Commentary - Luke 24:1-12

Bird's-eye view

This passage marks the pivotal moment in all of human history. Everything that came before was pointing to this, and everything that comes after is defined by it. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is not an appendix to the gospel; it is the gospel. Here, at the hinge of history, we see the first dawning of the new creation. Luke presents this world-altering event through the eyes of a group of faithful, grieving women. They come to a tomb to perform a final act of devotion for a dead prophet, but they instead become the first evangelists of a living King. Their initial confusion and terror give way to remembered prophecy and a commission from angels. The response of the apostles, in contrast, is one of cynical disbelief, treating the greatest news ever delivered as "nonsense." Yet, even in their doubt, a seed of wonder is planted, prompting Peter to run and see for himself. This is the story of how the kingdom of God exploded out of a tomb in a Jerusalem garden, overturning the powers of death, sin, and unbelief in its path.

The central theme is the collision of two worlds: the old world of death, decay, and sorrow, represented by the spices and the tomb, and the new world of resurrection life, represented by the empty tomb and the dazzling angels. It is a story about the reliability of God's Word, as the angels point the women back to what Jesus had already told them. It is a story about God's surprising methods, using the testimony of women, who were not considered reliable witnesses in that culture, to announce the central fact of our faith. And it is a story about the dawning of a new reality so profound that it initially seems too good to be true, even to those who had been closest to Jesus.

Outline

Context In Luke

Luke 24 is the grand finale of his Gospel. The preceding chapters have detailed the inexorable march of Jesus to Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets. Chapter 23 describes in grim detail the trial, crucifixion, and burial of the Lord. The story ends with Jesus sealed in a borrowed tomb, a stone rolled across the entrance, and the hopes of His followers apparently dead and buried with Him. The Sabbath has passed in silence and sorrow. Chapter 24, therefore, begins at the lowest point of the narrative. All seems lost. The resurrection that follows is not just a happy epilogue; it is the vindication of everything Jesus said and did. It is the proof that His death was not a tragic defeat but a calculated, substitutionary victory. This chapter will go on to recount other post-resurrection appearances, culminating in the Great Commission and the Ascension, which in turn set the stage for Luke's second volume, the book of Acts, where the power of this resurrection is unleashed upon the world through the preaching of the apostles.

Key Issues

The Living Among the Dead

The question the angels ask the women is the central question of the Christian faith and, indeed, of all reality: "Why do you seek the living One among the dead?" This is more than just a gentle course correction. It is a fundamental reorientation of their entire worldview. They were operating under the old covenant rules, the rules of a world where death has the last word. In that world, when someone dies, you anoint their body, you mourn, and you visit their grave. You look for dead people in the place of the dead.

But the angels announce that the rules have changed because the Ruler has changed things. Jesus is not just another dead prophet. He is the living One. He is the Prince of Life, as Peter would later call Him. To look for Him in a tomb is to fundamentally misunderstand who He is and what He came to do. It is a category error of the highest order. The resurrection means that Jesus cannot be contained by the categories of this fallen world. He is not in the realm of the dead; He is the Lord of the living. This question echoes down through the centuries to us. Where do we look for Jesus? Do we look for Him in dead religion, in empty rituals, in worldly systems that are all bound for the grave? Or do we look for Him where He is, reigning in power at the right hand of the Father, and present by His Spirit in the living proclamation of His Word?

Verse by Verse Commentary

1 Now on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared.

The Sabbath is over, and with the first light of the first day of a new creation, these devoted women come to the tomb. Their actions are born of love and grief. They are coming to anoint a corpse. This is what you do when your hope is dead. The spices are a testimony to their affection, but also to their unbelief. They expect to find a body, and they want to honor it. They are not coming with any expectation of a miracle; they are coming to perform a sad, final duty. Their love is commendable, but their theology is, at this point, deficient. They are still living in Friday's world, and they have no idea that Sunday has dawned.

2-3 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

The first sign that things are not as they expected. The stone, a massive obstacle meant to seal the tomb and keep the dead in their place, has been moved. This was no small feat. But notice their immediate conclusion. They do not assume a resurrection; they assume a robbery. Their first thought is not "He is risen!" but "Where is the body?" They go inside, and their fears are confirmed. The tomb is empty. The absence of the body is the first piece of hard, physical evidence. The gospel is not built on a subjective feeling, but on an observable fact: the corpse was gone.

4-5 And it happened that while they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing, and when the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living One among the dead?

Into their confusion and perplexity breaks the supernatural. These are not just men; they are angels, messengers from the throne room of God, and their appearance is terrifying. Their clothing is "dazzling," like lightning, a manifestation of the glory of the God they serve. The women are rightly terrified and fall on their faces in a posture of worship and fear. And then comes the great question. The angels don't begin with "Fear not." They begin with a gentle, but profound, rebuke. "Why are you looking for life in a graveyard?" They are pointing out the deep incongruity of their actions. They are seeking the very definition of life, Jesus, in the one place He could not possibly be.

6-7 He is not here, but He has risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.”

Here is the core of the announcement, the greatest sentence ever uttered. "He is not here, but He has risen." This is the gospel in six words. It is a statement of fact. But the angels do not leave it there. They immediately ground this new reality in the prior Word of Christ. They are, in effect, telling the women, "This should not be a surprise. He told you this was going to happen." They call them back to Jesus' own prophecies about His passion. The "must" is crucial. This was not an accident or a tragedy; it was a divine necessity, all part of God's sovereign plan. The cross and the empty tomb were not plan B. They were the plan from the beginning. The angels are teaching them, and us, to interpret events through the lens of Scripture.

8 And they remembered His words,

This is the light dawning in their minds. The angelic reminder triggers their memory. The words Jesus had spoken, which at the time were likely confusing or opaque, now snap into sharp focus. The event of the empty tomb illuminates the prophecy, and the prophecy explains the event. This is how faith works. It is not a blind leap; it is the Spirit of God opening our minds to understand the Word of God in light of the work of God in Christ. Their whole world is being re-ordered around this remembered Word.

9-10 and when they returned from the tomb, they reported all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. Now Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the rest of the women with them were there; they were telling these things to the apostles.

Their mission has changed. They came as mourners to anoint a body; they leave as evangelists to announce a resurrection. They immediately go and tell the apostles. Luke makes a point of naming some of these women, giving them their rightful place as the first witnesses. In a culture where the testimony of a woman was not legally admissible, God chooses them to carry the most important testimony in history. This is a deliberate act of God, turning the world's values upside down. He entrusts the foundational news of the new creation to these faithful, humble women.

11 But these words appeared to them as nonsense, and they were not believing them.

The apostles' reaction is stark and disappointing. They hear the gospel for the first time, and they dismiss it as nonsense. The Greek word is leros, from which we get "delirious." They thought the women were hysterical, telling crazy, idle tales. This is a crucial detail. It shows us that the disciples were not predisposed to believe in the resurrection. They were not gullible men ready to accept any fanciful story. They were hard-headed, cynical, and grieving men who thought the story was too good to be true. Their initial unbelief is actually a powerful apologetic for the truth of the resurrection. They were not the sort of men to invent such a story.

12 But Peter stood up and ran to the tomb; and stooping to look in, he saw the linen wrappings only. And he went away by himself, marveling at what had happened.

Despite the corporate dismissal, the women's words had an effect on Peter. He may not have believed, but he was intrigued enough to check it out. He runs to the tomb. This is the action of a man whose world has been shaken. He stoops, looks in, and sees the evidence for himself: the linen wrappings lying there, but no body. The grave clothes are empty, like a cocoon after the butterfly has flown. Luke says he went away "marveling." He is not yet at full-fledged faith, but he has moved from cynical disbelief to bewildered wonder. The seed has been planted. The hard evidence of the empty tomb has begun its work on his heart. The nonsense is starting to look like it might just be the deepest sense of all.

Application

The story of that first resurrection morning is our story. We all begin by seeking life among the dead. We look for fulfillment, for meaning, for hope in things that are destined for the grave: our accomplishments, our possessions, our own righteousness. The message of the angels comes to us as it came to the women: He is not here. True life is not found in the tombs we construct for ourselves. It is found only in the risen Christ.

We must also learn the lesson of the apostles' unbelief. How often does the plain proclamation of God's Word seem like nonsense to us? The gospel declares that we are saved by grace through faith, not by works. To our proud, self-sufficient hearts, this can sound like an idle tale. The gospel promises that God works all things together for good. In the midst of suffering, this can sound like madness. Our response should be that of Peter. Even in our doubt, we should run to the tomb. We should run to the Scriptures, examine the evidence, and allow the fact of the empty tomb to challenge our cynicism. We must allow the Spirit to cause us to remember His words.

Finally, we must be like the women. Once we have encountered the risen Lord, we cannot keep it to ourselves. They were the first evangelists, and we are called to follow in their train. We have the best news in the world, the news that death has been defeated and that the King is alive. We will be met with skepticism, just as they were. People will call our message nonsense. But we are called to be faithful witnesses, declaring the simple, historical, world-changing fact: "He is not here, but He has risen."