Day 100 - FOUNDATION STONES IN A YEAR
Reading: Matthew 28: 1-10; Mark 16; Luke 24; John 20
The empty tomb is the first piece of evidence that we can present in defense of the bodily resurrection of Jesus. No-one, not even the Jews of the day or later scholars antagonistic towards the resurrection, denies that the tomb was empty and the body of Jesus missing.
There are absolutely no ancient sources that deny or argue the emptiness of the tomb. The empty tomb was such common knowledge at that time, in fact, that the authorities were forced to invent a story about how that happened. They certainly couldn’t produce the body. Indeed, the Pentecost sermon preached by Peter quotes David’s prophecy in Psalm 16: 9, 10 in order to give the crowds listening an Old Testament explanation for the fact of ….the empty tomb.
If the apostles had stolen the body and invented the resurrection story, then why did they include in the story the uncomfortable fact that it was the women who first discovered the empty tomb? The Gospels record that not even the apostles themselves believed the women’s report, so illegitimate was a woman’s witness in those times.
Prayer
Father, help me to believe in and rejoice with the angel’s words “ he is not here, he has risen”.
For the family
You will find the resource below a helpful guide to celebrating Easter with the family