
    The faithful, redeemed Mary Magdalene had come to tell them. She didn’t go home when she saw the empty tomb. Mary still doesn’t go home as noted in the next reading. Why did two of Jesus’ inner circle go home?
    Were they still afraid of the authorities? Was it impossible even for these two who had seen so many miracles, for Peter who had walked on water, to believe the crucified one is alive? These two had even seen Jesus in his heavenly form talking with Moses and Elijah at the Transfiguration (Mark 9). In their human view of Jesus, these men who had experienced so much of Jesus could not comprehend the resurrection.
    Jesus had come out of the grave. Now he needed to get his disciples out of the house. In the hours and days to come, they would witness the truth and the power of Jesus’ resurrection. This truth would set them free to boldly preach, “Then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed…12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:10, 12)
    It was time to get out of the house to follow the risen Jesus. John, Peter and  the other disciples had to overcome debilitating fear. He would show them how.  
 
Resurrection Truth: Full faith builds Jesus’ church: Matthew 16:18 “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.  19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”