Scripture Reading
5 And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead?
6 He is not here, but is risen.
Devotional Reflection
We have walked through the Cross.
We have sat in the silence of the tomb.
And now…
we arrive at the place where everything changes.
The stone has been rolled away.
The tomb is no longer sealed.
But the first words spoken at the resurrection
are not a declaration.
They are a question.
A question that reaches across time—
and finds us, right where we are.
“Why do you seek the living among the dead?”
It’s a gentle question.
But it cuts deep.
Because how often do we do exactly that?
We look for life
in places that cannot give it.
We search for peace
in things that leave us empty.
We return to old patterns,
old habits,
old fears—
hoping they’ll somehow give us
what only God can provide.
The women came to the tomb
expecting to find Jesus where He had been.
But resurrection means
He is no longer where we left Him.
And this is the shift.
Faith is not about returning
to what was.
It is about recognizing
that God is doing something new.
Something alive.
Something that cannot be contained
by what we thought we understood.
Today, ask yourself honestly:
Where am I looking for life?
Is it in control?
In comfort?
In familiar patterns that feel safe but leave me unchanged?
Or am I looking for life
where Christ actually is—
alive, moving, calling me forward?
The tomb is empty.
So don’t keep returning
to what God has already moved beyond.
Closing Prayer
Lord,
You are not in the grave— You are alive.
And yet, I confess how often I search for life in places that cannot hold You.
Open my eyes to see
where I have been looking in the wrong places.
Gently break the habits and patterns
that keep pulling me back
to what is empty and lifeless.
Lead me instead toward what is true,
what is living,
what draws me closer to You.
Give me the courage to leave behind
what is familiar,
but no longer bears fruit.
And teach me to follow You—
not where I am comfortable,
but where You are leading me into new life.
Because You are not where You were.
You are risen.
And even now,
You are calling me forward.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
Amen.