Matthew 28:1-10

William F. Schnell

March 23, 2008

Did you ever play the game “Freeze” as a child.  You are with a group of your friends, who are all acting out.  And then the one who is “It” yells “Freeze!” and everyone freezes into whatever position they were in at the moment.  Maybe one is bending over and looking through her legs, or another one is picking his nose.  There is usually one who is an unstable position, perhaps standing on one foot and holding the other foot high in the air.  The first one to move is “It” for the next round. 

We all have moments in our past that are frozen in our memories like that.  Some are ecstatic moments and others are traumatic, but none are ever to be forgotten.  You can remember them even now: the first kiss… that heart-wrenching break-up… the day she said “yes”… the look on the doctor’s face…the moment your daughter was born… the hour your father died.  These can be called the defining moments of our lives because they define who we are.  They change us, or at least they should change us.

Some people are not changed by events that are supposed to be life-changing.  Some who are married continue to “play the field.”  Some deadbeat parents abandon their children to continue a carefree lifestyle.  In the same way some who take the name of Christ; who are baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; who come to his house, more or less; and who come to his table are not otherwise changed in ways that the Lord wants us to be changed.  That, by the way, would be all of us to some extent or another.

As we gather on this Easter Sunday we celebrate the most important defining moment of our Christian faith.  Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of an ancient prophetic witness to a coming Messiah—a Savior sent from God.  He was born and raised, he was sent and empowered by Almighty God, he was crucified and buried.  But the defining moment for Jesus came when he was resurrected from the grave and into glory.  That singular, saving event of our faith should define us as well, we who take the name of Christ—we who take the name “Christian.” 

How is the defining moment of Easter meant to change us in a lasting way?  How are we to be different tomorrow because of today?  I am guessing that today’s collective worship attendance will be the highest of all the Sabbath days of this calendar year.  Do you suppose a religious revival is sweeping the nation?  Will today’s attendance make a lasting difference after the Sabbath has ended?  The title of our Easter message is “After the Sabbath,” and it is taken from the opening words of our text.  Keep in mind that the Sabbath referred to in our text is a Saturday—the Jewish Sabbath.  But something changed the day after that Sabbath. 

The day after that Sabbath believers began celebrating the Lord’s resurrection from the dead.  Eventually the day after the Jewish Sabbath became known as “The Lord’s Day”—a new Sabbath Day for Christians.  Let us learn how the defining moment of the Christian faith changed the women who went to the tomb after the Sabbath, so that we may likewise be changed by that defining moment.  Not just changed in a way that is fickle and fading, but in a way that is frozen into the fabric of our being.

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb (Verse 1).  Contrary to a lot of speculation and stretching in stories like the da Vinci Code, all we know from the Bible about Mary Magdalene is that Jesus cast seven demons out of her and that she sought to return the favor by helping to support Jesus and the disciples out of her means.  Scholars are divided about who the other Mary is, but she is clearly one of Jesus’ followers who is now seeking to remain faithful to the end by visiting his grave. 

Mark’s account of this story says that both women were bringing spices to anoint Jesus’ lifeless body.  There is also a Jewish precedent for look after a grave for three days after burial to ensure that the deceased is truly deceased and not merely in a deep but temporary comma as has been known to happen on rare occasions.  Regardless, after the men have betrayed, denied and deserted Jesus in his darkest hour, leave it to the women to stand firm by the cross and attend to the grave. 

Unfortunately the religious leaders, remembering Jesus’ words about being raised from the dead, had sealed his tomb with a large stone and posted a couple guards so that no one could enter.  Not to worry, God had other plans.  There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.  His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow.  The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men (Verses 2-4). 

Again, that’s men for you—fainting dead away at the sight of God’s messenger--but how fortuitous for the women who would otherwise have been barred from the tomb.  The angle said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.  He is not here; he has risen, just as he said” (Verses 5-6).  In the Bible, things are emphasized by being repeated three times.  Three times Jesus had foretold being killed and then rising on the third day.  Obviously the religious leaders had remembered, hence the stone and guards.  Surely Jesus’ followers would have remembered too, although with an understandable skepticism.

So the angel offers the first proof: “Come and see the place where he lay.”  Low and behold, the grave is empty.  Immediately the women are called to be witnesses to the resurrection. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee.  There you will see him.’  Now I have told you.”  So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples (Verses 6-8).

These are some women.  They are called to be witnesses to the resurrection and off they go to fulfill their calling.  But they have mixed emotions.  They are both fearful and joyful.  They are joyful at the prospect of Jesus being alive, but fearful that no one will believe their testimony.  Therefore they are treated to a second and even more compelling proof as an encouragement.  Suddenly Jesus met them.  “Greetings,” he said.  They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him.  Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid.  Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me” (Verses 9-10).

As it happened, according to the Gospel of Matthew, the disciples got the word and went to Galilee where the risen Christ appeared to them.  There they received the call to be witnesses to the resurrection just like the women.  They did not witness to the resurrection by word alone, but by deed.  All of them ended up bearing their own crosses by being martyrs for the faith in one way or another.  In this way they showed forth their faith in the resurrecting power of God, and their faith became contagious and has continued to this present day.

All of this happened “After the Sabbath,” after the resurrection on Easter morning, after the defining moment of our Christian faith.  It changed the disciples in a lasting way, and it is to change us in a lasting way.  Like the early disciples, both men and women, Christians today are called to be witnesses to the resurrection.  And as with the disciples, our witness cannot be in word alone.  “Talk is cheap,” as they say, when it is not backed up by action that is consistent with it.  Indeed it is the height of hypocrisy to say one thing and do another, which is even worse than no witness at all.

A few weeks ago our text was about Jesus telling Nicodemus that he must be born again.  There are certain Christians today who refer to themselves as “Born Again Christians,” as if all other Christians are somehow substandard.  Has anyone ever asked you if you were born again?  How did that make you feel?  It makes a lot of people feel uneasy, and I will tell you why.  The assumption behind the question is that the person asking the question is born again while the jury is still out on you.  It is just the kind of arrogant, spiritual elitism that is so inconsistent with proper humility, and which works cross purposes to the effective witness we are called to make.

How then do we make an effective witness to the resurrection if not by exalting ourselves?  It is by denying ourselves, taking up our crosses and following Jesus.  That begs the further question, what does it mean to take up one’s cross?  It means to suffer, not for sin or wrongdoing, but for righteousness sake.  If we take a stand for what is right and true and good, it won’t be long before we must pay a price for that stand.  Then we have a choice: to deny the cross and desert Jesus and betray the faith, or to deny ourselves and take up our crosses and follow the Master in suffering for righteousness’ sake.

Why would anyone want to suffer for righteousness’ sake?  Because of the great Good News of the Gospel which is the promise of Easter.  It is God’s own promise to us that he will raise us up to something new and better, that he will reward our faith in a surpassing way and that he will bring the ultimate victory to us.  Then we will come to see that the whatever cross we are called to bear is a very small price to pay for the glory that it achieves for us by the power and promise of God. 

Embodying the resurrection in our lives is the only effective way to witness to the resurrection.  It has an irresistible appeal to others who crave a higher power in their lives.  It draws them to us.  It makes them eagerly curious to know what enlightened self-interest would induce anyone to stand for what is good and right and true to the point of suffering for it.  Once they open the door to receive the great Good News of the Gospel, then we can give our personal testimony for the faith that is in us in a way that others can hear it. 

Today is a special Sabbath Day for Christians.  It is Easter Sunday and we are all looking good in our best Sunday-go-to-meetin’ clothes.  But the Gospel asks us, what are we going to do “After the Sabbath?”  What are we going to do after Easter?  Are we going to go back to the same old worldly way of living which requires constant compromises of our faith, or are we going forth like the women and the disciples before us, as witnesses to the resurrection in word and deed. 

The original resurrection account leaves us with these questions.  The most ancient account of the resurrection is recorded in the Gospel of Mark, and the earliest and most reliable manuscripts of Mark end with these words: Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid (Mark 16:8).  We have seen that they had mixed emotions when leaving the tomb, and being filled with fear was one of them.  Did their fear get the upper hand or did faith prevail over fear.  We do not know.  We are not told.  What kind of ending is that?  No wonder that some scribe later added a proper ending. 

My mentor in seminary, Dr. Dunn, an expert in the Gospel of Mark by the way, says that the Gospel writer intended to leave the ending open.  He intended for his hearers to supply the proper ending.  What are we going to do “After the Sabbath?”  How are we going to be changed?  How are we going to be living testimonies to the resurrection in word and deed?  To that we are called and for that we are sent by the Lord—not a dead and buried Lord but a Lord who lives and reigns with God or high and who lives on earth in a body called the Church.  May the Body of Christ rise this Easter Sabbath as with one voice it gives witness to the resurrection—the defining moment of our faith--singing “He Lives!”