1 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
The faithful female followers of Jesus were first to find the empty tomb. Showing their supreme passion for the Lord, their desire was to now demonstrate their love by bringing forth expensive spices they had prepared for His burial. Oh that all of our passions and desires point us always to Jesus as well! May our leanings naturally take us to the feet of our Savior! There is a difference between obligatorily knowing Jesus and loving Him as our Lord. When we are inspired with liking and love, charmed and delighted by His presence, it is not a compulsion or a drudge but rather extremely pleasurable and exciting to walk with Him. Just as a child who adores their father’s company, our delight in Him should not mask duty but rather be prompted by joy.
“Beyond all measure it is desirable that we, as believers, should have the person of Jesus constantly before us, to inflame our love towards Him, and to increase our knowledge of Him...But to have Jesus ever near, the heart must be full of Him, welling up with His love, even to overrunning; hence the apostle prays ‘that Christ may dwell in your hearts’. ‘That He may dwell’; not that He may call upon you sometimes, as a casual visitor enters into a house and tarries for a night, but that He may dwell; that Jesus may become the Lord and Tenant of your inmost being, never more to go out...We should pant after love to Christ of a most abiding character, not a love that flames up and then dies out into the darkness of a few embers, but a constant flame, fed by a sacred fuel, like the fire upon the altar which never went out. This cannot be accomplished except by faith. Faith must be strong, or love will not be fervent; the root of the flower must be healthy, or we cannot expect the bloom to be sweet...If love be cold, you can be sure that faith is drooping.” C.H. Spurgeon
If we find our love for the Lord has grown cold and hardened we must pray for God to once again pour out His love into our hearts reigniting our flames. God’s love encourages us on in our hope for His glory. It is our Lord’s desire to be our constant portion and inheritance. Paul tells us in Romans:
1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. Romans 5:1-5 (NIV)
“Lord, You are my lover, my longing, my flowing stream, my sun, and I am Your reflection.” Mechthilde of Magdeburg
Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength." Neh 8:10 (NIV)
4 Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalms 37:4 (NIV)
“A man’s spiritual health is exactly proportional to his love for God.” C. S. Lewis
Very early in the morning, approaching with their spices to add their personal touch to His burial, these dear women set out to not only anoint the dead body with their tears but also to fragrance it with the perfume of the sacrifice of their spices. Dismayed, these women discovered an empty tomb. He had risen – He had risen indeed! Confusion was certain – where could the body have gone? Who had moved away the heavy stone? Put yourselves in their sandals. They had been eye witnesses to the crucifixion and the burial preparation. So certain were they that He was dead they had gone to extravagant measures to offer forth a fitting burial. Remember, Nicodemus had already brought seventy-five pounds of dry spices, myrrh and aloes to anoint Him. John tells us there reaction to this scene:
1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!" John 20:1-2 (NIV)
“The continued instances of Mary Magdalene’s respect for Him at and after His death prove the sincerity of her love. Love for Christ, if it is cordial, will be constant. Her love for Christ was strong as death, the death of the cross, for it stood by that.” Matthew Henry