Long
Gone!
In reading Matthew’s account of
resurrection events, I was reminded afresh that Jesus was ALREADY risen
and had exited the tomb BEFORE Mary Magdalene and the other Mary
arrived “to see the sepulcher” ((Matthew 28:1-6). They found the “great
stone” placed by Joseph of Arimathaea STILL in tact and the “keepers”
(Roman soldiers) STILL standing watch. The great stone had been
“sealed” by soldiers in the process of “setting a watch”
(27:66).
It was in the presence of BOTH the
women and the keepers that the angel of the Lord appeared, shook the
earth and “rolled back the stone from the door” (28:2). His glorious
presence struck fear into the keepers, so much so that they “became as
dead men” (28:4). He then told the women: “Fear not ye: for I know that
ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as
he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay" (28:5-6). The rolling
back of the stone was NOT to let Jesus OUT, but to let the women IN to
“see” where the body of Jesus had laid.
Walk through any cemetery and you’ll
see a number of grave markers with the acronym “R.I.P.” (Rest In Peace)
engraved on the granite. I submit to you it would have been entirely
appropriate for “R.I.P.” (Risen In Power) to have been engraved on that
stone.
We don’t know exactly how many
soldiers were involved in the watch. But we do know it was scheduled
for three days (27:64) so that (1) his claim to rise in three days
would have expired, and (2) his disciples would have no opportunity to
steal the body and make the “error” worse. Did the watch
consist of four soldiers per shift, or perhaps twelve? The fact is a
thousand Navy Seals armed with AR-15’s could not have kept Jesus'
glorified body from walking through that stone!
Jesus was considered a “DECEIVER’
(27:63) by the religious elites. After they heard first-hand,
eye-witness testimony from the "keepers” about the earthquake, angelic
appearance and the empty tomb, they contrived a DECEPTION of their own,
paying “large money” (28:12) to false witnesses to establish a ‘stolen
body’ alibi. That must have been quite a substantial cash bribe, a
retainer of sorts, for keepers ‘on the take’ and others to admit to
being overcome by a little band of disciples—an ‘Unarmed Insurrection’!
By the time those women got to the
tomb on that Sunday morning, Jesus was LONG GONE. Forty days later, he
was "GONE into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and
authorities and powers being made subject unto him" (1 Peter 3:22). But
he's not going to stay gone. Any day now he's going to come “in the
air” to catch away his Church. Then we believers will be LONG GONE with
him! text
Top
|
