He is Risen!

...the men said to them, "Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!" Luke 24: 5b-6a

Can you imagine being one of those women...going down to the tomb sad and grieving, finding things so different than you expected and hearing this pronouncement from two fellows who were dressed in clothes that 'gleamed like lightning'?  Can you imagine the confusion and the crazy hope that those words would inspire?  After seeing the incredible abuse  and agonizing death Jesus had endured just a couple of days earlier;  the words 'he has risen' probably didn't even really process. 'He is not here' may have been all they really grasped.

The unnamed disciples who were walking to Emmaus later that day reported to Jesus that the women had 'seen visions of angels', but all they could confirm was that Peter and John had found the tomb empty, as the women had said. 

It is interesting that, after the resurrection, no one recognized Jesus immediately when they saw Him.  In some way, He had changed.  It always took a minute (or a couple of hours, as in the case of the those guys going to Emmaus) for folks to reconcile what they saw with the Jesus they knew.

Hebrews tells us that it was for the joy set before him [that Jesus] endured the cross...  After the resurrection, Jesus would have been walking in that joy.  He knew everything pertaining to the relationship of God and men had just changed.  The veil was torn.  The way was opened. He was standing at the door, waving them to come through.

I think that folks just couldn't comprehend that joy.  Moses put a veil over his face so the glory wouldn't overwhelm the Israelites; Jesus just showed up unexpectedly, full of joy, and it dazzled everyone for a bit until their eyes adjusted to it.

He is risen!  Things are not as they seem.