Easter
And they were saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?" And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back–it was very large. Mark 16:3-4 (ESV)
Did the risen Christ require a doorway to get out of the garden grave? No! In fact, Matthew’s account indicates that Jesus had already bodily exited the tomb when “there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.” (Matthew 28:2)
Since Jesus had already risen and left the tomb empty, God could have decided to let the disciples or the guards or someone else roll away the rock. But no, He sent an angel to do it. We’re not left to wonder why. The angel tells us in Mark 16:6: “He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him.”
The rolling rock—a small detail in the big story of the resurrection—declares an inarguable, undeniable, indisputable truth: the tomb was empty! The impossible had happened. The resurrection which Jesus Himself had so often predicted had taken place. God did not leave this truth to be discovered by men, He declared it by rolling away the heavy stone!
Because our Lord Jesus was not there in the garden grave, we know that He is here—just as He promised, “Wherever two or three are gathered in my name, I am there in the midst of them.” (Matthew 18:20) Because He is not there, we know that He is here. Whenever the storms of life overtake us, He will not forsake us. Because He is not there, we know that He is here with us always to the end of the age.
Find Easter joy in the little things: the rolling rock reveals the empty tomb.
Vain the stone, the watch, the seal;
Christ hath burst the gates of hell.
Death in vain forbids His rise;
Christ has opened Paradise.
Lutheran Service Book 469:3