The disciples’ response to the empty tomb proves how little they understood about the most essential truths that Jesus had taught them. What He said was so different from what they had been taught as children, His words only confused and frightened them. He repeatedly told them He must suffer, die, be buried, and rise again on the third day, yet not one of His disciples responded with even the slightest trace of expectation. They simply didn’t believe He would physically rise from the dead until He stood in front of them and they were able to touch Him. After He was buried their response was to grieve over Him, and still love Him, but certainly not rejoice. Up until His death they had thought He was the Messiah, but after He was crucified they changed that opinion and assumed He was only a great prophet who had been martyred (Lk 24:19-21). Not one of the Eleven was waiting outside the tomb on Sunday morning, and they thought that those who said they saw Him were crazy.

That empty tomb exposed, not a lack of love nor a loss of respect, but a lack of understanding. They didn’t know why the resurrection was necessary. When John later commented on his own condition at the time, he said his problem was that he didn’t understand the Scripture that taught that Jesus must rise from the dead. Do you and I? Today, let’s join those disciples as they encounter the empty tomb. Let’s, first, try to see it through their eyes, and then let’s examine the Scriptures for ourselves so that we will understand why Jesus had to suffer, die, be buried, and rise again on the third day. When you and I consider that empty tomb we don’t want to hear Him say this to us: