Go And See For Yourselves

Author: kj
April 20, 2025
John 20:1-8
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed.

Luke 24:1-12
But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, ‘Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.’ Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.

And so this morning we hear from the Gospel of John and the Gospel of Luke. Two out of four stories about how the followers of Jesus found out what happened to Jesus. And in all four versions, it is the women who first witness the empty tomb.

It was common for women to be the ones responsible for preparing a body for burial. Jesus had many followers – women and men – and most Biblical scholars agree that it is likely that his mother was one of them. It makes sense that she would be one of the women who wanted to get to his body at the very first hint of night turning into dawn. Culturally it makes sense that the women were first to the tomb.

Historically, however, the women being the first to report not just an empty tomb, but the actual resurrection of Jesus – to have women declare the Good News – has great significance. This means it really happened. If it were made up, the story tellers would have gone with men finding the empty tomb first; they’d have more believability that way. But because the event actually happened, and it happened with women, that is the way it has been told.

Although they are stunned and amazed, the women proclaim the truth, they go and tell others.
What happens next, in the short term, all depends on which Gospel you are reading.

Our first reading, from the Gospel of John, has Peter and the beloved disciple reacting quickly to the news and running right to the tomb. In the Gospel of Luke, our second reading, the disciples are a bit more crude in their reaction to the news from the women. Verse 11 says: But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.

‘Idle tale’ is the prim English translation. The Greek word used there is 'leiros' which is more of a slang term, closer to “garbage” or “a bunch of bull.” While it's easy to judge the male disciples for their disbelief, it's also true that the story that the women tell sounds like a bunch of bull - leiros.

When the women showed up with a story of a missing body and then two men in dazzling clothes telling them that Jesus has risen from the dead - who can blame the male disciples for calling leiros.

This is a ridiculous story the women have just told them. This isn't The Princess Bride - Jesus wasn't just mostly dead. He was dead. Dead dead.

And people are not raised from the dead.

The men's reaction confirms the reaction that the church should expect in the face of its testimony - namely that the news we have to tell, the reasons why we hold onto hope - sounds like a bunch of bull. It's too unbelievable, too unrealistic, too crazy to be called anything other than a bunch of leiros in a cynical world that knows that every bit of testimony has some spin at its core.

And so the church continues its ministry for suckers, looking for the living among the dead.

Why do we do that?

From the fields of Lancaster to the dairy farms in Carlisle, there are workers from other countries working here legally, doing the jobs none of us wants to do. Sackets Harbor, New York has a similar vibe. ICE agents were sent to a dairy farm and petting zoo to arrest one person and in the process, they arrested a woman who also worked there and her three school-aged children. The principal of Sackets Harbor began the search for them saying in a public letter that they had declared themselves to immigration judges, attended court on their assigned dates, and were following the legal process. “They are not criminals,” she wrote, “They have no ties to any criminal activity… the fact that our students were handcuffed and put into the same van as the alleged criminal… is unconscionable. When I think of my third grader’s experience, my stomach twists and it is hard to breathe.”[1]

We’ve seen this play out, headline after headline, we can guess how this is going to go. What chance does a small-town principal have against the machinery of the United States government that so far even the Supreme Court has not been able to bring to yield. And yet Jaime Cook, PreK -12th grade Principal went to the news media and to Facebook and to the other families in the town seeking justice; and then found out that the mother and girls had been taken from New York to Texas, and now where are they?

Why do they look for the living among the dead?

In a portion of Atlanta, where the unhoused gather as community under a bridge, a movement began a little over ten years ago called Love Beyond Walls. This ministry has a mission to “create a safe space that allows those who are unhoused or facing extreme poverty to have a voice, visibility, and essential resources for day-to-day living.”[2] Co-founder, Dr. Terence Lester, was once one of the many under that bridge.

Shortly after beginning the mission, a young man named Jamil, came to Dr. Lester and asked if he’d seen his father. He had a picture, but no one had seen him. “My Dad is unhoused and I haven’t seen him since I graduated 10 years ago. I don’t know where he is, and I’m hoping that one day I’ll run into him.”

Month after month, year after year, Jamil would return. Dr. Lester never said it out loud, but the chances were that Jamil’s dad would never actually be found. When the powers-that-be put their focus on moving the unhoused out of sight, rather than helping those who are unhoused, God only knows where they will end up. And yet Jamil returned to the streets, always looking, unwilling to let go of the hope that his dad was out there.

Why does he look for the living among the dead?

“Why do you look for the living among the dead?” those dazzling-clothed angels ask? 

But the women were not looking for the living.  They were looking for memories of the dead.  They came to the place where grieving begins.  They came to the tomb – the gravesite – the place where you go to remember those you love and remember who you were with them.  They came to the graveyard because that is what you do when there is someone or some part of hope you are not ready to let go of – a memory you do not want to be forgotten. 

Memories of a community that once gave us life, memories of a son, or daughter, mother or father, spouse or sibling that once brought us joy just by their living.  Whatever our losses, we come to the tomb, the gravesite, to the place of the dead, to hold onto the memories.  They are all we have.

Fresh with grief, the women are handed another memory of the one they love – words that point to a future they could not believe.  “Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.”

 And they remembered…

There is a future beyond our endings. 
               There is a future beyond your deepest loss. 
                              There is a future beyond your deepest pain. 

There is a future beyond your deepest hurt. 
Remember how he told you. . .

And yet spoken so closely on the heels of loss these words of hope sound awfully close to a denial of the reality of their pain.  We’ve all heard them:

“Things will get better soon.” 
Will they? 

“Time will heal.” 
Will it really? 

“God won’t give you more than you can handle?” 
How do you know? 

Can we offer honestly the principal in Sackets Harbor our outsider knowledge that time will heal while a rush to deport without due process remains in a country many of us don’t recognize.

Can we offer honestly Jamil our outsider knowledge that “time will heal” while his Dad is missing and he continues his search on the streets that most of us wouldn’t even drive on.

That’s leiros! – once those students were removed to a different state, there is no reason to have any hope.
That’s leiros! – the homeless epidemic is a challenge we’ll never overcome!
                              Leiros! – don’t talk to us about hope while we’re grieving in the graveyard. 

And yet those women who went to the tomb persist.

I don’t believe that any woman who’s been part of the inner circle, who’s been entrusted with the leadership of the movement, who’s been financing the travel arrangements of most of these fishermen, are going to stand there silently and submissively while some guys – especially Peter! - call their experience leiros.

Something happened in between verses 11 and 12 that didn’t get put in the record.  In between the apostles calling the women’s testimony leiros, and Peter getting up and running to the tomb, something happened.  Glares were given, or emotions exchanged, or words spoken that injected at least a tiny bit of hope into Peter’s mind – something was said so that memories of his time with Jesus clicked and there was enough hope to get him up and running to see for himself.

We don’t know what made Peter get up and run to the tomb.  But I imagine that those powerful women said to the apostles something like, “we know what we saw.  Go and see for yourselves.  Go and see for yourselves.

Go run and look in the place where you know the dead must be lying,
               Go look in the place where you are certain the future is over,

Go look in the place where you have no doubt that all you have left to hold onto is the memories of what you have lost. 

You don’t believe that he is raised?  You don’t believe our testimony? 

Go and see for yourselves.”

This is the proclamation of the church on Easter. 

No more words trying to convince a bunch of skeptics why they should believe in the physical resurrection of Jesus. 
               No more PBS specials on the carbon dating of some ancient piece of fabric.
                              No more words about how your pain really isn’t as bad as you think it is. 

The church’s proclamation on Easter is to say with these women, “Go and see for yourselves.” 

You don’t believe there can be joy in a desperate situation?

Go to the community of Sackets Harbor population 1,351, who had almost 1,000 of those residents show up to support their neighbors and urge federal authorities to correct what many residents saw as a mistake. To reporters, Principal Cooke said, “"We love them… this week has been painful, and the community has been inspiring. And we just really want our kids back." Go hear the story about how just a few days ago the family was released from the detention facility in Texas and their Sackets Harbor neighbors raised the funds to bring them home.

You don’t believe that God can raise the dead to life? 

Go to those streets in Atlanta and check out the mobile units that Love Beyond Walls uses to bring showers and grooming support to the unhoused community. Maybe you’ll run into the one Jamil is on because after he received his barbering license, he volunteered his time hoping that one day he’d run into his dad. Go hear the story about how even though he only volunteers one day a month, Jamil’s father stepped onto the very bus where Jamil was giving haircuts and then after receiving a makeover from his son, Jamil’s Dad came to a turning point. He entered a program, graduated from it, found work as a chef, and now has his own apartment.

In the graveyards of our dead hopes, God has raised up new life.


Go ahead and call this testimony leiros – I can’t promise you that things will get better soon. 

I can’t promise you that time will heal. 

I can’t promise you that in the graveyard of your grief there is anything more to hold onto than memories of a past you do not want to let loose. 

I can only announce with the women, what I’ve seen with my own eyes – rescued lives in Sackets Harbor and new life in Atlanta. 

I only know what I’ve seen – new life where I was certain life could not be, a future where I was certain there was nothing but memories from the past, - and it’s left me amazed, perplexed, terrified at first, but now full of hope. 

But don’t take my word for it. 

Go and see for yourselves.

In the name of the Creator, the Christ, and the Holy Spirit… Amen.



[1] https://www.wwnytv.com/2025/04/05/saturday-statement-school-principal-wants-students-back/
[2] https://www.lovebeyondwalls.org/
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