Matthew 27:62-28:10
April 5, 2026
I love seeing the sanctuary filled with lilies on Easter morning, but I also struggle with them at this time of the year, because as the trees and flowers start to bloom my allergies kick in and I will often start sneezing, I will get congested, or sometimes I will just have a headache. However, if I take something like Claritin or simply Tylenol, I usually feel much better. What’s frustrating, though, about these products are the gauntlet of security measures that you have to go through in order to get to the medication so you can get some relief.
First, the flaps on the box must be opened and they are usually glued shut in such a way that I usually end up ripping the flaps off or tearing part of the box to get to the bottle inside. Then, there is the shrink wrap that is placed around the cap on the bottle. Once you have torn it off, you then may have to solve the child resistant cap. By pushing down and turning, hopefully the cap will come off. Finally, you come to the last part, the multilayered seal. Now you would think that this seal would easily peel off, but that never seems to be the case. It has to be punctured or ripped or pulled off in several pieces, and for some reason we don’t like to leave any pieces of that seal on the bottle or pushed inside the bottle. The seal can be frustrating to remove, but I know this is done intentionally so that the consumer will have the confidence of knowing that the product is safe and no one has gotten inside the bottle.
Seals have been around for a long time and they are used on a variety of items, but their purpose is not to prevent something from being opened. Instead they are in place to prove the authenticity of something, to show that something has not been tampered with in any way.
On the morning after Jesus had been killed and buried, our Gospel reading from Matthew said that, “The chief priests and the Pharisees went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.” Even though the stone was already in place covering the entrance to the tomb, these religious leaders remembered that Jesus said He would rise again after 3 days, interesting how the religious leaders remember those words of Jesus, but some women and the disciples don’t seem to remember them; so it occurred to them that they had better seal the tomb in case some of Jesus’ followers tried to steal His body, hide it, and then declare a resurrection.
Now just like a bottle of Tylenol, the seal was not to make the tomb impossible to open. In other words, they did not put cement around the stone. Most likely it was just a lump of clay placed on the stone, maybe with some string stretched across the stone, so that if the stone gets moved the string would break. The point was with the seal in place no one could tamper with the stone and the body of Jesus could not be touched.
So with the seal in place on Saturday, some women went to the tomb early on Sunday morning with the sole purpose of finishing the embalming process that they had started on Friday evening. Their hearts were probably full of disappointment and I’m sure their eyes were still full of tears over the fact that the man who they thought was their Savior had died. They had no expectations that Jesus could possibly be alive, their minds were set and sealed. Jesus was dead, it was over, and they just wanted to give Him a decent burial.
But long before the women arrived at the tomb, with the seal in place and the guards on duty, Jesus rose. No one needed to roll back the stone to let the living body of Jesus out. Being fully God and yet fully human, Jesus simply passed through the stone walls of the tomb. While the seal was eventually broken and the stone rolled back to open the grave, it was not opened to let Jesus out, but to let witnesses in. Human eyes needed to see the evidence. So when the women arrived and saw the stone had been rolled away, they entered the tomb looking not for Jesus, the almighty Son of God who can do anything, but for Jesus, the humble carpenter’s son. They came looking not for Jesus, the Lord of life who had already demonstrated His power over death by raising dead people to life, but for Jesus, the innocent victim of a political conspiracy. No matter how many times Jesus had told these women and all of His followers that He would die a horrifying death but rise back to life in 3 days, these women still expected much less.
But on Easter morning, God broke the seals of doubt and despair with the resurrection of Jesus. When the women saw that the stone had been rolled away, with an angel sitting on top announcing that Jesus had risen from the dead, just as he said, the women ran from the tomb, trembling and astonished, to tell the disciples, as this amazing news changed everything – for them and for us.
First, it changed the meaning of faith. With Jesus’ resurrection, the seal of disbelief and defeat was now destroyed, and it meant that Jesus really was who He said He was – the Savior, God in the flesh, and that means He must be able to do what He said He could do – give us eternal life. In addition, that must certainly mean that His promises, such as when He said, “I am with you always, I will never leave you or forsake you” are also true. Therefore, the reality of the resurrection gives us the ability to face life’s toughest challenges with the assurance that God is always with us.
Second, the resurrection of Jesus changed the meaning of death. Several years ago I conducted funeral services for two people who died within a few weeks of each other, and the atmosphere among the people was very different at each service. When a lady named Ida died, there were many tears at her death. But her adult children were active Christians and at her memorial service they told these great stories of love and laughter. People were smiling and singing joyfully, and they had a great time as her funeral was really a celebration of her graduation from this life to eternal life with Jesus.
In contrast, a few weeks later, a man named Roger died. Roger was well known, loved, and respected in the community, but his family, in their words, was not a “religious” family. Instead of laughter and fond memories at his funeral, there was a sense of anger and despair. Roger’s family did not have a sense of peace about his death for the simple reason that his wife and children did not have an active, personal faith in Jesus. I have seen this happen time and time again. Those with a strong faith in Jesus are able to face death – their own and that of loved ones, much differently than do people who are not active in a church or who are only “marginally” religious. Why? Because Christ’s resurrection gives new meaning to death. Death is not the end, it is a new beginning.
Finally, the resurrection changes the meaning of life as God is still breaking seals today. Every time that an unbeliever repents and comes to faith, another seal is broken as the forgiveness and love of God comes flooding into that life. Every time we think that something is impossible, God will look to break that seal. For example, you might be convinced that no matter what, you cannot stop worrying. Or you might be convinced that there is no way you could ever love your neighbor, not based on the way he /she treats you. Or perhaps you look at your income and the cost of living today and you decide that there is no way you can give to God’s church in the way God directs. A tithe is out of the question, it can’t be done, you simply won’t be able to make ends meet. Your mind is made up and sealed, no one is going to change it.
But it is God’s plan to do exactly that. If you have ever tried to seal God out of some part of your life, you can be sure that God will look to break that seal and open you to His truth and His love. For those women, an Easter resurrection was impossible, they did not even consider it. But God broke their seal of impossibility and that changed everything for them. The reality of the resurrection makes our faith real and gives us a reason to come back here next Sunday, and the following Sunday, and the next, in order to meet Jesus, to experience His love, and to grow together in our faith. The resurrection gives life meaning that is worth living and dying for.
