Daily Scripture/Sunday Reflection Celebration of Easter!
Since this is Easter I thought instead of having our usual Daily Scripture Series and my Sunday Reflection that on this Holy of Holies Day that I would have us take a look at all four Gospel accounts of the Resurrection of Jesus.
Every Gospel account is different in their own way, however, the one thing that doesn’t change in any of them is the truth that it were the women that were first aware of the fact that He was not in the tomb and it was up to the women to go back and announce this truth to the other 11 disciples. That was significant because back then a woman’s testimony meant nothing, they weren’t even allowed to be witnesses in a trial. How amazing is it that God chose women to be the bearers of the truth that “He said it and He did it!”. They were chosen for sharing the most incredible news that mankind (yes I said it, mankind, not humankind) and the most important news the world would ever have delivered to them – Christ has risen from the dead! A news headline that would change history forever! Now, let’s take a look at these four resurrection stories, after all it’s Easter:
Matthew 28:1-10
Now after the Sabbath, towards the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the sepulchre. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone, and sat upon it. His appearance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow. And for fear of him, the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. Lo, have told you.” So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples . And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Hail!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”
Mark 16:1-13
And when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week they went to the Tom when the sun had risen. And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the door of the tomb?” And looking up, they saw that the stone was rolled back; for it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe; and they were amazed. And he said to them, “Do not be amazed; you seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen, he is not here; see the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him, as he told you.” And they went out and fled from the tomb; for trembling and astonishment had come upon them; and they said nothing to any one, for they were afraid.
Now when he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. She went out and told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept. But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it.
After this he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country. And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them.
Luke 24:1-12
But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel; and as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of man must be delivered tinto the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise.” And they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told this to the apostles; but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home wondering at what had happened.
John 20:1-18
Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she ran, and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” Peter then came out with the other disciple, and they went towards the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first; and stopping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; he saw the linen cloths lying, and the napkin, which had been on his head, not lying with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believe; for as yet they did not know the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples went back to their homes.
But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she went she stopped to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” Saying this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know what it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary,” she turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (Which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not hold me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” Mary Magdalene went and said to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.
Even though each version is somewhat different all of them get the same point across, the women were the first to discover the empty tomb, none of the disciples believed them because their hearts were still hardened probably from their grief in the loss of their Master. And they still did not understand the gospel of Jesus that all were welcome and loved in His kingdom whether they were man or woman and that men were not favored over women they were equally loved by God. By Jesus appearing also first to Mary before the disciples themselves proved just how special Jesus saw the women who followed Him but that didn’t mean He didn’t love the men just as much. But as always, even during this incredible miracle of rising from the dead, He was still trying to teach His disciples.
An interesting thing that John noted in his version of the resurrection was what Peter noticed in the empty tomb. This was the head napkin that would have been on the head of Jesus at the time of his burial was folded up and was set apart from the rest of the burial cloths. Why is this important? Well, Peter knew immediately what it meant, so did John after he saw it, this is why it states that as soon as John looked in and saw what he saw – he believed. In Jewish tradition, a server at a dinner banquet would know that if a guest had put their napkin on their plate that they were done for the night. However, if the guest had folded his napkin and then set it apart from the plate meant that he would be back. Well, how the head napkin was placed told both John and Peter realize that was a message saying, He’d be back.
It’s still difficult to believe that Jesus still had to prove Himself to the disciples for them to truly believe that He had risen from the grave. But then again, I often wonder if we wouldn’t be exactly the same today. Especially if we look back just one year ago and how the White House dared to treat such a sacred day as the day Christ rose from the dead after He suffered the worst kind of death anyone could possibly experience, and treat it like it was some godless/pagan celebration.
However, things are different at least for now, where we see a White House that understands that Easter is not about the Easter Bunny or some disturbing display of transgender nonsense and drag queen celebrations that went totally unabashed, unscolded and not one word of denouncement from church leaders in this country. Just silent and ignored as if to think if you ignore something it’ll go away.
At least now, for the time being, the reverence and holiness of this incredible loving act of God, the Resurrection of His Son to fulfill His promise to the world has been brought back to our nation! Thank God!
No Thought Police 