NL 139: Easter
image: "The Resurrection" by Andrea di Bartolo (Wikimedia)
Matthew 28:1-10
Initial Thoughts
Preaching, proclaiming, “offering God” (Martin E. Marty)
Why is Easter important to you?
Why is it important for your congregation?
What does Easter compel you to do?
Lectionary cuts out guards at the tomb and the guards’ report, which is before and after this passage, and only found in Matthew.
Matthew’s inclusion of the guards reveals that there was a rumor that the disciples had stolen Jesus’ body.
Justin Martyr referred to this rumor a hundred years later (Douglas Hare, Interpretation: Matthew, p. 328)
“Matthew was attempting to answer a group of no-sayers by asserting that theft was not a possibility—that there were guards posted at the tomb when the women arrived "toward the dawn of the first day of the week." Therefore he added to the story a witness or two at the grave whose failure to see the tangible—to witness thieves in the night—might possibly help the rest of us to affirm the intangible: that one might rise from the dead” (Cynthia Jarvis, Interpretation, 42 no 1 Jan 1988, p 63-68)
Still - what does an empty tomb prove?
Nothing
“The empty tomb is presented not as proof but as a sign of the resurrection. That the sign is ambiguous is indicated by the negative interpretation given to it by Jesus’ opponents (v. 15).” (Douglas Hare, Interpretation: Matthew, p. 330)
Chapter 28 is divided into into three parts:
1-10 Jesus is Risen
11-15 The Elite’s alternative story
16-20 Jesus commissions the Disciples
Bible Study
“Jesus has been crucified. Every normal expectation indicates that the story has ended with his defeat. He has been faithful and resolute through great suffering to death. It seems that his opponents, the allied religious and political elite, have triumphed. They have removed this threat who proclaimed and enacted God’s empire and coming triumph, and who claimed his own pivotal role in God’s purposes. They have exposed him to be a very fallible fraud. But there is a sixth narrative block…” (Warren Carter, Matthew and the Margins, p. 543)
First day of the week
God speaks order, light, and possibility into the darkness and chaos
The beginning of something new- a new creation
Sunday was the third day after Jesus’ death “Some Jews believed the soul departed the body after three days.” Aaron Gale, “Matthew” Jewish Annotated New Testament, p.66
The women
“While some number of the women who followed Jesus were present at his resurrection in Matthew 28:10, there were certainly more who, like all of his male followers, were not.”Wilda Gafney, A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church, Year W. p.144
Mary Magdalene is the only woman who come to the tomb in all four gospels
Other Mary? - unknown. Could be Mary, Jesus’ mother though most likely Mary the mother of James and Joses (as indicated in Mark and Luke)
“It is significant that it is not the powerful or the elite, not the male disciples, who gather. It is the women, generally (though there are exceptions) regarded as somewhat marginal to the normative adult male world. Consistently the narrative has shown the marginal, not the elite, to be receptive to God’s purposes.” (Carter, 544)
Passion narrative begins and ends with women
Woman anointed Jesus with expensive perfume
Women watched the crucifixion
Women were not coming with burial spices. Coming simply to “see”
There is no mention of their fear at the earthquake
Their fear is “Fear and joy,” which is very different from terror.
Never are confused about who Jesus is.
Their first reaction at Jesus is appropriate.
What is unique about Matthew?
They come to see the tomb
There is no indication of mourning. “Some attribute their coming to mourning and great sadness. But there are no descriptions of mourning behavior… They went to see the tomb… They have had numerous opportunities, direct and indirect, to hear his teaching that he must die and be raised. They have faithfully witnessed his accurate teaching about his crucifixion and burial. They come awaiting resurrection. It is no accident that three times in those opening ten verses, and once in the final scene, the verb ‘to see’ denotes encountering the risen Jesus.” (Carter, p. 543)
“Hauerwas does not begin with sad women carrying spices to anoint a dead body. He says: "Mary Magdalene and the other Mary believe what Jesus has promised, that after three days he will be raised."1 Because they believe what Jesus has promised, they go to see the tomb. Indeed, there is no mention of spices. No worry lines on account of the stone...they go, Matthew says plainly, to see the tomb.” (Kimberly Clayton, Journal for Preachers, 31 no 3 Easter 2008)
This is questionable - more likely they don’t bring spices because he had already been anointed for his burial (Matthew 26:12)
Earthquake (The sea was earthquaked when the disciples tried to cross 8:24, Jerusalem was “earthquaked” on Palm Sunday, Earthquake at his death, the guards “quake”)
The earthquake is caused by a heavenly force to allow the women to see into the tomb- not to allow Jesus to leave. Michael Joseph Brown, “Matthew” True to Our Native Land. p.116
Angel
Women and guards are present when the stone is rolled away the stone
The guards are terrified. The women are not.
Lightning is an important symbol - one that was connected to Jupiter (Zeus) - the King of the Roman Gods. The lightning was present at God’s resurrection, not with the Roman false gods.
The guards were shook and became like dead men
The guards are more terrified than the women
Role reversal: Jesus who was dead is alive, Empire which was alive is now dead (the guards)
“Do not be afraid”
“He is not here” - “many Jews believed in the bodily resurrection which would occur at the dawn of the Messianic age.” Aaron Gale, “Matthew” Jewish Annotated New Testament, p.66
“The angel tells the people "no longer be afraid." This command concerning fear is in an on-going tense. We should never be afraid any more! Jesus has won. I would offer a pastoral way to hear the command to no longer be afraid. As Christians, we can no longer be afraid of grief. Not that we will avoid grief, but that we do not have to fear visiting the tomb. We can "go there" and mourn and even mourn with others. The power of the resurrection is revealed as we let our hearts experience the sadness of our goodbyes. Only one who knows they will say hello again can give a proper good-bye and miss a person!” (Rob Myalis, Lectionary Greek)
Angel’s words and Jesus words to the Marys
What are we afraid of?
Do we want Jesus to come back?
Do we truly want a crucified savior that asks us to give everything for the sake of the gospel...everything including our lives?
Response is joy and fear.
Jesus’ first resurrected words are “Greetings. Do not be afraid…”
Jesus meets them in the way to tell the good news- not in the tomb
Worship is where is should be- focused on God, not Caesar
Others who worshiped or “knelt before” Jesus over the course of the Gospel of Matthew:
Magi (2:2, 8, 11)
The leper (8:2)
The ruler whose daughter had died (9:18)
The disciples (14:33)
Canaanite woman (15:25)
By kneeling and touching his feet they confirm that he is raised in body, not just in spirit
Thoughts and Questions
Preaching, proclaiming, “offering God” (Martin E. Marty)
Why is Easter important to you?
Why is it important for your congregation?
What does Easter compel you to do?
“See and Go”
See the tomb
See the earthquake
See where they laid him
Go to Galilee
Go to Jesus
Go tell my brothers and sisters
What are we called to “See”? Where are we called to “Go”?
“Come and See”/“Go and Tell”
“I read Matthew’s gospel as a counternarrative. It is a work of resistance, written for a largely Jewish religious group. It speaks over against the status quo dominated by Roman imperial power and synagogal control. It resists these cultural structures. But it is also a work of advocacy and hope. The gospel constructs an alternative worldview and community. It affirms a way of life marginal to the dominant structures. It challenges its audience to live this resistant way of life faithfully in its present circumstances. And it promises that Jesus will return to establish God’s empire and salvation in full.” (Warren Carter’s introduction to the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew and the Margins, p. 1)
“The Easter event is properly seen as God’s comment on Good Friday. It is not just a ‘superlative miracle,’ like the raising of Lazarus, but the resurrection of the crucified Messiah. Jesus' cry of dereliction from the cross is answered. His obedience is honored by his Father. It is only in light of God’s affirmation that the disciples are able to understand Jesus’ death as a victory instead of a tragedy” (Hare, Interpretation: Matthew, p. 328-9).
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Thanks to our Psalms correspondent, Richard Bruxvoort Colligan (psalmimmersion.com,@pomopsalmist). Thank you to Scott Fletcher for our voice bumpers, Dick Dale and the Del Tones for our Theme music (“Miserlou”), Nicolai Heidlas (“Sunday Morning”,"Real Ride"and“Summertime”) and Bryan Odeen for our closing music.