MATTHEW 28
The Resurrection! If you asked four eyewitnesses to describe truthfully the same event, it would probably surprise you how different their stories were from one another. The same is true of the Resurrection accounts of the four gospel writers. Consult a ‘harmony of gospels’ and see these accounts when laid out side by side.
Matthew’s gospel starts the most dramatically with a second massive earthquake (the first had occurred at the moment Jesus died) caused by an angel descending from heaven, rolling away that stone in front of the tomb and sitting on it. Subtle! He was bright as the sun and appeared like lightening. The guards shook with fear – unsurprisingly – and made no attempt to resist. If you think about it, this event, and all the others that follow are nothing to do with the Resurrection itself – which had happened silently much earlier and under cover of darkness. What we read about here is the way that God revealed the fact of the resurrection to those witnesses that he had chosen. The stone was moved to let us look in, not to let Jesus get out!
Different groups of women had visited the tomb at different times of the day and night, and they all worried about the near-impossible task of rolling back the stone that stood in front of the hole in the rock. Why did they want to do that? In order to anoint the dead body of Jesus with spices and ointments – as an act of worship and respect. Recall the account of Mary and Martha, where Mary had done that a week or so earlier – the only one of the women to manage to prepare him for burial.
Of course – as described by John – Nicodemus and Joseph had already done the job of binding the body of Jesus with bandages and about 35Kg of liquid spices, prior to putting Jesus’ body in the tomb straight after the crucifixion; however, difficulties with communication between the different hidden groups of disciples probably meant that the women did not know that.
In Matthew, the named women were Mary Magdalene and ‘The Other Mary’. Arriving at the tomb they met the angel who told them the news that the crucified Jesus no longer dead: “He is Risen!” They were to examine the evidence of the empty tomb – apart from the discarded graveclothes – and then to tell the apostles that the risen Jesus would meet them in Galilee. They were understandably, afraid and yet strangely joyful. Initially the other disciples were still deep in a state of bereavement and did not believe the women. Immediately after they had delivered the news, Jesus appeared to these women and greeted them warmly – they worshiped Him! He repeated the angel’s message too.
Meanwhile, the terrified guards hurried from the tomb back to the city and sought out the chief priests, reporting to them everything that had occurred. Despite the overwhelming evidence of the resurrection, the authorities doggedly denied its authenticity and considered damage-limitation strategies: one of which was to pay those soldiers to lie about what had happened. They also promised to keep them out of any trouble that might occur with the Governor. This is further proof that the soldiers were part of the Jewish Temple guard and not Roman Legionaries, since the fixed punishment for a Roman guardsman falling asleep on duty was summary execution!
Matthew omits the accounts of the other resurrection appearances of Jesus in Jerusalem and the scene moves immediately to the high mountain in the Galilee region where Jesus had arranged to meet them. This was His only appearance that was signposted in advance. The mountain was probably the same Mt Hermon where Jesus threw down the challenge to the enemies of God and promised to ‘Build My Church’. At this place, He declares that all authority in Heaven and on earth has been given to Him and he authorises his disciples – then and now – to invade the nations with the gospel of the Kingdom and to make more disciples for Him. He is still with us now!
EXODUS 15 and 16
On the far shore, Israel has an impromptu beach party, praising and worshiping the Lord for rescuing them yet again. “Who among the gods is like you, Lord? Who is like you – majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?”.
A few days later, water played a large part in a different problem: there wasn’t any to drink. Following instructions, Moses did a small miracle, and suddenly it was on tap. And then they came to Elim, a vast oasis with 12 springs and 70 giant palm trees – surely there is something symbolic in those numbers (70 being the number of the nations on earth)! The Lord’s provision is sometimes miraculous – to get us out of a real problem – and sometimes more ‘providential’, leading us to exactly what we need in the normal course of life. Both kinds of provision are equally important – and both ultimately come from his hands.
Two and a half million people in a desert have certain basic needs that become more urgent with every passing hour: food and water, protection from hostile forces, and (less obviously) a need for orderly arrangements for living and co-existing. Exodus Chapters 16-18 describe how these needs were met, either directly by God, or through his servant Moses.
Firstly, food: where do you get enough to supply the daily needs of that vast number of families? Typically, panic and grumbling set in and their false memories evoked images of vast banquets enjoyed by them in Egypt (which would surely be an unusual way to treat slaves!). They forgot about the God of Miracles in their midst. His solution was to rain down a form of bread every morning and some meat in the evening; this entirely miraculous provision appeared as regular as clockwork (except that the clock did not operate on Saturdays!) and imposed a much-needed rhythm to their lives. Each day provided enough bread for itself alone (“Give us this day, our daily bread”) and only on Fridays were they expected to gather Saturday’s quota too, which came with supernatural preservative in it. When, millennia later, Jesus claimed: “I am the bread of life”, he was dusting down an old visual aid that could not be forgotten. These people trusted the Lord for their physical provision, and he kept them physically alive for an entire generation; by trusting in Jesus, we get to live forever!
The Big Picture 