Third Presbyterian Sunday Morning Bible Study - April 4, 2021

Below is the Bible Study written by Jim Rudiger for his Sunday School Class which meets at Third Presbyterian Church, Norfolk, Virginia. It's based on Matthew 28:1-17.

What was the most difficult death you have ever dealt with?  For me one was a June day in 1948.  I was fourteen years old.  My parents were separated and on this particular Saturday, my father had picked up my brother, Jack, and my Aunt Jenny at my grandmother's house on 27th Street to take us to Ocean View.  Now, Aunt Jenny was the aunt who gave Jack her black satin dress for a Batman cape.  She was one of many special aunts we had who didn't have any children so they loved to spoil Jack and me. 

Aunt Jenny would take us on Saturday mornings down to the corner of 27th Street and Hampton Boulevard to catch the street car for downtown Norfolk.  We always got off in front of Krezgy’s 5 & 10 so we could go in and get twenty cents worth of candy peanuts, you remember those orange marshmallow peanuts.  Then we would walk down Granby Street to City Hall Avenue to the Byrd Theater where we could spend several hours watching the latest Gene Autry movie, a Dick Tracy Serial and Three Stooge's comedy.

On that day, after swimming at Ocean View until we were worn out, we went to my parents house at Wards Corner on Carrolton Road which is now buried under I-64.  No sooner had we gotten to the house, than the phone rang.  It was my grandmother calling to make sure that we hadn't drowned or something else that would make us late for supper.  When she heard me answer the phone she, without looking, leaned back to sit on the arm of the chair beside the phone not realizing that my Aunt Irma had rearranged the parlor slightly and the chair wasn’t there.  She fell and had a heart attack.  Several days later she died without ever regaining consciousness.  This event changed my whole life.  My parents reconciled and bought a larger house on Maycox Avenue At Ward’s Corner and Jack and I moved from the elegance of Lambert's Point down by the coal piers to a middle class neighborhood in Academy Terrace.  

In today's study, two women face a frightening encounter that not only changed their lives but impacts on our lives and the lives of all people now and in the times to come.  Before we get to that, let’s look at the chronology of what has taken place since last week's Palm Sunday study.

It was Thursday and everybody in Jerusalem was celebrating the Feast of the Passover.   Sometime after noon, Jesus and his disciples met in the upper room for the Last Supper.  Judas had excused himself and went to strike a deal with the Temple priests to betray Jesus. After the meal, Jesus and his disciples went to Gethsemane for Jesus to pray.   Judas shows up with the Temple guard and they arrest Jesus and take him to the home of the Chief Priest.  It’s about 6:00 PM Thursday when they got to the Chief Priest’s house.  We have to remember that in those days, a day went from 6:00 PM of one day to 6:00 PM the next day.  Not midnight to midnight like we do today.  So, it was close to the start of Friday when the Temple trial began.  It lasted until about 6:00 AM Friday morning.  Jesus was found guilty of blasphemy which carried with it the death penalty, but, the Jews were not allowed to exact the death penalty.  Only Rome could do that.  So, the priests came up with a story that Jesus was a revolutionary bent on overthrowing Rome.  They knew this was a death penalty offence for Rome.  

Jesus had not slept for nearly 32 hours when he stood before Pilate that Friday morning.  Pilate heard the charge, reviewed the evidence and saw through what the priests were trying to do - get Rome to kill somebody they wanted out of the way.  Pilate said the evidence didn’t convince him that Jesus was a threat to Rome.  The priests pushed the envelope further by threatening to complain to Rome that Pilate was doing things that were stirring up the people.  Pilate, not wanting to have his career cut short in a remote province in Judea, agreed to judge Jesus guilty as charged.  He still had another way out.  It was customary for the governor to grant amnesty to a prisoner on a feast day.  There were four prisoners scheduled for execution that day including Jesus.  At about 8:00 AM, the four prisoners were presented to the crowd gathered in front of where Pilate was staying and they were given the opportunity of picking who would be spared.  The crowd chose Barrabas.  The irony was that Barrabas really was a revolutionary trying to form a group to send Rome packing.  Maybe that’s why the people chose him.  The Jesus who they had cheered less than a week ago hadn’t produced what they wanted - an army of angels to chase Rome out of Palestine.  Judas, when he found out that Jesus was going to be put to death, tries to give back the money he got from the priests, but, they refuse to take it back.  He goes home and hangs himself.

An hour later, at about nine o’clock on Friday morning, Jesus started his trek to Golgotha carrying his cross through the streets of Jerusalem.  At about noon, he is crucified.  The skies darkened and the ground began to shake.  From noon to three o’clock, Jesus hung on the cross as the skies remained dark.  At three o’clock Jesus dies.  All of the sudden there was an earth quake and the veil in the Temple separating the Holy of Holies from the Court of the Priests tears from top to bottom.

Jewish tradition was that the dead had to be buried before sundown.  To complicate matters, this particular sundown marked the beginning of the Sabbath. Joseph of Arimathaea, a follower of Jesus, goes to Pilate and asks permission to take Jesus’ body and bury it.  Pilate agrees and Jesus is taken to Joseph’s tomb.  There isn’t enough time to prepare the body, so, the tomb is quickly closed with a round stone that was rolled in place at the entrance.  Shortly after 6:00 PM the priests go to Pilate and convince him that Jesus’ followers might try to steal the body and then claim that Jesus had risen from the dead.  Pilate sends two soldiers to guard the tomb and just to make sure, has his seal placed cementing the round stone to the tomb opening.  

The Sabbath has started.  Jesus’ disciples have either gotten out of town or are in hiding.  The priests are busy preparing to celebrate the Sabbath, relieved that their problem with this Galilean carpenter is finally resolved.  Pilate is busy packing his bags for his return back to his palace in Phillipi Ceasarea.  Jesus is in the sealed tomb for that whole Sabbath day with only the two soldiers standing guard. With all the players in place, we pick up our story.

Matthew 28:1 After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 

Easter and Christmas are the two most celebrated days in the Christian year.  Sometimes people come to church only on those days and for many of those it is because they consider those days so important that they make a special effort to be there.  What are the things you associate with Easter? (1) the resurrection; (2) bunnies; (3) colored boiled eggs; (4) yellow peeps; (5) new spring clothes.  Of the two days, Christmas and Easter, Easter goes back the furthest.  It has been with the church from the very beginning although the date for it has been changed from time to time.  Christmas wasn't celebrated until centuries after the church was formed.  Paul doesn't even mention the birth of Jesus, because he considered the death and resurrection of Jesus as the heart of the gospel. Without the resurrection, Christ would have been just another good man unjustly put to death.  His resurrection sets him apart from all other men.  It proves that He was indeed the son of God through whom we all are saved.

Two of the believers present at the foot of the cross that Friday when Jesus breathed his last were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, two of Jesus’ disciples.  These women followed the procession as the body of Jesus was carried to the tomb owned by Joseph of Arimathaea.  They sat as the body was placed on the shelf inside.  A large stone was rolled over the entrance.  This stone would have been as round as possible and would have been set in a track.  Closing the tomb in this way was a common practice.  It prevented animals from getting to the corpse or thieves from stealing the burial garments. The women strained to see the body as the stone slowly closed off the tomb opening.  After rolling the stone in place, the workers wiped the sweat from the forehead and shuffled up the path.  Joseph of Arimathaea lingered for a moment thinking about Jesus and all that had happened in just a few days.   With his head slumped down on his chest he slowly follows the workmen up the path leaving the two Marys sitting in front of the tomb.  

Have you ever had a day when everything seems to happen?  You kind of stagger through one thing and then another pops up, not really giving you time to sit down and reflect on everything else that's happening.  An unexpected death is like that. Events seem to have an eerie quality as you are pushed forward, confused and saddened.  And then comes the closure, the burial and then all of the pains and hurts that were locked up inside of you finally boils over and that's when the tears start.  That's how these women felt in the quietness of that garden.  The realization that the teacher who they loved so much was dead.  Gone.  After a while, they leave and wait until the Sabbath is over to return to the tomb.

It’s early the next morning, a little after 6:00 AM.  The Sabbath was over when the two Marys  set out for the tomb. By the time they arrive it’s getting close to 7:00 AM, Sunday morning, the first day of the week.  Why do you think they returned? Maybe they just wanted to sit there and reflect on Jesus.  The Jews then believed that after someone died, their spirit hung around the body for three days.  Maybe it comforted them to think that Jesus’ spirit was still there.  Since there had not been any time Friday to prepare the body, maybe they hoped that someone would be there to role away the stone so they could prepare the body now.  One thing is for sure, they didn't expect anything special to happen.  

Matthew 28:2 And suddenly there was a great earth quake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightening, and his clothing white as snow. 4 For fear of him the guards shook and became as dead men. 

The soldiers that Pilate had sent to guard the tomb were leaning against the stone, tired and bored from watching a stone for two days.  The Marys are quietly sitting on a stone opposite the opening.  There was the quietness that comes with morning only broken by the rustling of branches in the cool morning breeze and the singing of birds.  Nothing was said.  The silence seemed to lend a reverence to the garden.  There was first a slight tremble - then the whole earth seemed to shake.  It was the second earth quake in three days.  The last one was when Jesus breathed his last on the cross.  As the trees above shook scattering branches and leaves all around them, the women clutched each other.  The guards looked all around.  The ground swelling and rolling under their feet like a great ocean,   Looking up they see a an angel dressed in dazzling white floating down from the sky.  The angel lands only a few feet away from the soldiers.  He seems to lean against the stone like he was resting before performing a strenuous task. Suddenly, with a grinding sound, the large stone started to roll in the groove cut in the base.  The seal that Pilate had the soldiers place where the stone met the carved opening cracks, breaks and falls to the ground.  Frightened more than they had ever been in battle, the soldiers watch as the stone slowly rolls exposing more and more of the contents inside of the tomb.

The stone finally comes to rest as the early morning light fills the tomb to reveal not a body on the slab but the linen that had covered the body of Jesus, neatly folded in it's place. “How could this be?”, the soldiers thought.  “An empty tomb we had been watching all night with not one visitor all night long.  And now, those two women and us have seen that angel open the tomb." It was clear to these hardened soldiers who had seen the finality of death many times, that something very strange had happened.  They knew of the Hebrew prophesy and they could attest even as unbelievers that Jesus must have been God's son.  The soldiers look up and sitting there on top of the round stone and pointing to the empty tomb was the angel. What happened to the soldiers?  They keeled over in a dead faint.

All of this must have amused the angel as he sat perched on the stone.  Our scripture seems to indicate that the earth quake was caused by the coming of the angel.  Sitting on the stone, he had not said a word.  Oh, maybe when the soldiers looked up and saw him, he shouldn't have waved at them.  But after all, this was a joyous time and what better way to enjoy the moment than to have a little fun at the soldier's expense.  

Aside from keeping animals and thieves out, the stone across the opening is very important to the resurrection story.  The stone being rolled to open the tomb was not to let Jesus out of the prison of death.  It was to prove that Jesus, who had been there when it was rolled into place, isn’t there now.  In other words the rolled away stone is there to let the world look in and see an empty tomb not to let Jesus out.  If the body of Jesus was there when the stone was rolled into place, but, is now gone, when did the actual resurrection take place?  It could have been anytime during those two days.  Scriptures don’t give us any witnesses to how or when this change happened.  Why not have a witness to the process?  Because, it doesn’t make any difference.  Our faith is not based on how it happened, but, in the fact that it did happen.

There was another famous resurrection in scripture.  Lazzarus.  Let’s compare Jesus’ resurrection with the Lazzarus resurrection. When Lazzarus was resurrected, how long had it been since he died?  Not too long, but more than three days.  His sisters complained to Jesus that if he had gotten there a little earlier, Lazzarus wouldn’t have died.  What did Lazzarus do and what did he look like at his resurrection?  He walked out of his tomb dressed in the burial clothes.  Jesus’ resurrection was entirely different.  It may have been a day or two before it happened and Jesus didn’t walk out of the tomb.  His spirit and his body left the tomb in a supernatural way before that stone was moved.  He wasn’t dressed in his burial clothes but dressed in glory.

Matthew 28:5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.” 

When the angel looked at the women they were trembling with fear.  Now put yourself in their shoes.  You have just witnessed the singularly most important event in human history.  How would you have felt? They would have questions.  Where is Jesus? Are the soldiers dead?  Am I going to die too? The angel was very tender with the women.  He assures them by telling them what?  Don’t be afraid.  He knew that they had questions and answered their most important one.  Where is Jesus?  What did the angel say?  "He’s not here.  For he has been raised"  These words tell us something important about this event.  The resurrection wasn’t an independent act of Jesus. Jesus, the human, was dead. He didn’t raise himself from the dead.  He had been raised.  In other words, somebody else did the raising and who would that somebody be?  God.  Still the women were hesitant.  Were they being fooled?  Was this some cruel joke?  The angel, seeing their concern, invites them to come into the tomb and see for themselves that Jesus is no longer there.  You know, there is nothing like seeing it for yourselves to cast away all doubts.  Seeing is believing.  After they had assured themselves, what did the angel tell them to do?  Go tell the disciples.  Why were these two women there and not two of his disciples?  Was this just another feminist attempt to put down men?  I think it was because the disciples were so scattered that it would have taken a map to find them and, of course, men refuse to use maps.

As we read this story of the very first two people who had to deal with the empty tomb, we see that there are two things required of them and us:

(1) They are urged to believe.  When they finally realized that the tomb was empty. it seemed just too good to be true.  Some times, today, when people are confronted with the empty tomb they think that Christ's promises are too good to be true.  But, faith and belief is taking Christ's word for it and then acting on it.

(2) They are urged to share.  The angel tells them as soon as they had satisfied their own doubts to go and tell people about what they know.  This is the first command given to the followers after the resurrection and echos Christ’s last command to go and make  disciples of all the earth.  

Matthew 28:8 So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

They’ve gotten their instructions.  In what emotional state do they leave the tomb?  With fear and joy.  Why fear? We have to admit that some pretty scary things had happened. They were going into the unknown.  They have viewed the most remarkable event that has ever happened and they are probably still in a little shock.  But, when we think of how depressed they were at the thought of Jesus’ death and knowing now that he is alive, that fear soon turned to joy.  You see, the resurrection is about joy not sadness and despair.  How did they leave the tomb to go to the disciples?  They ran.  It tells us that they just couldn’t wait to share this good news with others who loved Jesus too.

They are running along the path and suddenly they nearly run down somebody walking down the path ahead of them.  Who did they run into?  Jesus.  How did hey know it was Jesus?  How he spoke.  Mannerisms.  Just how he loved them.  What does Jesus say to them?  Greetings.  The literal meaning of the word he spoke was "Rejoice".  What does it mean to "Rejoice"?  To have joy again.  To have that feeling of well being after a time of feeling down.  Christianity lifts us up and lets us know the joy of forgiveness.  Recognizing that the man is Jesus, what do the women do? They fall to their knees and worship him.  That’s what being a Christian is all about - first recognizing Jesus and then worshiping him. What does Jesus tell the women?  Almost the same thing the angel told them - “Hurry up and tell my brothers to meet me in Galilee.”

Matthew 28:11 While they were going, some of the guards went into the city and told the chief priests everything that had happened. 12 After the priests had assembled with the elders, they devised a plan to give a large sum of money to the soldiers, 13 telling them, “You must say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ 14 If this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story is still told among Jews to this day.

Who is left at the tomb after the women ran off?  The two soldiers.  How do you think they felt right about then?  They’ve come to and they are scared to death.  The tomb was empty and that meant that they would be blamed for letting the body out. Not only blamed but punished for failing to keep the body in the tomb. Where do they go?  Not to their Roman commanders, but to the priests.  Why the priests?  If they went back and told their commanding officer the body was no longer in the tomb, at best they might end up in the brig - at worse executed.  They decide to tell the priests and hope that they can come up a with a plan that will save their hides.  They sure had the priest’s number, didn’t they?

What was the plan the priests came up with?  For a sum of money the soldiers will say that while they were asleep, some men came and stole the body.  The soldiers weren’t keen on the part about sleeping on the job.  The priests tell the soldiers not to worry.  They’ll take care of any problems with their bosses and they won’t be held accountable for sleeping at their post.  How do you think they plan to keep these guys out of trouble?  Probably, by slipping a little money in an envelop and sliding it under the table to the governor.  The deal was done.  Did the people believe the story about men coming and stealing Jesus’ body?  Evidently some did, because the story was still being circulated when Matthew wrote his book.

Matthew 28:16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 

The women did what they were told to do and the disciples went to Galilee to meet Jesus.  Why Galilee?  That’s where it all started.  Jesus started his ministry there and now the disciples will start their ministries there, too.

What is the worst death we have dealt with?  While there is sorrow and pain in saying good-bye to a loved one, the assurance we have from these scriptures is that there will be that wonderful reunion with our loved ones.  Like the two women, we must first believe, then share this believe with those we love and finally rejoice in the sure knowledge that we will all meet on that great resurrection day - our very own Easter morning.

Prayer: Strengthen and encourage us to be the witness in the life of someone we love so that they may share the joy of being with Christ for ever and ever.  Amen.