Stafford Baptist Church "The Green"

Reflections on the Resurrection      

In Matthew’s Gospel chapter 18 we read that Jesus told his disciple “we are going to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life.”

This is the third time in Matthew’s gospel that Jesus predicts his forthcoming death, it is the first time that crucifixion has been mentioned explicitly, although throughout it has been implied. It would have been tough for the disciples to here these words, their expectations of Jesus had grown, but their understanding of his work and purpose had not. In their eyes no real Jewish Messiah could go the way of the cross, the cross was a shameful death, a death with a curse upon it, for the Hebrew scriptures were clear, cursed is anyone who hangs on a tree. Jewish understanding saw the barbaric actions of Roman execution as one and the same as being hung on a tree. A death cursed by God.

It was unthinkable that the long awaited Messiah could be handed over to the gentiles, they understood that he would be the one to deal with enemy, restore the fortunes of Israel and inaugurate a new era of prosperity for the covenant people of God. If Jesus really was the messiah that they had hoped for, then his words did not make sense. This could not happen.

But Jesus didn’t speak of death by crucifixion alone, he spoke of an event after death, of resurrection, of being raised from the dead, and not just at the general resurrection at the end of the world, when God would judge the nations, but in close proximity to his death, on the third day. Jesus understood that resurrection was prominent event, following his suffering. Jesus understood his suffering as a necessary climax to his ministry, for him it was not the impossibility of messiahship, but the essential purpose of the messiah. The resurrection however would prove his words and actions; he would be vindicated by the power of God. God would not allow the shameful death of the cross to be the end for Jesus; the resurrection would seal his glory and prove his righteousness.

As he predicted, Jesus is arrested, tried and found guilty by the ones who should have recognised him, handed over to the Romans, whipped and beaten and then stripped and crucified.
The Jews rub their hands, he is out of the way, the disciples are scattered, the crowds dispersed, life can go back to normal, the way it was, the way it should be. Religion can be safe, nothing out of the ordinary, nothing to surprise or upset.

The tomb is sealed and the days pass…….

Two women according to Matthew, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary go to look at the tomb, while they are there a violent earthquake shakes the ground as an angel of God, a messenger of the Lord appears and removes the stone from entrance of the tomb, they declare to the frightened women that Jesus is not in the tomb, but is risen and they will see him, and in fact they do, as they leave the site of the tomb, Jesus appears to them and they throw themselves at his feet and worship him.

The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is pre-eminently an image of new beginnings, this is highlighted by the fact that all four gospels share the story at dawn, the women at break of day, in the newness of the morning. There had been crowds to cry out crucify him, crowds who watched as nails pierced his flesh, crowds who insulted him as he hung on the cross, but on this morning, the gospels do not record crowds, but solitary figures who come, who discover and believe. The resurrection is replete with the news spreading from one to another, the two Mary’s meet Jesus and worship him, then go ahead to others proclaiming the good news to those who in turn will meet the risen Lord. There is an undeniable and unstoppable atmosphere of excited discovery as one shares with another, as each in turn play their part to testify to the miracle that has taken place. Jesus is alive, everything is new and nothing can take away the hope that has been revealed.

The Jewish leaders had wanted everything back to normal, the familiar, that which was easy to control and understand, nothing out of place, religion of tradition that went back hundreds of years, but nothing could be the same, death had been totally defeated, God had proved that Jesus was Lord of the entire cosmos, the one who they had crucified was alive and vindicated. He was who he claimed to be, and the only way to deny the reality of his Lordship was to deny it happened and hide it away.

Nothing could be the same again for the disciples, the word spread like wild fire, the resurrection was a unique moment in history when everything changed, it did not matter what earthly ruler proclaimed himself lord from now on, for the believers there was only one, only one who could escape death and destroy the chains of sin.

Jesus was a death defeater, there was no doubt about it, in his ministry he had, stopped death in its tracks and reversed its terrible progress. He had raised Jairus’s daughter and gave her back to her family, he had called for Lazarus to come out of the tomb even though he had been buried for four days, and now he himself had suffered a death that was supposed to be cursed by God, but he alive, raised from death by the God who was supposed to have cursed him, justified by the God who should have rejected him, glorified by the God who allowed the one who knew no sin to become sin, in order that the world might be set free from the consequences of sin.

We journey to the tomb, and if we would open our eyes, the tomb is empty, you will find the bones of Jesus, you will not find just the memory of a good man, a holy or a wonderful teacher, there is nothing to see in the tomb. But if we look, then we meet with Jesus, he comes to us, in the words scripture, in the act of worship, in the breaking of bread, in the waters of baptism, he comes to us to reveal his love and glory, his grace and mercy, and he offers life.

Jesus is not just a figure from history, to be appreciated, to be studied or to be admired, Jesus comes to us as the risen Lord, the one who died for us, in our place, on our behalf, the one who carried our sins and bore our transgressions, he comes to us as the Lord of Glory, the King of all Kings, we should not hesitate grasp him as the women did in the garden, hold on to him as though we will never let go. We should run to share what we have discovered with others, a new beginning, an eternal hope, a Lord who is on our side, who knows the pain of life and identifies with us in every way. We should run joyfully and excitedly to tell others of his glory, of his victory and allow them to meet with the risen Lord too.

Everything is new, everything is fresh, everything can be clean, everyone can meet Jesus, for death could not hold him, and now we cannot lose him.

Jesus' eleven disciples went to a mountain in Galilee, where
Jesus had told them to meet him.  They saw him and worshiped
him, but some of them doubted. Jesus came to them and said: I
have been given all authority in heaven and on earth!
Go to the people of all nations and make them my disciples.
Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit, and teach them to do everything I have told you. I will be
with you always, even until the end of the world.