Recapitulation
Each of the gospel writers tells the Easter story somewhat
differently and yet their witness statements may be harmonized by careful
comparison. Matthew is not as interested
in all the comings and goings at Jesus’ tomb on Sunday morning as he is in revealing
two very different roads taken in response to the TRUTH.
We have followed Jesus’ teaching on the perfections of God’s
Law and His condemnation of those who twist it for their own ends. We have also seen His revelation of the
perfection needed to enter the Kingdom of God.
He has tantalized His hearers with the message that the Kingdom of God
was within reach, but if entrance required perfection who could enter? What kind of reach was needed?
We recall that Jesus pointed out that you cannot buy your
way into heaven. In fact, having wealth
often makes it very difficult to enter the kingdom of heaven because it becomes
a poor substitute for the real thing.
But, thankfully, with God all things are possible.
Yet there is still the matter of reach. Remember His praise
for anyone who demonstrated faith in God?
And His urging us to ask God who will give freely? To knock and the door will be opened?
And what is to be done about the enormous number of laws
regarding the temple and sacrifices and the priesthood? I our last study we saw that when Jesus
completed His self-sacrifice on the cross, He said, “It is finished” and the
darkness fled, an earthquake shook the land, and many godly people rose from
the dead—AND the temple veil was torn in half because there was no longer a
need for additional sacrifices to enter God’s presence. Jesus has made a way by the blood of His
cross. He had not come to destroy the
Law but to fulfill it. But now He is dead.
Sunday Morning Witnesses
So now Matthew tells about that Sunday morning by following
two groups of people: the women and the soldiers. Both are eyewitnesses of the resurrection of
Jesus but with two very different responses.
Loyal Witnesses
In Matthew, it seems that some of Jesus’ most loyal
followers were women. And here, two
women stand out—the two Marys—the Magdalene and Aunt Mary (the wife of Clopas). These two not only watched the entire
crucifixion with the other women, they also attended the hurried funeral in the
nearby garden while they made plans to return on Sunday with more spices.
So now Sunday has come and in the predawn light, they
hurried to the tomb they had watched two nights before. Matthew tells us that they arrived in time to
witness an angel descend from heaven like a dazzling flash of lightning. He
rolled away the stone while the ground shook with another huge earthquake. The angel seated himself on the stone and
greeted the women with the news that the One they seek—Jesus who was crucified—has
risen from the dead. The women were
still in shock as the angel went on and after inviting them to look inside the
empty tomb he told them to tell Jesus’ disciples—the guys who were too afraid
to be out during daylight. This was no
“leap of faith” with no historical truth behind it. There is evidence. Examine it and then share it.
Reluctant Witnesses
Meanwhile, the soldiers who were supposed to be guarding the
tomb were also witnesses of the very same thing. Matthew says they “became like dead
men.” They were numb with fear.
Witnesses on the Run
So, we have two groups of eyewitnesses: the women and the
soldiers. They have witnessed the
crucifixion and the resurrection. And
they both run to tell what they have seen.
The women go to tell the other disciples. The soldiers go to tell the Sanhedrin.
Worshipping Witnesses
Notice, that as the women were going to obey the angels,
they met Jesus Who greeted them. And
they worshiped Him. The response of
their heart was worship and joy mixed with some fear, too. Jesus repeated the angel’s message. He especially mentions His “brothers” who are
to go to Galilee where He would rendezvous with them.
Tell My Brothers
Some have taken this word “brothers” to simply be a
reference to the disciples.
Possibly. But it could also be a
reference to His half-brothers (Mary’s other boys born after Jesus). They had been skeptical of Jesus’ claims but
history tells us that they eventually became believers. So, Jesus could also be saying, “I know my
brothers don’t measure up in everyone’s eyes but be sure to tell them,
too.” We’ll talk about that Galilee
rendezvous in our next study.
We know, of course, from the other gospels that Jesus met
with some of the disciples here and there before heading to Galilee. It is as if the women’s testimony (and Peter
and John’s report of the empty tomb) were just not enough for them. How many times did you hear the good news
before you believed? Was a glimpse of Jesus
in the lives of others something else you needed to see?
Wicked Witnesses
There are two very different responses to the resurrection
here. (It will be the same way when He
returns! Every eye will see Him. But not every heart will rejoice). The soldiers told the chief priests “all that
had taken place.” So why didn’t the
chief priests and the Sanhedrin tear their clothes and beat their breasts and
repent right then and there? When we share
the good news, don’t be surprised that it will not seem to be good news to everyone!
Instead, knowing full well that they were wrong, the
soldiers collaborated to fight against the Son of God! Don’t be surprised when people don’t just
deny God. They fight against Him and try
to prevent anyone else from hearing and believing in Him. They were willing to spend great sums of
money to bribe the soldiers who were all too willing to accept the money and to
put their own lives in danger by saying they fell asleep while the disciples
stole the body of Jesus. (If they were
asleep, why weren’t they executed and if they were indeed asleep, how do they
know what happened? Hmmm!) But Matthew notes that, years later, this fake
news was still circulating among the Jews.
Rebellion—the Opposite of Worship
There are two reactions that Matthew reports that we do well
to examine carefully. The women received
the news with joy and they worshipped Jesus.
The soldiers and the Sanhedrin received the news with dread and plotted
rebellion against Jesus. Rebellion is
the opposite of worship.
The way to the Kingdom is now open if we choose to
believe. All other roads—the paths of
rebellion— lead to destruction. As Matthew 7:13-14 says: “Enter
by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to
destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the
gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it
are few.”
© 2018 Eric Thimell
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