The resurrection report and post resurrection account is even faster than the passion. We find the women going to the tomb on Resurrection Sunday, and another great earthquake shakes the land. An angel descends and rolls away the stone from the tomb. The guards pass out at the glory of the angels appearing, but he speaks gently to the women and shows them the empty tomb. Pretty neat that the stone wasn't rolled away to let Jesus out, it was rolled away to let us in!
On their way to tell the disciples of the resurrection, Jesus appears to the women! They worship him and cling to him (unlike in John's account when he tells them not to touch him). The guards also make their way back to the city and report to the Pharisees all that had happened. They are bought off, and told to spread a story that the disciples had come and taken the body.
Jesus appears to the disciples on the mountain, and it seems like Matthew jumps 40 days ahead to the Ascension account in Luke's gospel. The Great Commission is a better ending to this read through Matthew than I can write myself, so here it is! "And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age." Matthew 28:18-20 NRSV.
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4 comments:
I guess I've never spent much time with Matthew's resurrection account - it is short indeed! And I forgot about the soldiers/disciples stealing body conspiracy. Matthew is so rich on detail everywhere else. I wonder why this is so brief?
I wonder that too. I have spun some reasons out in my head - like they were living in the resurrecton, or he was hiding and his information on these days included qivvering under a bed etc., but these don't satisfy me.
I guess the other thing that makes Matthe look sparse is comparing him to John!
I miss you!
Love Bill
Hey there,
So great to get to the resurrection after the crazy happenings of Chapter 27. I never realized how much shorter the death/resurrection pieces of Matthew were than other gospels, maybe because I always focused in on the Great commission that ends the book. I really do love it, and you're right, it really does speak for itself. "Surely I will be with you always, until the end of the age" - great to read any time, but especially when you are lonely or feel alone in your faith.
It's cool in the other chapters to have such a detailed account of his death and his resurrection, but it's also great that Matthew was so detailed on his life. We need a good mix of both, and we have that in these gospels. Maybe he realized he was running out of paper or time and stopped writing? You're right, anything is possible, but it's hard to determine what the answer really would be as to why these chapters seem to end so quickly.
The disciples stole the body eh? That'd be crazy.
Talk to you soon!
Marshall
Hi Marshall,
Thanks again for your faithfulness in this rread through the NT!
Today is November 17th, we are 6 days away from Revelations and 6 weeks from completeing this read through the NT.
See you soon!
Bill
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