Last Sunday we had the Easter story, except that we only read part of it from Matthew’s gospel. It’s too much to do all at once. So this week we have Easter, Part 2; and lets call this the “Anti-Easter” story. We have to remember all the way back to the Pre-Easter story where the religious leaders go to Pilate and say, “Sir, we remember what that imposter says while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day; otherwise his disciples may go and steal him away, and tell the people, ‘He has been raised from the dead,’ and the last deception would be worse than the first.” Pilate said to them, “Take a guard of soldiers; go, make it as secure as you know how.”
If you were here last week you know how effective that guard was, especially when confronted with one solitary angel! Plus, Jesus had somehow left the tomb before the stone was rolled back. So much for a guard! Today as we read Part 2 we have the coverup story.
I think it is important to note that Matthew’s gospel is the only one that includes anything about these guards. And, in full disclosure, it is important to note that most critical biblical scholars doubt there is historic reality behind this account of the guards. It appears to be something created by Matthew. He uses it to teach a very important point, which we will get to. But it does not bear marks of historic authenticity. While it is impossible to prove or disprove the resurrection of Jesus, the more central story of women coming to the tomb and finding it empty, then sometime later people have encounters with the resurrected Jesus does bear markers of historic reality. We can talk about that after worship if you’d like. The guard story does not. However, as I said a moment ago, Matthew seems to have created it as a contrast to the women at the empty tomb to teach some important points.
You’ll remember from last week there were two women who go to the tomb. Remember that women aren’t allowed to own property, have no voting rights, no political say, their evidence is hardly admissible in court; and then these women aren’t even Roman citizens but Jews, making them even lower. They have no strength, no weapons, and no standing.
Both the women and these burly guards experience the angel and the earthquake. We are told the men are so terrified they shook and became like dead men. Whereas we aren’t told how the women feel. They are presumably afraid, but not as much as the men.
The women hear the message and then they run to tell the disciples. The women run one way, towards Galilee. What do the guards do? They run the other way. Verse 11 tells us that some of the guards go into the city and tell the chief priests.
The women’s message is that Jesus is alive and heading to Galilee, where it all began. The guards message is that the dead guy they were guarding has escaped! They probably left out the part that they were so terrified they shook while the women weren’t all that fussed.
On the way the women meet Jesus. They lay hold of him and worship him. Jesus also says not to be afraid but tell the disciples and keep going to Galilee. The guards tell the chief priests… who do what?
What did they do when Jesus was teaching in the temple complex? They held a consultation about him. What did they do when they had arrested Jesus? They held a consultation. What did they do when Judas returned the money? They held a consultation.
So what did they do here? They held a consultation! This Jesus fellow is certainly causing them a lot of headaches! They would have loved to have Zoom to speed up all these consultations!
What did they do in their consultation? Verse 12 tells us they “devised a plan.” What did they do at all their previous consultations? They devised plans.
How much did they give Judas to betray Jesus? You know the answer to this, 30 pieces of silver. That’s the value of an injured slave according to Exodus. An injured slave isn’t worth much. Who would want one? So Judas betrayed Jesus cheap!
Now what do these “consulting” and “planning” leaders do? They offer a “large sum of money” to the soldiers. We aren’t told how much. But it is certainly hush money. The religious leaders then tell the soldiers to lie: that they fell asleep and the disciples stole the body. And, if the whole scheme catches up with them, and they get into trouble with Pilate the governor, the religious leaders promise to keep them out of trouble.
Schemes, hush money, lies… I could make a cheap crack about politicians but it would hardly be funny. It would hardly be funny because this is how the world works.
We are just a few verses from the end of Matthew’s gospel. And we are still strongly seeing a theme that Matthew has had from the beginning. It is a contrast of kingdoms. It is the kingdom of God vs. the kingdom of this world. And the kingdom of this world includes: evil, the Roman government, the Jewish leadership, and the human point of view overall.
The human point of view, or the kingdom of this world, is all about protecting yourself, getting ahead, and staying alive. It makes the human intellect supreme. It warps facts to suit its needs. And it insists that the logical human point of view must be God’s point of view. In other words, it makes God into the human image.
In the kingdom of God everything is reversed. There we learn that humans are made in God’s image – not the other way around. In the kingdom of God we learn that God’s sacrificial love is ultimate power, not self-preservation. In the kingdom of God all are equal. Things like money, looks, gender, brains, age make you neither higher nor lower than anyone else.
Both kingdoms require hard work. One leads to exploitation and a dead end, and an endless lack of satisfaction. The other one, God’s kingdom, leads to wholeness of life.
It seems to be an eternally ironic truth that the more you give of yourself – the more you use your power in support of others – the more fully you become your truest self. Selfishness is the path to self-annihilation. Self-giving is the path to wholeness.
There are two more points to make about these verses. First, our translation says that the soldiers took the money and did as they were directed. It would be more literally translated that they took the money and did as they were “taught”.
Teaching is a key point for Matthew. The Sermon on the Mount is not introduced as a sermon but as a teaching. All throughout the gospel Jesus teaches. At one point he sends his disciples out to: spread the gospel, and to heal, and to cast out demons; but interestingly he does not give them permission to teach. Next week we will discover that Jesus’ final sentence to his disciples is the commission to go out and teach.
It is only with the crucifixion behind them that they know enough to teach, and can now teach the truth.
But what about these soldiers, representing the kingdom of this world? They are instructed by the religious leaders to teach lies – a lie that the body of Jesus was stolen by his disciples.
And that takes us to the final point. Why did the women see the angel and the empty tomb and believe, yet the soldiers also saw the angel and the empty tomb and they did not believe? They both had the same evidence. They both had the same experience.
The resurrection is the key miracle of Christianity. It is also the most controversial and hardest to believe. It is just too counter to our experience for it to possibly be true. The four gospels in the Bible struggle with it. Jesus is resurrected, real flesh and blood. He can be seen. He can be touched. He can eat. In John’s gospel he even cooks breakfast. But he can also come and go through locked doors. He seems to appear and disappear without regard to the laws of physics.
We’re going to look at doubt more next week. But for this week we acknowledge that facts do not equal beliefs.
Believing in Jesus, or maybe I should say orienting your life to be in God’s kingdom, does not come about by having the right facts and evidence. You cannot make believers by facts. Faith is not something we control. Faith is not something a person comes to by analysis and conclusion. Faith is God’s work. It is God’s gift.
We are not given an answer as to why the women believe and the soldiers do not. Instead, we are given the invitation to live the resurrection reality. With that as our goal we can understand all of what Jesus did. We can understand why the crucifixion is actually an expression of power. We can see that God’s love does lead to restoration. We can live without fear knowing that death is not the end. It is not to be feared. It too is within God’s grasp, and so we live knowing God’s triumph is ultimate.
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