It is the day after Easter. Let’s be sure that the day after Easter doesn’t become yesterday’s newspaper, something over, and then forgotten. I’ve been considering the gospel records of the Resurrection and the days that followed with special interest this year. For the next few days I plan to roll out a series of blog posts containing observations on Easter and on what happened in the aftermath. Follow along, won’t you all. Together.

It is worth noting that while there were eyewitnesses to virtually everything Jesus did from “womb to tomb,” there were no eye witnesses of His resurrection. In Mark, Luke, and John, we have only the record of after Christ’s resurrection when the women came to the tomb. They saw that the tomb was empty, that the stone door to the tomb had been rolled away, and that the angels were stationed at the tomb.

Matthew reported that “there had been a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it.” (Matthew 28:2) But even Matthew is clear that the women arrived after that event. No one saw the resurrection take place.

What about the guards? The earthquake and the appearance of the angels is all the guards saw, and even that was so unnerving that they “shook for fear” of the angel and passed out “like dead men.”

Why did God orchestrate this most important event without any eyes on it? The scripture doesn’t say, so we are left with a bit of “sanctified” (I hope) “speculation.”

Could it be that this event was so momentous that, like God’s holiness, it would have simply been too much for human eyes? Maybe.

Could it be that since the one thing God requires most of us is faith, God only allowed eyewitnesses to see Jesus dead and placed in the tomb, and then the empty tomb and the risen Jesus, so that they embraced the resurrection “by faith” in the results, rather than because they saw Jesus rise from the dead? I can’t say for sure, but that explanation makes sense.

Let us be reminded of Peter’s words (1 Peter 2:1-9)
“…that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls.