It is early in the morning and we are probably still more asleep than awake. For the 10:30 service I have created, what I hope, is a deeply profound and inspiring sermon. But even if it does turn out to be that, at this point in the morning we are not ready for deeply profound. Let’s have a bit of fun instead. The resurrection story that Matthew tells us in his gospel is both deeply profound and also light hearted, if not even a bit silly.
Imagine yourself in the role of one of the soldiers tasked with guarding Jesus’ tomb. Would you consider it to be a cake job? After all, what could possibly happen? This man Jesus came from Galilee (of all places), along with a rag tag bunch of uncultured uneducated hicks, in order to celebrate the Passover holiday. Apparently Jesus got a bit miffed when he arrived and caused a stir in the temple. He continued to stir the pot until the authorities felt that he had to go in order to keep the peace. But Jesus kept slipping out of their hands. That is, he kept slipping out of their hands until one of his closest disciples decided to sell him out. From there Jesus was arrested, and could have been left go. However, Jesus stuck to some delusions about being the Son of God and so he was put on trial and executed. When his closest and most devoted followers saw that they all fled. This idea that they might somehow suddenly find some courage and come back and steal the body is silly.
But maybe you would have been offended to be asked to guard the tomb of Jesus. If I were a ranking soldier in charge of security assignments you can bet I wouldn’t put my best men in charge of Jesus’ tomb. What could possibly happen? As I just described, the threat is insignificant. I’d put my lowest and least soldiers on the job. So perhaps the guards felt insulted by the assignment.
So you guard the tomb knowing full well nothing would happen. Then just as the day is dawning two women who were followers of Jesus came to mourn at the tomb. Of course who cares about these women? They are no threat. They cannot overpower an armed guard! They only dare to be there because they know there is no threat to them for doing so. Whereas a man might be called a co-criminal and also arrested, women were of such low status that they didn’t matter. The two women come and you scoff at them for their sentimentality and mistaken devotion.
Then things take an unexpected turn. There is an earthquake as an bright shining angel descends from the sky and rolls back the stone. You’ve probably heard me say many times that it is not accurate to depict angels as sweet little cherubs with wings and harps. As the Bible describes them angels are fearsome warriors. They cause absolute terror in all who encounter them.
You’re so scared by the presence of the angel that you start shaking uncontrollably. Our gospel reading makes the funny observation, “for fear of [the angel] the guards shook and became like dead men.” Ha, so much for your bravery!
How conscious the guards are isn’t clear, but the story takes a bizarre twist. The angel rolls the stone back and the tomb is empty. How could that be? One dead corpse was placed in the tomb. The tomb was sealed with a massive stone. Now, the stone is rolled back and there is no body! Where did it go? What happened to it?
You as a guard are probably more afraid than ever. It was common in those days for jailers to be held so responsible for keeping their prisoners contained that if a prisoner escaped the jailor would be executed. It was a sure way to prevent corruption in prison guards.
Now what about this case? What is going to happen to you when you let the prisoner escape on your watch? Or even more embarrassing, you were charged with guarding a dead guy… and despite being dead he managed to escape! What’s your commanding officer going to think?
Even if somehow you are not punished for your failure, how are you ever going to live it down that you were so inept at guard duty that you couldn’t keep a dead guy from getting out of his tomb?
Next week in worship we’re going to learn what happens to those guards so we’ll leave them in that predicament for the moment. We’ll turn to the other playful twists in the story.
These simply lowly women followers of Jesus are certainly terrified by the angel but they don’t shake uncontrollably. Let’s be clear, this is not about women being braver than men. It’s subtle, but Matthew’s Greek text makes it clear that it is God who caused the uncontrollable fear in the guards. Meanwhile God does not cause such fear in the women. They will be the witnesses of the empty tomb who will carry the message of the resurrection to the disciples.
There is an odd thing in the angel’s instructions. He tells the women to tell the disciples that Jesus has left and that they will meet him in Galilee. Why Galilee of all places? The obvious answer is that Galilee is where Jesus began his public ministry and where they all came from. But why would God choose to do any work in Galilee at all? Galilee was no place. Nothing significant ever happened there. No one important came from there. Perhaps we could say that the Town of Victor is an important place. Oh, to be sure it does not play a major role in national history and it isn’t on the news, but it does have a high end shopping mall, a great school district, nice neighborhoods, many fine homes, some excellent golf courses, and many things to offer. Whether Victor gets national attention or not, it is still a place of significance. How about the Town of Galen, New York? Is that anywhere? Do you even know where Galen is? The heart of Galen is the Village of Clyde. But who cares about it? So what? There’s no shopping, no culture. The schools are probably adequate but nothing special. If the Town of Victor is ‘somewhere’ then the Town of Galen is ‘nowhere.’ It would be as if Jesus decided to begin his ministry in Galen. And now after the resurrection he’s going to meet his disciples there again.
God works in mysterious and unpredictable ways. Burly soldiers outside a tomb are scared to the point of being like dead men. A stone is rolled back and instead of a corpse we find the tomb empty. Women are tasked with heading to the middle of nowhere to begin the world-changing ministry of Christianity.
And with one more playful twist, the women meet the resurrected Jesus on their way to meet the disciples. They are able to touch him. They take hold of his feet. He is no ghost. Exactly how he, a solid body, got out of that stone-sealed tomb is a mystery.
Even Jesus greeting to these women is playful. He does not start off with some grand theological proclamation. He simply says, “Greetings!” Or it could be translated as, “Hi!” Or, “Good morning!” It’s playful. It’s familiar. It’s the way friends would causally greet each other. Jesus repeats to the women what the angel said – tell the disciples to meet him in Galilee.
The resurrection of Jesus turns many things on its head. It’s playful, warm, and perhaps even a little silly. I imagine Matthew smiling as he wrote it.
We too are reminded that the task of following the resurrected Jesus will involve playfulness, warmth, and even some silliness. Oh sure, there are plenty of hardships. Many things will not go well. Many things will have to be endured. But it is not all serious somber work. It is God’s delight to invite us to be his messengers. Though we may not be told to travel to Galilee to meet the resurrected Jesus, we are sent out to let others know of God’s resurrection triumph. Death is defeated. It is not the end. So the true celebration can now begin.
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