“Why Seek Ye The Living Among The Dead?” (Ready to Worship S9E8)

March 22, 2019

Ready to Worship Season 9, Episode 8 for Friday, March 22, 2019

This season on Ready to Worship, we are considering the resurrection. It is our hope that studying this great event will breathe new life into our worship.
When the women arrived early on the first day of the week to anoint the body of Jesus with sweet spices, they found the tomb empty. As they considered what this meant, they saw two men in bright clothing, who asked them a simple, but soul-searching question: “Why seek ye the living among the dead?” (Lk. 24:5). In the Greek, the question is even more pointed: Why seek ye the Living One among the dead ones? If they had only understood and/or believed Jesus’ promises pertaining to His resurrection, their morning would have been very different. First, they wouldn’t have had to get up so early. They could have slept in a little. As you know, it had been a very emotional few days. Second, they wouldn’t have had to worry about how they were going to move the huge stone from the tomb’s entrance. Third, they wouldn’t have had to lug around all those pounds of spices. Fourth, they wouldn’t have been looking for a corpse or concerned about what had happened to it. In fact, if they had understood and/or believed the promises, they wouldn’t have been in a graveyard at all. After all, you don’t seek the living among the dead.
Where should these women have been seeking Christ, the Living One? The gospels give us a clue. They should have been seeking Him in Galilee. Before His death, Jesús had outlined exactly what was going to happen. He had told them in no uncertain terms that He was going to be arrested and crucified (Mt. 20:18). Furthermore, He had told them that He was going to rise from the dead the third day and that He would meet them in Galilee (Mk. 14:27-28; Mt. 26:32; 28:16). Yet, here they were on the third day at his tomb in Jerusalem, seeking the living among the dead. They should have been on their way to Galilee.
Have you ever thought about the fact that every Lord’s day we gather in faith where the Lord has told us to meet Him? We seek the living among the living (1 Tim. 3:15; 1 Pet. 2:5; Rom. 12:1; Eph. 2:1). We seek the resurrected Lord in the midst of His people. To seek Him anywhere else would be to seek the living among the dead. As we get ready to worship this week, let’s keep these things in mind.