As we approach Easter to celebrate the empty tomb, let us reflect on the meaning of the resurrection of Christ. It is easy to imagine that the drama of the passion culminates with the empty tomb since it occurs after the cross. But the central focus of the vacant tomb is actually the cross as seen in light of the resurrection.
Naturally, we want to hurry past by the horror of the crucifixion so we can arrive at the empty tomb and find relief. But the resurrection itself bids us to return to the cross and to see it in a new way. The central symbol of our faith has never been the empty tomb, but the cross understood once the grave has been robbed of the power of death.
For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness. 1 Corinthians 1:22-23
Paul summarizes his preaching as “Christ crucified”. We might think his preaching ought to be “Christ risen from the dead”, and certainly the resurrection of Christ is within the message of Christ crucified (1 Corinthians 15:12). However, the resurrection affirms the cross rather than drawing attention away from it..
The cross, which was awful to behold on Good Friday, particularly from an earthly and human viewpoint, is not done away with by Easter morning but is given a new triumphal meaning. The resurrection of Jesus is God’s vindication of Christ and blessing on the cross, enabling us to see it as the victory of Love over all. The empty tomb teaches us to understand the cross as it appears in heaven rather than on earth.
Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. John 17:5
Jesus prays these words at the Last Supper. What John is telling us, much to our astonishment, is that the cross is the glorification of the Son with the Father’s glory, and we could scarcely believe it if there were not the tomb standing empty behind the cross. The Father and Son are glorified in the cross, that is, the true significance and majesty of God is revealed by it.
Easter morning points us back to Golgotha, turning the meaning of the cross inside out, from what it seemed to be to human eyes into what we could not have imagined it to be. The cross is exactly what Jesus claimed: the hour of his glorification. The resurrection is not a respite after a dark night, but the declaration that what seemed impenetrable darkness was actually the brightest light of God’s love and goodness.
The resurrection of Jesus allows us to sit at the foot of the cross, to be the beloved disciple of John’s gospel, and be transformed by what we see. We walk in the “valley of the shadow of death” (Psalm 23:4), under the shadow of the cross, and find the presence of God in which we fear no evil. For to be at the cross is to be at the throne, the very mercy seat of God, and where God, who is selfless love, reigns as the hope of humanity.
Traveler's Journal 