Our Resurrection Hope
Scripture: Matthew
28:1-10 (ESV)
Now after the
Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the
other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And
behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from
heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing
white as snow. 4 And
for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to
the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.
6 He is not here,
for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and
tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going
before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” 8 So they departed
quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy and ran to tell his disciples. 9 And behold, Jesus met
them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and 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, and
there they will see me.”
Devotion:
We are fast approaching Ash Wednesday
and the start of our Lenten observance. I will be writing about the resurrection
from now until Easter Sunday on April 17th. There is such a rich
treasury of New Testament material that concerns the resurrection from the
writings of Paul to the four Gospels we will not run out of material. We begin
by examining Matthew’s gospel today.
Matthew’s resurrection scene
features to women named Mary. As they headed out after the sabbath to mourn
over and tend to the body of Jesus in the tomb where they had seen him placed (Matthew
27:61) on Friday. The women approach the tomb probably wondering how they were going
to move the great stone that had been rolled across the entrance of Friday they
are greeted by a literally ground shaking sight. As an angel of the Lord
descends upon the tomb and the tomb is unsealed, as Jesus has already risen
from his grave.
The angel tells the two Mary’s the
good news that Jesus is not there he has risen from the dead. According to
Matthew’s account this fills the women with joy, and they run off to tell his
disciples. As they go on their way Jesus himself appears to them. This is his
first post-resurrection appearance. It is significant that Matthew has Jesus
appearing first to the women because women’s testimony in that culture was not
considered to be equal to that of a man. In other words, Matthew was not making
this up, because no one would believe that these two women had seem Jesus until
they saw him for themselves.
In this passage we see an improbable
God in the person of Jesus doing the extraordinary and wonderful thing, being
raised from the dead. Everyone knows that dead people stay dead. For all of
time the death rate has been one death per person. Jesus defies that
unbreakable law and leaves us speechless with wonder. Who can really believe it
actually happened this way? God has not only been born into a human body he now
has brought that same human body to heaven where he sits with the Father
enthroned for all eternity. Living for all eternity to save those he calls his
own. Let us pray our thanksgiving to the Lord.
Prayer:
Thank you, Lord. We praise you
because you have done the impossible for us because you loved us so much. Help
us to love you in return with all of our heart, mind, and soul. May we never cease
to be amazed at your loving kindness toward us. Help us Lord, to worship you at
all times and always be amazed by you for all you have done for us. Amen.
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