The Resurrection and the Empty Tomb (Luke 24:1-12)
It is the first day of the week. The sun is barely up. A group of women, who had watched where Jesus was buried on Friday, come to the tomb carrying the spices they have prepared. They are coming to anoint His body. It is what you do for someone you love who has died. They expect to find a sealed tomb.
But when they arrive, they find the stone rolled away from the entrance. They go inside. The body of the Lord Jesus is not there. They are puzzled. Deeply confused. Then suddenly two men in gleaming white clothes appear beside them. The women are terrified and bow their faces to the ground.
The men say: "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 'The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.'"
And the women remember. Then they remembered his words. Jesus had told them. More than once. He had said the Son of Man would be betrayed, handed over, killed, and on the third day rise. They had heard it. They had not understood it. But now they remember.
They return from the tomb and tell all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. The women who tell them are Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them. But the apostles do not believe the women. It seems to them like nonsense.
Peter, though, gets up and runs to the tomb. He bends down and sees the strips of linen lying by themselves. He goes away, wondering to himself what had happened. He does not yet understand. But he is no longer hiding. He is running. And wondering. And that is the beginning of something.
A Curious Question
The angels said something surprising to the women at the tomb: "Why do you look for the living among the dead?" They were not scolding the women. They were asking a question that changes everything. Jesus was alive. But the women were at a grave with burial spices, expecting a body. They had heard Jesus say He would rise, but it had not fit into the category of things they expected to actually happen. Have you ever heard something true but not really believed it would actually happen? What changed when it did?
Old Testament Connection
The angels' announcement at the tomb is built on the words of Jesus Himself, who had built His predictions on the Old Testament. The pattern of death and resurrection runs through the entire Hebrew Bible. Isaac was laid on the altar and received back from the dead in a figurative sense, as Hebrews 11:19 would later explain. Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights before being brought up, and Jesus Himself cited this as the sign of the Son of Man in Matthew 12:40. The prophet Hosea wrote: "After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us." Psalm 16:10 declares: "You will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay." The resurrection did not come out of nowhere. God had been embedding the pattern of death and new life into the story of His people for centuries.
Luke makes a deliberate and important point about the women. In first-century Jewish culture, a woman's legal testimony was not considered valid in court. Luke names the women specifically and records that the apostles dismissed their report as nonsense. And yet these women were the first witnesses to the resurrection. God chose the ones whose testimony the world would dismiss to be the first to carry the most important news in history. That is the pattern of the Gospel: the lowly are the first bearers of the highest truth. It is the same pattern as the shepherds at the birth of Jesus.
Discussion Questions
- The angels reminded the women that Jesus had already told them He would rise. They had heard it but had not really believed it would happen. Why do you think it is possible to hear something true and still not really believe it? What helped the women believe when they saw the empty tomb?
- The apostles heard the women's report and thought it sounded like nonsense. But Peter still ran to the tomb to check. What made Peter do something even when he was not sure he believed it? And what do you think changed in Peter when he saw the burial cloths lying there by themselves?
- The resurrection means Jesus is alive right now, not just that He once came back to life and then went back to being dead. What difference does it make to your own life today that Jesus is alive and not just a historical figure who died for us?
"So What?" What Can I Do?
The angels said: "Remember how he told you." The women had heard the truth but forgotten it in their grief. This week, write down one promise from the Bible that you have heard many times but do not always actually believe. It might be "God loves me," or "He will never leave me," or "nothing can separate me from His love." Write it on a sticky note and put it somewhere you will see it every morning this week. Not to convince yourself it is true by willpower. Just to keep hearing it, the way the women kept hearing Jesus' words until the empty tomb made them remember.
Memorize God's Word
Luke 24:6: "He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you."
Hand Motions:
- He is not here: Sweep one arm to the side as if showing an empty space, and look around as if searching an empty room.
- he has risen: Start with both hands low and sweep them upward in one smooth motion, arms ending raised above your head.
- Remember: Tap one finger to your temple as if recalling something.
- how he told you: Cup both hands around your mouth as if passing on a message, then point forward as if passing it to someone else.
Praying with Kids
Lord Jesus, You are alive. The tomb is empty. The stone is rolled away. Death could not hold You because You are the one who made life. Thank You that the women went to the tomb that morning, even when they were grieving. Thank You that the angel asked them why they were looking for the living among the dead. Help us to stop looking for You in places that cannot hold You. Help us to remember what You have told us, to trust Your words even when our feelings do not catch up yet. You are risen. That changes everything. Amen.
Craft: The Empty Tomb Accordion Book
Children will create a small accordion-folded booklet that tells the resurrection story in four panels, helping them retell the narrative in their own words and carry it home as a simple picture book.
Materials Checklist
Instructions
- Fold the strip of paper accordion-style into four equal panels, each approximately 4 inches wide. Crease the folds well so the book stands on its own.
- Panel 1 (front cover): Write the title: He Is Not Here. He Has Risen. Draw a simple tomb with the stone still in place and the sky dark.
- Panel 2: Draw the women walking toward the open tomb in early morning light, the stone rolled away. Write: They found the stone rolled away.
- Panel 3: Draw two figures in bright white inside the empty tomb. Write the memory verse: "He is not here; he has risen!" (Luke 24:6)
- Panel 4 (back cover): Draw a running figure (Peter). Write: He ran to see for himself. At the bottom, write the child's own response: one sentence about what the resurrection means to them.
- If time allows, let children share their Panel 4 sentence before taking the book home.
Effective Teaching Techniques
After the weight of the crucifixion lesson, this lesson should feel like light breaking. Do not begin it solemnly. Begin it with the contrast: on Friday, darkness fell at noon and the earth shook and Jesus died. Today we are going to find out what happened on Sunday. Let the shift be felt before the story begins.
The detail that the apostles did not believe the women is worth staying with rather than hurrying past. Children often expect the disciples to be heroes of perfect faith. Showing that even the closest followers of Jesus dismissed the resurrection as nonsense is an honest and helpful corrective. Faith in the resurrection was not obvious, even to people who knew Jesus personally. It was the evidence, the empty tomb, the burial cloths, the angels' testimony, and ultimately the appearance of Jesus Himself that produced belief. That is important: faith in the resurrection is not blind. It is a response to evidence.
For a dramatic element, dim the lights in the room when you are reading the crucifixion section, then turn them back on when you get to the resurrection. You do not need any explanation. The physical shift from dark to light will do the work. Children will feel it.
Peter's response is worth focusing on separately. He was the one who denied Jesus three times. He had every reason to stay hidden and feel disqualified. But he ran. He went to see. Something in him could not stay still when he heard the news. That is what grace does: it does not erase failure, but it gives the failed person a reason to run toward Jesus instead of away from Him. Ask children: do you think Peter expected good news when he ran to that tomb, after what he had done? What does it mean that the tomb was empty for him too, not just for the women who had been faithful?