Matthew 28:1-10 (NRSV)
After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.” 8 So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”
Matthew 28:1-10 is the story of the discovery of the empty tomb. The story has its source in Mark. As we read this account, most scholars will say that Matthew seems motivated by arguments against the resurrection of Jesus by Jewish authorities in the latter part of the first century.
The historicity of the account of the burial of Jesus and the discovery of the empty tomb has come under close investigation. I offer a brief paragraph. The earliest written account of the discovery of the empty tomb is in Mark 16:1-6, 8, on which Matthew has based his account. Even if we can demonstrate that it was empty, the reason for the tomb becoming empty would not be historically certain. Nor can the historian take refuge in faith. If we take at face value the account of the gospel narratives that people saw the tomb empty, then it was not an object of faith that it was empty. Rather, this perception becomes a matter of observation, and we must trust that the early accounts are accurate at this point. I find it at least credible that the church around Jerusalem maintained the tradition of appearances occurring around the empty tomb, a tradition that would have been quite meaningful to that church, but probably not as persuasive to the churches to which Paul wrote in Greece.[1] For them, appearances to the leaders of the church, including him, would have far more weight. Yet, the message of the resurrection that the disciples brought back to Jerusalem could not have survived a single hour if anyone could have shown the body to be in the tomb.[2] Yet, would resurrection require an empty tomb? Impressive at first glance is the view of Herod expressed in Mark 6:14, 16, namely, that Jesus was the beheaded Baptist risen again. However, the re-embodiment of a dead person in someone else is different from an eschatological resurrection of the dead and transformation into a life that is very different from existence on earth.[3] Thus, the empty tomb still has its place in the story of Jesus. The trustworthiness of the historicity of the discovery of the empty tomb receives confirmation in the early Jewish polemic against the Christian message. It does not offer any suggestion that the grave of Jesus had remained untouched. To make a bold statement, the separate nature of the appearance tradition and the secondary tradition of the empty tomb makes the testimony of the early church that God raised Jesus from the dead historically very probable.[4] However, to go to the length of saying it involves proof is a step I would be unwilling to take.
1After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week [Sunday] was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, Mark identifying her as the mother of James, whom Matthew also identifies in 27:56, went to see the tomb. Mark also tells us that the women come to bring spices and ointment to tend the body of Jesus. In Matthew, the women do not expect to have the ability to enter the tomb. They are simply going to visit the tomb. Jesus had to be entombed on Friday because it was against Jewish law to leave the body of a person who had been executed outside overnight.[5] The women have to wait until Sunday to tend the body, not because it is prohibited to tend dead bodies on the Sabbath,[6] but because doing the work of rolling the stone away from the tomb is prohibited. Additionally, any person who goes to the tomb and is exposed to a dead body will be made ritually impure for seven days afterward.[7] This means that any man who might come with them on Sunday would render himself ritually impure for the rest of the Passover holiday. Typically, one would give up his state of ritual purity only for the death of one of his nearest kin.[8] Because the women themselves are not entitled to perform Passover sacrifices, becoming ritually impure is less of an issue for them.
These very women have been with Jesus for a long time. They witnessed the burial of Jesus. These women observed the burial “from a distance.” Unlike the disciples, the women do not “desert” Jesus, nor do they deny him. Instead, it seems that they are the most “faithful” of Jesus’ followers. At the same time, the women do not come expecting a risen Savior. These women can give eyewitness testimony to the grim reality of Jesus' death and the burial of his body. Of course, it was not supposed to be like this. Jesus was dead. His life ended with the declaration that he was a criminal. So popular in Galilee, his presence in Jerusalem stirred opposition from Jewish leaders, the Roman rulers, and even among the Twelve, one who would betray him.
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary encountered a massive void when they showed up at the empty tomb. Can you imagine how empty they are feeling at this point? They have already suffered the crucifixion of their friend and teacher Jesus, and they are mourning his death deeply. Now they go to his tomb to pay their respects. What does she find? Nothing. A huge cold spot. We know what this feels like, do we not? Each of us, at some time in life, comes face to face with a massive void, a big empty place. Too often, we are in tombs we make. We lead empty lives. We allow fear to pull us back from being all we could be. We become apathetic. We face death. We know finite living things must die, but that does not make it easy. Of course, we must die, and our friends and family must die. That fact does not make it easy. Beyond our circle, however, the depth and scope of innocent suffering is immense. We live in a Good Friday sort of place, with its betrayal, desertion, and death. This life has its cross and its grief. It has its moments when the silence from God is deafening. Facing the void, emptiness, and silence of this life is an event. It happens …
• when you give your heart to someone who does not accept the gift
• when you learn a sport, practice hard and still do not make the team
• when you study and pursue a profession, only to find you hate your work
• when you create something beautiful, and discover that no one is interested
• when you try to resist a temptation, but then give in to it again and again
• when you jump to a new job, then lose it in a downsizing
• when you put money into a home, only to see your equity disappear
• when you retire from a long career, and wake up with nothing to do
• when you lose a spouse to cancer and find yourself all alone in the world.
These are huge cold spots. Massive voids. Too often, we try to pretend that there are no massive voids in our lives, no empty places. We are all going to face some empty places in life, and we need to take them seriously. You cannot expect to step into a dream job right out of college. Most of us are going to endure a lot of heartbreak before we find a partner for life. Loss and rejection are a part of just about every life story you can imagine. You must pass through some tombs on the way to resurrection life.
2 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, often the bringer of divine events in the Bible, even as in 27:51-54. Archeology has confirmed an earthquake in the general area of Jerusalem sometime between 26 and 36 AD.[9] In the biblical tradition, earthquakes marked momentous events or, in some cases (e.g., the earthquake in the reign of King Uzziah, Amos 1:1; Zechariah 14:5) became momentous events themselves by which other events were marked. Earthquakes were above all else theophanic accompaniments, as the famous story of the Lord's appearance to Elijah in I Kings 19 vividly illustrated. Earthquakes could accompany a divine appearance for woe as well as for weal, as references in both testaments make clear (e.g., Isaiah 29:6; Revelation 6:12, 8:5, 11:13, 19; 16:18). The preponderance of New Testament references to earthquakes in the book of Revelation points to their apocalyptic nature, which is probably also the primary significance of Matthew's mention of an earthquake in the context of Jesus' resurrection. We now learn the cause the earthquake: for an angel of the Lord, what was called in apocalyptic literature an angelus interpres, unique to Matthew, who also had an angel announce the birth of Jesus in 1:20, 2:13, 19, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men, a reference unique to Matthew. Such a response of human fright is unique in the Bible. The appearance of death with the guards will contrast sharply with the living Jesus. The guards will become a key to the apologetic theme of the appearance of the risen Lord in Matthew. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, as is typical of the appearance of an angel in the Bible; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. However, the rest of this angel's message reveals that he bears news from a divine source. In this angel's message lies the fulfillment and the future of the whole gospel. First, the angelic message contains the Easter Good News. 6 He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Second, the angelic message contains the first order to spread this good news: 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead. Third, the message contains the prediction that the Resurrected One will be continually involved in the mission of the disciples: and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee. Fourth is the promise of a personal experience: there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.” The entire Easter message is in the body of this heavenly messenger's words. The angel points to the empty tomb, which was an ambiguous and contestable fact. Further, what has happened around this sepulcher is a warning against making it a primary focus of attention. The empty tomb is not the same as the resurrection. The empty tomb is not the appearance of the living, but the presupposition. The empty tomb is a sign. Christians do not believe in the empty tomb but in the living Christ. The empty tomb belongs to the Easter event as its sign.[10] 8 Matthew offers no indication that the women accept the invitation of the angel to come and see. Rather, he informs us of their next move:So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Matthew is different from Mark here, who said the women were too afraid to tell anyone.
It was not supposed to be like this. The followers of Jesus were in tombs of their own making. They are apparently in hiding. Someone else might betray them. The authorities may want all the followers of Jesus dead. Their fear controlled them. Jesus had changed their lives while he was with them. Now, they wondered how to get back to their former ways of life with as little damage as possible.
Who would roll away their stones? God took care of the stone Joseph had rolled in front of the tomb of Jesus. God took care of the tomb in which Joseph laid Jesus by raising him from the dead. Who will roll away the stone of the disciples? Who will help the disciples out of their tombs?
9 Suddenly Jesus met them. Throughout the appearance tradition that Jesus comes to the followers of Jesus. They do not look for him.[11] The risen Lord said, “Greetings!” And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. This suggests the physical nature of the resurrection, which would be consistent with the Jewish view of the union of soul and body as over against the Greek notion of the possibility of a disembodied soul. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”
Who will help people today out of their own tombs? Who will help people today to roll away the stone that blocks their own lives?
If anything exists beyond the void, the emptiness, and the silence of this Good Friday world, it will be because God has acted and spoken in an event within our history. Yes, Easter has come. God rolled the stone away. God entered the tomb of Jesus. Therefore, God will enter our tomb, defeating fear, loss, sin, and death. We have our Galilee in our home, families, and places of work. A risen Lord greets us in a way that reminds us that we are no longer alone. As the church sings on Easter, Hallelujah! Christ is risen! Let us remember, though, that Easter is not for full people. Easter is not for the "have-it-all-together-life-is-good" people. No, Easter is for empty people. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is for those who have figured out that in this life, "full" is a fleeting feeling. The temptation is to look at such emptiness and see it as a bad thing. The truth is that our emptiness alerts us to the fact that any experience of fullness in this life is fleeting. Genuine fullness is an eschatological act of God promised in the resurrection of Jesus. Our emptiness prepares us for fullness of eternity.
The emptiness of the tomb is highly suggestive, even if it clearly remains ambiguous historical evidence. Even as the Gospel writers admit, its emptiness was not evidence of the risen Lord. Such evidence came only with the appearances.[12] Yet, if the tomb is empty, it creates problems with the theory that the disciples hallucinated the appearances. The empty tomb also resists any superficial spiritualizing of the Easter message. It connects the earthly corporeality of Jesus with the eschatological reality of a new life. The empty tomb tradition is a separate and secondary independent witness to what happened to Jesus after his death. The empty tomb is a hint that the end of humanity and indeed for all creation is not death, the abyss, emptiness, and silence. Rather, the end involves a word and act of God that says life, meaning, and fullness are the end. Such an end finds its anticipation in the course of our lives as well as human history. It also finds anticipation in nature. Yet, the fact the present anticipates the end reminds us of the ambiguity of our present. As Easter surprise to the women and the disciples, so the end will be a surprise to all. The end will be the surprise God brings to bring to fulfillment all that God has made.
Most of us have seen roadside memorials that honor the deceased of one who has died in a highway accident. Some call them Descansos from a Spanish word meaning "to rest." In a similar way, the women who went to the tomb to memorialize a tragic event, the crucifixion of the innocent man, Jesus of Nazareth, are part of a feeling we have not to forget the person who experienced the tragedy. To memorialize Jesus, one might go to the tomb. One might go to the place of his crucifixion. You might go to Nazareth or Bethlehem. You might go to Galilee and the place of great sermons, healings, or exorcisms. After all, the Jewish people had a long tradition of offering such memorials. Jacob erected a memorial in Genesis 28. Joshua memorialized the crossing of the Jordan in Joshua 3-4.
Of course, the women do not complete their task. An angel greets them and tells them they do not need to make a memorial. Jesus, the one whom Jewish and Romans leaders crucified, has been raised from the dead. He is no longer in the tomb. In their confusion, the Marys run to tell the disciples what they have seen and heard. Along the way, the risen Lord comes to them. They want to hold onto him, to worship him. However, Jesus instructs them to find the disciples and tell them to meet him in Galilee. The one they thought was in his final resting place is instead on the move. He is still calling them to follow him.
Of course, with the death of Jesus, we may need to re-think what it means to memorialize his life. Easter is an invitation to slow down, to pause, to turn away from our busy and active lives, and pay attention to what God has done. It rises like the speed bump in the road, forcing us to slow down our vehicle. I invite you to consider five ways the resurrection has changed the way we memorialize Jesus.
First, we do not need to memorialize places. They would never need to visit a cross or a tomb! They would never need to erect a pile of stones! They would never need to maintain a museum! They would never need to plant a garden! The son of Mary who was dead was -- in fact -- alive! He is alive!
Second, our instinct to mark and remember upheaval, crisis or life-changing events is a good one. Marking the places where significant, life-altering events occur is an ancient practice. For example, after his dream of a staircase between heaven and Earth, Jacob marked the spot. He took the stone he had used for a pillow that night, stood it on end, poured oil on it -- an act of anointing -- and named the place. He wanted to remember what had happened there. Mary and Mary went to the tomb of Jesus to mark the spot where their lives had changed. They wanted to remember and honor the one who had so significantly altered the trajectory of their lives. Think of it this way. Jesus had no money or armies. Yet, he conquered more millions than Alexander, Caesar, Mohammed, Napoleon, Hitler, or Communism. He did not have the knowledge we do of science and education. Yet, he shed more light on matters human and divine than philosophers and scholars throughout history. He spoke words of life that people have cherished for centuries. The influence of his life and words have extended beyond the greatest of orators or poets. He did so without himself writing a single line. Ironically, he set more minds to writing and furnished more themes of sermons, essays, and books, and inspired more works of art and song than the multitude of great persons of history.[13] Every Easter the Christian community remembers the moment when life changed forever. We come to remember that Jesus, the one who cares for us, who loves and accepts us even when it seems no one else does, is the one God raised from the dead.
Third, God has defeated death. Life wins. I do not have the answers when it comes to heaven and eternity. Easter says that life does not end at the tomb. The risen Lord continues to give fullness of life to those who follow him. We are not trapped in tombs of our own making in life or the final tomb that will be our resting place. Too many people today live with the vague suspicion that death and emptiness is the end for individuals, humanity, and the universe. The resurrection of Jesus makes it clear that the end is life, meaning, and redemption. This is not wishful thinking. This is not reliance upon myth. We rely upon the witness of the original disciples that God raised Jesus from the dead.
Fourth, the only memorial we need is our lives. By following Jesus, by giving Jesus our very lives, we offer living memorials to Jesus Christ, Lord and Savior. There are hints of this in the New Testament. The apostle Paul wrote to believers in Rome who were following Jesus,
"I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God -- what is good and acceptable and perfect" (Romans 12:1-2).
Fifth, we memorialize Jesus by following him. For the ancient disciples, following Jesus did not end at the cross; they followed Jesus even after the resurrection. In Galilee -- their home, the place where he had first called them, where their journey with Jesus had begun -- he would give them further instructions. This was their memorialization. They were to follow, to feed the flock, to baptize and make disciples. The resurrection of Jesus mean that they had a mission. They had work to do, and all of it would help them to remember and to honor. The risen Lord continues to give his followers a mission.
Winston Churchill once said, "History can be a great teacher. Yet, most of the time, we simply get up, brush ourselves off, and learn nothing at all." Is that the way we have treated Easter? Here is God's great reversal of history, the total dissolution of our march toward death, God's great triumph over sin and death, and what do we do? We get up, we brush ourselves off, and continue our lives as if nothing of any "earth shaking significance" has happened.
Jesus still calls us to follow him in the places we know, to follow him in work, at school, with our families, in conversation with our friends and in ministry to and with our communities. The one who has shown us resurrected life calls us to share that new life with others. We are to tell others about what he has done for us and to offer them the love, grace and healing we have received from him.
To honor Jesus, to remember where our lives changed forever, we need no memorial. We celebrate Jesus instead with a changed, resurrected life. Jesus is alive and calling us to follow him still today. God has defeated death. Life wins. No memorial needed….Except, of course, your life and mine.
[1] Paul Althaus (Die Wahrheit des kirchlichen Osterglaubens, p. 25)
[2] Moltmann The Way of Jesus Christ, p. 222
[3] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 357-8.
[4] Pannenberg (Jesus: God and Man, 1964, 100-106)
[5] (Deuteronomy 21:22-23).
[6] (Mishna Shabbat 23:5).
[7] (Numbers 19:11-20).
[8] (Leviticus 21:1-3).
[10] Barth Church Dogmatics III.2 [47.1] 453.
[11] Barth, Church Dogmatics IV.2 [64.2] 144.
[12] Pannenberg (Systematic Theology, Volume 2, p. 359
[13] B. Phillip Schaff, who wrote History of the Christian Church, has written:
Jesus, without money and arms, conquered more millions than Alexander, Caesar, Mohammed, and Napoleon, without science and learning he shed more light on things human and divine than all the philosophers and scholars combined, without the eloquence of the school, he spoke words of life such as never were spoken before, nor since, and produced effects which lie beyond the reach of orator or poet; without writing a single line, he set more pens in motion and furnished themes for more sermons, orations, discussions, works of art, learned volumes, and sweet songs of praise than the whole army of great men of ancient and modern times.
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