Matthew 28:1-15 After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.” So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.” While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.
The angel tells the two Mary’s that Jesus has risen and for them to investigate the empty tomb. He has risen, just as he said. This is the pivotal scripture of the promise of eternal life. Jesus often talked about eternal life. In his homily on marriage He says, The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are considered worthy of taking part in the age to come and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. (Luke 20:34-36) In the focus for today, Jesus comes to his followers from the grave. His promise of never abandoning his disciples comes true through this scene. The word “saved” becomes a reality. Saved from what? Saved from eternal death: Jesus’ resurrection clearly reveals that all who believe IN HIM shall have life forever. He comes to them in the flesh, showing them that their lives will exist forever in God’s domain. Later on in John’s life, he speaks of an apostasy that has crept into the church: the idea that the Messiah did not come in the flesh before or after the resurrection. Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. (John 4:2-3) To claim that Jesus is only a spirit and that He did not come to the world in bodily form or leave the world in the same way is an antichrist spirit. If we claim that, we are in cahoots with the evil one, the devil. We who are alive IN CHRIST are children of the resurrection, better yet, children of God, for He is eternal and we are eternal. Jesus did not abandon his disciples and neither will He abandon us. He came back to them after his death, and He will come to us after our deaths. This fact gave the disciples great courage to preach the gospel even under the threat of death. After revealing himself to the two Mary’s, we find him supernaturally transported to a road that leads to the village of Emmaus. On that road He joins himself to two very sad followers. He asks them what they were discussing. They tell this stranger that they are talking about the horrific events that recently happened in Jerusalem. Jesus feigns not knowing of these events. They tell him about Jesus being betrayed by the religious elite and placed in the hands of the Romans to be crucified. He then opens up the scriptures to them about the Messiah. He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. (Luke 24:25-27) As Jesus reminded them of the scriptures about the Messiah, their souls burned inside of them. Finally at their house, Jesus breaks bread with them, giving each of them a piece, then they realize they are with the risen Lord and then Jesus disappears.
On the same day Jesus appears to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, they returned to Jerusalem where Jesus appears again. While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” (Luke 24:36-39) As John had warned believers later in his ministry, do not think of Jesus as a ghost, a spirit, an apparition; no, Jesus has come to us in the flesh. In this scene of Jesus appearing to the disciples and other believers, we see him asking the disciples to see the marks of his dying flesh. Look at my hands and my feet. To prove He is not just some mirage, an apparition, unlike them, He asked them about having something to eat. Do you have anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence. (Luke 24:41-42) As He was eating, they stared at him, trying to digest intellectually what they were seeing. They knew He had died on the cross only a few days earlier, and now He was sitting in their presence eating as all humans eat. This shocked everything they knew about life, about existence. Jesus had promised He would not abandon them; now here He was eating fish in their midst. Thomas was not with them at this time, so he doubted the disciples’ words that Jesus was alive. As a rational man, he probably thought his brother disciples were so sorrowful that they wanted Jesus alive; thinking maybe they had seen him through some sort of mystical vision. Of course, any such ideas refuted Christ’s claim of coming to them again in the flesh. A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” (John 20:26-27) Jesus addressed Thomas directly. He knew what Thomas had been thinking for a week. This reveals clearly that God knows every thought in our heads. He tells Thomas, Stop doubting and believe. We ought not deceive ourselves, believing God does not know what is in our hearts. He knows our thoughts as He knew Thomas’ thoughts. Later in Galilee we see Jesus meeting with the disciples who had decided to go fishing, returning to the mundane activities of life. They had seen Jesus, but what was next? Was this all that would happen? As they were fishing, they saw a figure on the beach. He called out to them a fisherman’s question, “Have you caught any fish?” The disciples answered, “No.” Then this unknown fisherman told them to throw the net on the right side of the boat. A silly comment to experienced fishermen, but they did what he said, and caught so many fish that they could not haul the net into the boat; they had to tow the catch toward the shore. John tells Peter, It is the Lord! Peter then jumped into the water to greet Jesus. When the boat was at the shore, Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead. (John 21:13-14) In this scene, Jesus answered the disciples’ question of what is next in their lives. He tells them their lives would consist of catching fish, yet not the fish of this world, but of people for the Kingdom of God. Their mission in life was not to carry on with the mundane activities of life, but to be about the Father’s business of redeeming people from this evil world.
The reality of the crucifixion and the subsequent resurrection would change the world forever, even the calendar would be changed to reveal Jesus’ life on earth. The resurrection put a stamp on the revelatory acts of Jesus Christ as the Messiah. The resurrection was observed by many people. Paul speaks about this reality to the Corinthians. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. (1 Corinthians 15:2-8) Paul as with all the disciples would testify of the reality of the resurrection by giving their lives to spread this truth around the world. They were unwilling to back down from this truth. To the Greeks it was foolishness, to the Jews it was apostasy. These men chosen out of many knew Jesus had been resurrected. In Jerusalem, they were beaten for these words of eternal life. The religious world and the secular world hated them. Herod was willing to kill these men because it pleased the religious Jews; James is beheaded and Peter is thrown in jail to be killed. But even under these horrible threats to their very lives, they would not recant, knowing that Jesus rose triumphant from the grave. Their words cut to the heart of sinful man, for their story tells of the need to know this Jesus, the Messiah. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16) Paul proclaimed this truth boldly even under great persecution and threats to his life. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. (Romans 1:16) If the apostles had stolen Jesus’ body, they would not have died for this falsehood; such a lie is not worth death in this world. But they knew the truth of the resurrection: HE IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED! Has Christ arose in your life!
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