Who Will Roll Away the Stone? A Sermon for the Sunday of the Myrrhbearing Women
In this sermon for the Third Sunday of Pascha, Fr. Nicholas Frazer reflects on the quiet courage of Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus, and the Myrrhbearing Women — those who remained faithful to Christ when fear had scattered the disciples. Drawing on the Gospel of Mark, he explores three movements of love: the courage to stand with Christ when it is costly, the faithfulness to seek him even in darkness, and the revelation of the empty tomb, where Christ has already overcome what we fear most.
Transcript
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Beloved in Christ, Christ is risen!
On this Third Sunday of Pascha, the Church places before us a quiet but radiant company: the Myrrhbearing Women, together with the righteous Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. There is no thunder here, no spectacle, no triumph in the worldly sense. Instead, we are given something deeper — the courage of love, and the faithfulness that remains when all else has fallen away.
Joseph of Arimathea took courage and went to Pilate. This is the first note the Gospel strikes: courage. Not the courage of battle, but the courage to stand with Christ when he is rejected, humiliated, and dead. Christ's disciples had fled. Fear had scattered them. But Joseph steps forward. He risks his reputation, his standing, perhaps even his safety, to ask for the body of Jesus. Nicodemus comes as well, bringing myrrh and aloes. The one who once came to Christ by night now comes openly in the fading light of that terrible day. What was hidden begins to be revealed.
And the women — how quietly steadfast they are. They watch where he is laid. They prepare spices. They rise early, before dawn, and go to the tomb. Their question is simple: "Who will roll away the stone for us?" They do not know how it will be done. They only know that love compels them forward.
This is the heart of today's Gospel: love that does not calculate, faithfulness that does not wait for certainty. They go, not knowing how the obstacle will be removed. And when they arrive, they find that the stone has already been rolled away.
Beloved, how often this is true in our lives. We stand before the great stones — fear, grief, sin, doubt, death itself. We ask, "Who will roll this away for me?" And yet the Gospel teaches us: do not wait until the stone is moved to begin your journey. Go with love, go with faithfulness, and you will find that God has already gone before you.
The women enter the tomb, and instead of death they encounter a messenger clothed in light: "You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen. He is not here." The tomb becomes a place not of decay, but of revelation. And this is why the Church sings: myrrh is fitting for the dead, but Christ has shown himself a stranger to corruption. They came to anoint a body. They found instead the victory over death.
But notice one more thing — their response. They tremble. They are astonished. They are afraid. The resurrection is not something easily contained or neatly understood. It shakes the foundations of the world and of the human heart. And yet, even in their fear, they are entrusted with a message: "Go, tell his disciples; he is going before you." They become the first witnesses, the first heralds of the resurrection.
So today we see three movements. Joseph and Nicodemus teach us the courage to stand with Christ. The Myrrhbearing Women teach us the faithfulness to seek him even in darkness. And the empty tomb reveals to us that Christ has already overcome what we fear most.
Beloved in Christ, we are called to be like them — to take courage when faith is costly, to remain faithful when God seems hidden, to go forward in love even when the stone still stands before us. For Christ is already at work. The stone is already being rolled away. Death is already defeated. And if we follow him through the cross, through the tomb, we too will encounter the light of the resurrection.
For he is not here. He is risen. Christ is risen!
