#47: Sunday, 12 April, 2020.
There is a short invitation for future studies at the bottom of this final reflection. Please look for it when you’ve finished this reading. (No, it’s not asking for money!!!)
We still have the same heading above that we commenced with yesterday: The King Ascends His Throne. Today, we see Jesus well and truly exercising his authority to sit on that throne.
I feel the need to apologise in advance for this reflection – and perhaps in arrears for yesterday’s. Finding humour in this terrible scene of Jesus’ Passion is definitely not the normal Western Christian response. But if you have watched Fiddler on the Roof, you will know about quirky Jewish humour, for which they are justly famous. Matthew is a Jew, writing for Jews. I had never realised till I completed this series of reflections just how much I would love to meet Matthew: the tax accountant with the dry, subtle sense of humour.
After leaving us yesterday with Dad’s Army “securing the tomb” of the Son of God, he begins with two crack troops going to breach the security. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were all that was needed, because: there was a great earthquake [and] an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it (v2).
I really don’t want to be irreverent, and I’m as overawed as you are by the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, but I promised to write a reflection on Matthew’s version of the event, and I have to say that I went to bed last night having read this chapter, but not yet written this reflection, with a broad smile on my face. I think I went to sleep smiling.
Here’s Matthew’s report: There was a massive earthquake; one of God’s mighty, awe-inspiring angels rolled back the stone on this “secure tomb” – and then sat on it! About the only thing that Matthew didn’t add was that the angel opened his lunchbox and started to munch on a bright red apple. Matthew is the only one of the Gospel-writers who describes the scene in just this way.
When I am afraid, when I see the armies of evil starting to take over the land – I think we see this right now in Western culture, and not just because of COVID19 – we need to remember Matthew’s angel, orchestrating a violent earthquake, elbowing a couple of beefy soldiers with spears and swords out of the way, rolling back a huge stone, then sitting on it, legs crossed, munching an apple. The angel sat on the stone, because the King had Ascended His Throne.
I'm inclined to think that Matthew wrote this, then jumped up, and ran around his study with his hands in the air, praising God. Perhaps he recited the second Psalm:
Why do the nations conspire, and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and his anointed, saying, "Let us burst their bonds asunder, and cast their cords from us."
He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord has them in derision.
Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying,
"I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill."
I will tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to me, "You are my son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel."
Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, with trembling kiss his feet, or he will be angry, and you will perish in the way; for his wrath is quickly kindled. Happy are all who take refuge in him.
Perhaps he then went on to Isaiah:
Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to live in; who brings princes to naught, and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing. (Isaiah 40:21–3)
Matthew doesn’t ask us to bring out the Kleenex in his Gospel; he invites us to stand in the bleachers, waving the team flag and roaring, Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns!
The message from the angel is ringing, clear, and carefully structured (vv5–7): He was crucified. He is not here. He has risen. He is going ahead of you into Galilee. Past tense, present tense, perfect tense, future tense. There it is, the core of the Christian Gospel, in words of one or two syllables.
He was dead. He isn’t now. He is risen from the dead. (by the way, just step inside here, and you can see for yourself the scientific, historical evidence: the tomb is empty!) He is getting out of this old town with its redundant temple as the house of God, redundant and corrupt priesthood, its obsolete role as the centre of godly faith, and its now totally unnecessary altars for sacrifice.
Jesus repeats the message, when he greets the women with his gentle words of greeting. Don’t be afraid! Go and tell my brothers (My brothers? “Oh!”, the disciples will all say. “He still calls us his band of brothers. He must have forgiven us! Oh, joy and gladness!”) … Go and tell my brothers that I’m out of this old place. I’m off to Galilee of the Gentiles.
And then Matthew just can’t help himself. He has to interrupt this Great News with the little anecdote of the priests and the soldiers still swapping silver coins for lies about Jesus. Not much has changed there. There are still people earning big salaries for repeating those lies that Jesus did not rise from the dead. Some of them are even being paid from the offerings of the faithful. Never mind. Just remember the angel sitting on the tombstone munching his apple. God will have the last laugh.
So, Matthew’s story ends. He could hardly have been more economical with his words. His concern throughout has been Jesus announcing and establishing his Kingdom. Whereas Luke and John spend pages on post-resurrection appearances, Matthew gives us just a few lines. In Matthew’s terse tax-accountant’s prose, it reads something like this:
Jesus got all his followers together and said: OK. Here’s the drill. I’m in charge now. I'm the King. There’ll never be another change in regime. Not ever. So go on, stop hanging around here. It’s over to you now. Get on with it. Tell everyone in the whole world about me. You know the story. Just get on with it. And don’t worry. When things sometimes go pear-shaped, I’ll be there, right behind you. I’ll still be in control, no matter what things look like. You can't lose, because I’ve won already. The scorecard’s already filled in. Just keep on keeping on. Don’t be afraid. Off you go now. It’ll be all right. (Matthew 28:18–20, my paraphrase.)
Prayer: Dear Father God, thank you so much for Matthew. When you chose him as one of Jesus’ disciples, you knew already that he would write this Gospel which has delighted our hearts over the last 47 days. Thank you even more for the resurrection* of your dear son, our Lord Jesus Christ. That he rose from the dead and is alive, I believe with all my heart. I worship you, O my God. Amen.
* If you want to read a short summary of why I believe the resurrection really took place, you can read it here on this website. Look under the tab: Feature Articles, for Why I believe in the Resurrection, or click on: https://thethinkingleader.org/articles-feed/2015/1/11/why-i-believe-in-the-resurrection
Final Comment: Thank you for staying with Matthew (and me) for this long series of Lenten Reflections. Because of the global COVID19 lockdowns, I’ve been asked by my minister to write a weekly Bible Study to help families through this time. So, starting this coming Friday (17 April) I will post on this website, right here where you have found these reflections, a Bible Study on the book of Philippians:
It will be structured so that it could be done by whole families, by couples, or just on your own. There will even be a colouring-in page for children to do while the older family members discuss the questions I will give on each passage. Families could do it over several days around the dinner or brekkie table. If you’re interested, check in here on successive Fridays, or you might even get an email asking you to sign up for it.
All blessings
Graham Leo.