Tombs and graves are, for many people, places only of memories, thoughts or fears. For some a trip to the grave of a loved one is a regular part of their lives. They go there to put flowers, and to stand and remember. For others a trip to a graveyard is a walk back in time, to read messages sent by strangers of the past. And for some, such a trip is a cause of fear. Graveyards play on our fears of evil spirits and ghosts and ghouls. Even without a belief in those things, the quietness and eeriness of a graveyard at night can send shivers down the spine.
These reactions - sad memories; wistful thoughts; fear - show how painful and frightening the human race finds the whole idea of death, despite the fact that it is the most common experience of all human beings. Every single one of us is conceived and every single one of us will die. All that happens in between may vary from person to person, but these things happen to us all. Yet we don't like death. It hurts and scares us.
But the Bible tells us that one particular tomb has become the most important place in the world. We don't need to see this tomb or know precisely where it is. But we do need to know about it. So I want to give you the facts about it: what it was used for; how it came to be empty; what it means.
This tomb was used by a rich man called Joseph of Arimathea. It had been cut out of rock and was located in a small garden and Joseph used it to bury Jesus. Joseph thought of Jesus as someone sent specially by God. He hadn't liked to make his appreciation of Jesus too public but secretly he had been listening to Jesus and learning from him. So when Jesus died he, like others, was devastated.
Now remember that Jesus died an innocent man. He was tried, convicted and condemned by Jewish judges before being taken to the Roman governor for execution. However, he was innocent of any crime worthy of death; it was an unjust execution. Even the Roman judge asked those who wanted him dead: "Why? What crime has he committed?" Possibly those events made Joseph feel particularly bad. As a member of the council which had made these decisions, Joseph may have felt implicated even though he himself disagreed with the decision. So whilst it would have been much more normal to take the body of an executed criminal - as Jesus was in the eyes of the authorities - and throw it onto a common burial pit, Joseph wouldn't let that happen. Joseph wanted Jesus highly honoured, even in death. So he made arrangements for a decent burial in a decent tomb.
These events establish for us that Jesus was dead. Joseph saw quite clearly that Jesus was dead when he entombed him. But there were other witnesses too, such as the guards by the cross. We are told by one of Jesus's friends that "one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water." This was then reported back to the Roman Governor whilst Joseph was with him. So Jesus was definitely dead - as confirmed by witnesses amongst his friends, amongst his enemies and amongst the authorities.
Whilst Jesus's dead body lay in that tomb, his followers were in distress. Everything had gone badly wrong for them. Many of them had let Jesus down in his final hours including his closest friends. One of them even swore blind that he had never known Jesus, saying to a servant girl: "I don't know this man you're talking about". So Jesus' followers were in disarray: they hid themselves away, fearful of the authorities.
Meanwhile Jesus's enemies were planning on making sure that the ‘Jesus movement' finished then and there. They were so worried about Jesus's influence even from the grave, that they asked for a guard to be set in front of the tomb which had been sealed with a huge stone. Nobody was going to go into that tomb or come out of it, without the authorities knowing.
And yet within a matter of hours, that tomb was empty.
Now the Bible gives a clear answer to this question: Jesus rose from the dead. It doesn't say he was a ghost or a spiritual presence. It says that Jesus himself - in the very body which had been wrapped in burial linen - got up and left the tomb.
But couldn't it be that the political powers took his body away? Well if that was so then when rumours started to pass about Jesus still being alive, the Jewish authorities would have stamped on it very quickly by simply producing the body. But what is clear from the accounts is that the authorities had lost the body.
What about Jesus's followers? Well, it doesn't make any sense to say that his followers stole his body. Their whole hope was that Jesus would be the one to lead them into victory and success over their enemies. Without their dynamic and popular leader, they were lost. And with powerful people set against them, their only thoughts were of how to survive. Furthermore, if guards were set at the tomb entrance, then Jesus's followers could be pretty sure that they were being watched and were under threat too.
So why was that tomb empty? Because something happened which was unexpected by both Jesus's enemies and his friends. Life flooded back into his body and he walked out of that tomb. The stone was rolled away; the guards froze with fear. And we know this because eye-witnesses saw it.
There were some women who had been friends of Jesus. They paid a visit to the tomb but no body was there. As they said to some friends,"They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!" Two close friends ran to the tomb, and went right inside to discover that it was indeed empty. What did they see? "Strips of linen lying there as well as the burial cloth."
And then the news started to spread that Jesus was appearing to people. Two men met him on the road out of Jerusalem. And meetings like this seemed to be occurring for more and more of Jesus's friends; he kept turning up when they didn't expect him and speaking to them. He even came and spoke to a man called Saul - a young man who hated Jesus. Jesus appeared to him, and in a flash Saul was a changed person. As he later said everything for him depended on Jesus being alive: "If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless."
Suddenly the authorities had a group of people on their hands who were brave, bold and clear in telling anyone who would listen, that Jesus had come back to life. A movement which had seen its great leader brutally murdered by calculating and ruthless politicians was now burning with belief. And it was attracting to itself even some of its harshest critics. Something very significant had changed. "That's right," said these people, "Jesus has come back to life."
Firstly: that there really is a God in heaven. We all die and we don't come back. So if Jesus did then it can only be at the bidding of a power greater than the forces of this world. The resurrection of Jesus is proof to us of the reality of God. If you wonder whether there is a God at all then read the documentary evidence for the return to life of Jesus Christ. And ask yourself honestly: what or who did this? Peter, one of Jesus's friends, simply put it this way: "They killed Jesus by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen."
Secondly: God has done something about sin. The reason we all die, says the Bible, is because of sin. "The wages of sin is death.". And in a previous talk I spoke of how Jesus died for the same reason: because of sin. However, it wasn't his own sin because as God's loving and obedient son, he had none. The Bible says that he died for the sins of others. But then he came back to life, showing that those sins had been completely dealt with. The punishment was over; the justice of God was satisfied; the prisoners were free to go. Jesus had completed the work of saving sinners.
Thirdly: this life is not all that there is. If Jesus came back to life, then it must be possible for life to carry on beyond the limitations that we are all used to. Death doesn't have to be the end of the story. Death has been beaten by one man and so others can know the same victory. The Bible says that every person who puts their faith in Jesus Christ will know the same victory.
But there is more than that. Jesus isn't physically here today is he? The Bible says that that is because after a number of days Jesus said goodbye to his friends, "left them and was taken up into heaven." Jesus was more alive than anyone else on the planet. And in that body, the Bible says, he went into heaven to be with God. So heaven is now a place where a person can live - a person like you or me. Not just a spirit or an angel; a real, living person can live with God. God has shown it is possible with Jesus. And he has promised to do the same for all who will place their trust in Jesus as their saviour. The only difference is this: God has said he will do this for Jesus's people at the end of time when Jesus comes again - back to this world.
Jesus's resurrection changed the entire course of history. Without it, Christianity would have been dead centuries ago. But because it really happened, the message of the Bible is still being preached today throughout the world. And wherever it is told that Jesus is alive, people discover that God is real, that sins can be forgiven and that eternal life can be gained. Come to Jesus Christ, whoever you are, come to the one who died and rose again, and find forgiveness and new life with God.