Each Gospel’s recounting of the resurrection has its strengths, but if you’re looking for the action movie version, Matthew is your man. In his Easter story, the women don’t find the stone neatly rolled away from the tomb. Nothing that tame. In this story, they arrive, experience an earthquake, see an angel descend like lightning, watch him roll away the stone, and (cue swelling music) find an empty tomb.
The bad guys—Pilate’s guards, deployed to be sure that the disciples didn’t make off with the body and declare a false resurrection—are knocked out by fear. The angel—you can imagine him strutting a little bit—perches on top of the stone in his shining white robes and starts issuing instructions. Go, he tells the women. The tomb is empty. Tell the world. You are the bearers of the news that death is defeated.
And before they can even find the disciples, the risen Lord meets them on their way.
I love this Easter story because I think Matthew gets it right. Jesus appears first to the women who have stood by him all along. And unlike in Mark, where the women say nothing, or in Luke, where the disciples don’t believe their story, in this version, Jesus commissions the women to be the very first to preach the Gospel. Despite their lack of status or privilege in that remote outpost of the Roman Empire, God chooses them, just as God chose Mary, the God-bearer.
Jesus has told us that the last will be first. On Easter morning, we get to watch it unfold like an action movie before our very eyes.
Friends, as we gather to celebrate the Resurrection and hear this sacred story once again, know how grateful I am to proclaim the good news in our partnership with each of you. Christ is Risen. Alleluia!
Faithfully,
