One thing in particular grips me about today's readings.
Did you notice the lengths the religious leaders went to in order to make sure the resurrection ~ or at least, the appearance of the resurrection ~ would not happen? The sad part about this is that it kinda proves they took Jesus' prophecies about the "raising of the temple in three days" more seriously than Jesus' own disciples did. While it's clearly stated that the disciples still didn't understand, the Pharisees and Saducees were making sure that no one would realize it happened, if indeed it did. You know, just in case this guy is actually who He says He is.
And we find in Matthew's accounts the first instance of "historical revisionism" taking place as the soldiers guarding the tomb are bribed to say they fell asleep and that Jesus' body was stolen before they awoke.
Here again, we see the blindness of unbelief. While each of the gospels differs slightly from the others in their accounts of the specifics, it's obvious something very significant happened when Jesus arose from the tomb. The earth shook, angels appeared, and the soldiers ~ like the angry mob that came to arrest Jesus in the garden ~ were felled by His presence. Matthew says they "became as dead men" they were so afraid. So they SAW something. They KNEW something miraculous and physically impossible was happening, and yet with a bit of cash, they were persuaded to say it never happened. They were willing to admit to FAILING TO OBEY ORDERS ~ for which they could have been punished by DEATH!! ~ rather than attest to the risen Savior.
And again I'm left to wonder...how much like these soldiers am I?
Tomorrow's passages: Luke 24:13-49; Mark 16:12-18; John 20:19-21:25; Matthew 28:16-20
2 comments:
Talk about a botched coverup though! Especially since the disciples who actually witnessed the resurrection believed it to be true to the point of death. Not very many people are willing to die for a hoax!
I just finished reading both yesterday's and today's readings and posts. What a dramatic difference! Yesterday was heartbreaking, terrifying, discouraging, and some other adjectives I can't think of at the moment. No one word quite seems to be the right one. I've heard some of the passage by Lee Strobel before. It makes the crucifiction seem more "real" somehow to know those details about what it was like.
Today, however, joyful, uplifting, hopeful, etc. are much more applicable. He is risen!
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