Grave
Misunderstanding
Matthew 27:62-66,
28:11-15, John 20
“There
can’t be any misunderstandings . . . not anymore,” said the chief priests. It
was the day after that man Jesus had finally been silenced. And really silenced
he was. Dead. Dead and cold in the grave. The guards and the crowd had assured
them that at his arrest Jesus had been utterly abandoned by his disciples. All
of them had fled away that night. Someone remembered one of them named Peter
had been in the courtyard during the trials, but he had vanished, as well.
You
might think that this would have satisfied them. It should have really, except
for one thing. This Jesus had said something that troubled them deeply.
Matthew,
when writing the story of our Lord’s life, remembered it this way.
Matthew 27:62-66
The next
day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to
Pilate. “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that
deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ So give the order for the
tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come
and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead.
This last deception will be worse than the first.”
“Take a
guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” So they
went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the
guard.
You
see, these leaders, both the religious ruling council and the Roman ruler
Pilate, had encountered this unusually ordinary man in a most extraordinary way.
They themselves had looked into his eyes, heard his responses and didn’t know
quite what to do with him. As always when you encounter Jesus you either
believe in him or you mark him off your list as just another odd blip on the
radar.
I
guess if they had radar, they knew that that blip was gone. But their concern
was that some misunderstanding would occur—a grave misunderstanding. They knew
the terror and the value of rumors. They knew that if word got out that he was
alive then the disciples of this odd man might rally and re-emerge into the
community, spreading heresy and division. And then, whether he was alive or not
they would still have trouble in the city.
So,
they laid a trap—it was in the form of a seal around a rather large stone at the
mouth of a particular grave. You see, if anyone tampered with the seal it would
become immediately evident that someone was trying to pull a great hoax. Everyone
in that room that day knew it was totally impossible for anyone to come back to
life—particularly after the gruesome death of crucifixion. The man was gone. Now
their primary concern was control over the rumor that might erupt at any
moment.
But
they were still a day away from the first Easter.
And
then it was Easter morning. The women had come to pay their respects as usual.
It was very common for people to visit the grave the first few days after
burial. They came in their sorrow, with the visual memories of their beloved
and tortured Lord scorched into their brains. Oh, how he had suffered! They
wanted to weep by his grave one more time. And then a most dreadful thing
happened.
John
relates the story in this way from John
20:1-10.
Early on the
first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb
and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running
to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They
have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put
him!”
So Peter and
the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other
disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at
the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter, who was
behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying
there, as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth
was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple,
who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (They
still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)
John
pens a few words that strike wonder in our hearts. He often referred to himself
as “the other disciple.” And when he looked on the empty grave and the clothes
just lying there on the ground, in his heart and for the first time, he really
believed. But for Peter and the women who had been at the tomb of Jesus, there
was a grave misunderstanding. They did not yet connect the words of Jesus with
the truth about Jesus.
Would
you believe? If you had watched him die, if you had seen his still and cold
body, if you had attended the funeral service, would you believe?
Word
got out rather quickly that something was amiss at the tomb of Jesus. The guards who had been at the tomb came back
to the temple with a rather fantastical story. They talked with wild-eyed
rapidity of a great earthquake. They told of the angels whose clothes were
brilliant and stunning like lightening and how the angels had rolled the stone
away in an instant and sat down upon that stone.
All
of this was terrifying to the priests. They could not understand how this
happened. Certainly, these soldiers had been hallucinating. Everyone knows that
once someone is dead for three days they are gone. So, something had to be
done.
In
Matthew 28:12-14 we see exactly
what they did.
When the
chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the
soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples
came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ If this report
gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So the
soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed.
Even
with the eyewitness testimony of their own trusted guard, these religious
leaders refused the truth. They misunderstood the grave. They saw and believed
what they only wanted to see and believe—a cold, dark grave and a stolen body. They
didn’t see that it was a doorway to life.
Even
Jesus’ disciples had such a hard time with this. They had had relatives who had
died, children who had passed far too early, friends who had been in horrible
fatal accidents and none of them came back life. But their friend Jesus was
more—far more—than just another friend who had died. He was the Savior of the
world, fully human and fully divine, who bore in his body all of our sins so
that He could rise again to bring life to everyone who would believe on Him.
You
might say to me, “Preacher, that’s a pretty big pill to swallow. I don’t know
if I could ever believe what you are telling me.” So, for right now, don’t
listen to me, listen to others who had the same grave misunderstanding.
John 20:10-29
Then the
disciples went back to their homes, but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As
she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white,
seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
They asked
her, “Woman, why are you crying?”
“They have
taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At
this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize
that it was Jesus.
“Woman,” he
said, “why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Thinking he
was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where
you have put him, and I will get him.”
Jesus said
to her, “Mary.”
She turned
toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).
Jesus said,
“Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to
my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my
God and your God.’”
Mary
Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she
told them that he had said these things to her.
Sometimes
through our own tears that we cannot see clearly. What we perceive as the end
may not, in fact, be the end. Mary had heard Jesus’ prophesy that he would rise
again on the third day, but it had not registered. Truth is kind of funny that way. If we are not open to a new way of thinking
we just might miss it.
But
Jesus did not want Mary to miss it, so he called her by name. It was in the
wonderful familiar voice that Mary’s heart was finally opened to the truth. He
was alive! He was well! And he wanted to be with them all. Then she did what
any good evangelist would do, she ran and told her friends what had happened. Her
misunderstandings and tears had been cleared up by the living presence of Jesus
Christ.
John
remembered more and made sure to carefully write it down for us.
On the
evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with
the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and
said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and
side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
Again Jesus
said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And
with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you
forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they
are not forgiven.”
Jesus
was different after the resurrection. He still had the scars from the
crucifixion. He still had his recognizable face and voice. But he was operating
under resurrection power now. Walls, doors, and stones were no longer of
interest to him. He only wanted to be with his beloved disciples. He appeared
to them, graciously, wondrously, beautifully. And in the midst of their fears
of there present life and the threats that still hung in the air, he spoke only
peace to them. Peace. Peace. Peace. When they heard his voice and saw the
wounds and experienced him one more time in the flesh, then they rejoiced. All
their misunderstandings were cleared up by the living presence of Jesus Christ.
But
there was one person who was not there. We don’t know why he wasn’t there. His
name was Thomas and he clearly did not understand.
Now
Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when
Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said
to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the
nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.”
A week later
his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the
doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with
you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your
finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop
doubting and believe.”
Thomas said
to him, “My Lord and my God!”
Then Jesus
told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who
have not seen and yet have believed.”
Thomas
needed proof. He wanted the empirical evidence. He wanted to touch Jesus before
he would believe. And so, Jesus gave the great gift of understanding. Jesus
didn’t have to, but he wanted to. And all of Thomas’ grave misunderstandings
were cleared up by the living presence of Jesus Christ.
And
now I want you to listen to me. I believe that Jesus is alive today. I believe
that he is our risen Savior that he died and rose again on the third day having
paid the full price for my sins and yours.
You
see, I write to you today for the same reason John wrote these words. He wanted everyone who heard the story of
Jesus to believe. John 20:31 But
these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of
God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
You
see, John and I, and many other people in this world, understand something
today. We don’t look on the cross of Jesus and think that’s just the end of his
life. We don’t look on the arrest of Jesus and become dismayed that his
ministry ended in such disgrace. We don’t look on the grave of Jesus and think
that something sad has happened and that there is no solution.
Just
as Jesus said we could, we have experienced the power of the resurrection in
our lives. We have received the full and free salvation of our souls and the
forgiveness of every one of our sins. We have believed and received life in His
glorious name.
And
let me tell you something, I have never regretted believing in Jesus. I now
understand that His grave is the doorway to resurrection life.
You
may have some grave misunderstandings about Easter, about Jesus. Maybe you
think that he was just a good man, a good teacher. Won’t you believe today that
he’s far more than that—that He died for you and, more than that, he took what
was supposed to be the end and made it into a new beginning for you?
Maybe
your grave misunderstanding today is that Jesus would never forgive you of your
sins. You feel unworthy. You feel you have gone too far. You feel that no one
should ever forgive you. Here’s the truth. He went all the way for you. He went
lower than any sin you could ever commit to purchase your salvation.
Maybe
your grave misunderstanding today is that you need physical proof of His
resurrection. But, as Jesus said, if you believe without seeing you will be more
blessed than those who have seen and believe. Why not give a try today?
Maybe
this is the Easter that your grave misunderstandings can turn into belief in
our Risen and Living Savior Jesus Christ.
Amen
M.R.
Hyde
Copyright
2020
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granted to reproduce for personal or small group use.
Scripture
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1984 and 2011 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
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