So they went with the guard and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone. (Matthew 27: 66)

You have just read an exercise in futility. The enemies of Jesus were afraid, but their fears were ill-placed. They thought perhaps Jesus’ followers would steal His body. When one sees how they forsook their Lord on the night of his arrest and the safe distance that most of them kept during the crucifixion, one can hardly imagine their being so bold as to engineer a raiding on His tomb.

As it turned out, the tomb was indeed raided–not by the disciples of Jesus, but from within by God’s invasion of resurrection life.

Over the twenty succeeding centuries, an unbelieving culture has again and again tried to make the tomb “secure.” A series of potentates and dictators from Nero to the 21^st Century have done their worst to seal out the power of Jesus Christ. But, as I said a moment ago, it is an exercise in futility. The One who was placed in the tomb is the Lord of the Tomb–and also of all who seek to hold Him there. They may not recognize it, but this doesn’t change the fact. No wonder, then, that He is called “Lord.”

As we celebrate a Saturday that so long ago was marked by silence and despair, our hearts rejoice in the final chapter of the Easter story!