The open tomb, the empty bench, the unoccupied grave cloths, the folded cloth—these are all negative evidence for the resurrection of Jesus. They don’t necessarily prove that Jesus rose from the dead. They merely prove that Jesus’ body was not in the grave.

One can assume that Jesus rose, given the negative evidence, but there needs to be more to make such an assumption. So, you can add all of the times that Jesus predicted His Passion. “And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.” (Mark 8:31) Jesus suffered many things. Jesus was rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes. Jesus was killed. Furthermore, He was buried in this tomb and a large stone was rolled in front of it. Jesus said He would rise again, but I guess that would only qualify as circumstantial evidence.

Early on the first day of the week, the women made their way to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away and an angel sitting in there telling them that Jesus had risen, just as He said. Were they witnesses? The angel told the women to tell the disciples, and Peter, that Jesus was going before them into Galilee. At first, the women ran away in fear. For some reason, the evidence just didn’t add up for them. Even though Jesus had said all of this would happen, and even though they found an empty tomb, and even though the angel told them that Jesus had risen, they just didn’t get it.

Eventually, the women did find Peter and John and tell them. These two ran to the tomb to see for themselves. They looked in; they go in; they saw the negative evidence. John wrote that when he went in and saw, he finally believed, but what exactly did he believe, for he also wrote, “[F]or as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead”? (John 20:9) Once again, even though Jesus had said all of this would happen, and even though they found an empty tomb, and even though the women relayed the angel’s message, as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.

What a week it has been. Jesus rode into Jerusalem, hailed as a king. He was captured by the representatives of the temple, beaten and mocked. He was brought before the Roman governor, found innocent, before Herod, found innocent, before the Roman governor, found innocent…innocent, innocent, then guilty of nothing. He was beaten and mocked again, scourged to within an inch of his life, and ultimately, crucified.

The day was getting late, so the people asked Pilate to have the legs of the three men broken so that they would die faster, so that they would die before the Sabbath. The two criminals on either side of Jesus had their legs broken, but the soldiers found Jesus already dead. His bones they did not break. To confirm that He was dead, one took a spear and pierced His side, and at once, blood and water came forth.

He was dead. He was brought down from the cross. He was covered in spices and oils and wrapped in linen cloths. He was put into a tomb in which no one had yet been buried. A stone was placed in front of the entrance to the tomb. The deed was done.

It is finished! (John 19:30) Jesus commended His spirit into the Father’s hand, breathed His last, and died. The work of your salvation is accomplished, completed, finished. Christ has died, and in His death is the remission of all of your sins.

The nails have been removed and the corpse taken down from the cross. His tattered body, full of holes, was cared for. A man named Joseph was given the task to care for the boy Jesus; another man named Joseph assumed the task to care for the body of Jesus. (cf. John 19:38)

His body was spiced and wrapped by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, whom Jesus told that he must be born again by water and the Spirit. (cf. John 3:1-8) They placed the body of Jesus in Joseph’s new tomb; no one else had been buried there yet—it was empty. A stone was rolled in front of the tomb, closing in the lone corpse.

Such is the beautiful alto aria penned by JS Bach in his St. John Passion. As the choir sings through St. John’s Passion narrative, as you just heard it read, Jesus has been crucified, and the end had come. The salvation of mankind accomplished, Jesus speaks His last words—His second-last word as they are collected from the various Gospels—“It is finished!” With that, He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. He breathed His last and died.

As the Kantor from St. Thomas Church in Leipzig put it, “What comfort for all suffering souls!” Jesus proclaimed victory and died, and this is for your comfort. And for more than your comfort, the victory which He won was over your sin, your death, and the devil.

For you, Jesus rode into Jerusalem atop a donkey to shouts of Hosanna.

For you, Jesus was betrayed by one of His own disciples, one of His Twelves, a hand-picked follower.

For you, He sat at the table with His Twelve and made the Passover a meal of His own body and blood for the remembrance of His death that is your life.

For you, Jesus was captured, bound, and struck, enduring the scattering of His sheep.

For you, Jesus was tried and rejected by the religious leaders, and tried and found innocent by the governor, yet convicted anyway by a system that didn’t know true justice, even though He was standing right there before him, swapping places with an actual criminal.

For you, Jesus bore His cross through Jerusalem and to a hill outside of town, exhorting the women not to weep for Him but for Himself.

For you, Jesus endured His Passion because He would not see the sinner die. For you… Those words ought to sink in, because everything He did and suffered for you, He did so because you deserve it but He wouldn’t see you die for it, and that because you could not bring yourself back from death. If you die in your trespasses and sins, that’s it—game over—the end! You are the sinner He would not see die! This is the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ for you.