Seeds for 03/21/2024 - Matthew 28:2-4, 11-15
Scripture: 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.
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.
Observation: Mark Twain once wrote, “Having faith is believing in something you just know ain't true.” This could be taken as referring to religious people believing in God, whether we’re talking about Yahweh, Christ, Allah, the polytheistic Hindu Brahman or any number of religions’ deities. Here the shoe is on the other foot.
The guards are afraid. They had an experience of the angels of God and the stone rolling away from the tomb. They had a front-row seat to God’s power bursting their mental categories and performing a miracle—THE Miracle that changes everything. But it wasn’t supposed to happen. They were there as a precaution in case the disciples came to steal the body and perpetuate a hoax that Jesus was risen. But now some power greater than Jesus’ earthly disciples is on the scene!
The guards bring their problem to the chief priests and elders, who pay them and tell them to say the disciples stole the body. In other words, Matthew is telling us that the guards were paid and, to paraphrase Mark Twain, told to believe something they just knew wasn’t true. But they were afraid of being in trouble, and we’ll believe and do much in order to stay out of trouble, won’t we?
Their response—going along to get along—offers a contrast. When God doesn’t fit into our categories, we can insist that God adapts to our categories or we can adapt to God. At the end of the day, however, we must make our choice. We can ignore or bury or pretend or convince ourselves, like the guards. Or like the women—the first witnesses—we can taste and see and experience and embrace the miracle of resurrection that God has done in Christ and, therefore, will do in us.
Application:
When have you been tempted to ignore or deny something God was doing?
When did you take a leap of faith to trust in God’s ability to bring new life and possibility from the darkness of death?
What else might the Holy Spirit be speaking with you about in the text today?
Prayer: Lord, keep me open to and embracing the ways you want to bring forth new life in me. Amen.
“But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:23)
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