Matthew 28:1-10 - Homiletics

The Resurrection.

I. THE ANGEL AT THE SEPULCHRE .

1 . The holy women. The great sabbath was over. It had been a busy day in the temple; all had been done as usual. The priests little thought, while performing their elaborate ritual, that the one great Sacrifice, Oblation, and Satisfaction for the sins of the whole world, the Sacrifice of which all their sacrifices were but figures, had been offered up on Calvary. Yet the great darkness and the portents which had marked the moment of the Saviour's death must have excited attention at Jerusalem, must have harrowed the consciences of many, and filled the whole city with uneasiness and doubt and awe. Strange anxieties must have disturbed the rest of that sabbath. Men went about asking strange questions of one another. Strange forebodings filled the air. The priests especially must have been full of excitement and anxiety. Their chiefs had been foremost in urging the Crucifixion; and the rent veil must have filled them with wonder and terror. What could it mean? The holy of holies lay exposed—the awful place, which no human being might behold, save only the high priest, and that but once a year, with solemn rites of expiation. It must have seemed to them a tremendous portent, foreboding some great change, some stupendous event. Even the cold indifferent Sadducees must have been stirred into anxious expectation by a prodigy so significant, so startling, so plainly preternatural. This feeling had constrained them to apply to the hated Gentiles even on the sabbath. Herod had employed his soldiers to slay, if it were possible, the infant King of the Jews. The chief priests employed the Roman soldiers to prevent, if it were possible, the resurrection of him whose cross had borne the title which the Wise Men from the East had attributed to the holy Child Jesus. But if that sabbath had been a disturbed and anxious day to the enemies of our Lord, what must it have been to his disciples? They had watched, some few of them, the awful scene on Calvary. Most of them had fled in terror. The Lord had put forth no supernatural powers, as perhaps they had hoped; there had been no armies of angels coming to his help, no display of Divine glory to crush his foes. He was dead, buried out of their sight. They forgot all that the prophets had spoken, all that the Lord himself had said about his resurrection on the third day. Even the circumstances of his death, its calm majesty, its attendant wonders, did not restore their lost faith. "We were hoping," they said, "that it was he which should redeem Israel." But now their hopes were crushed, their faith was gone. The one terrible fact of his death had overwhelmed them in utter despair. They had expected an earthly kingdom in spite of all his many warnings. That Jewish notion of the Messiah's reign had taken entire possession of their hearts. And now that hope had vanished altogether. The Lord had not taken the throne of David; he had died upon the cross, the death of extremest ignominy. They were sunk in misery and disappointment and despondency. The chief priests called to remembrance that they had been told of his predicted resurrection. Hatred is sometimes more keen sighted than love. The disciples seem to have had no hope at all. That sad sabbath day must have been clouded by many remorseful memories of broken promises and selfish fears—how all, save one, had left him at the last, and forsaken him in his agony who had loved them with so great a love. But the long hours of that sorrowful sabbath were over at last; the first day of the week was dawning—that day which was to be the first day of a new life, which was to be consecrated throughout the great Christian Church as the beginning of new hopes, new aspirations; the first great Easter Day was shedding its faint glimmering light through the surrounding darkness; and the holy women came—Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, and afterwards, it seems from St. Mark and St. Luke, Salome and Joanna. They had watched the burial—some of them, at least. Perhaps they were not allowed to approach at the time; perhaps only Joseph, who had obtained the governor's leave, and Nicodemus, a man of rank and authority like Joseph, were permitted on that Friday afternoon to touch the body of the Lord. But the women followed after, and beheld where he was laid. They were last at the sepulchre on the first Good Friday; they were the first to see the empty tomb on the first great Easter Day. They came to see the sepulchre—"to anoint," St. Mark says, the body of him whom they had regarded with a Jove so deep and reverent. They had prepared spices and ointments before the sabbath; they came as soon as the sabbath rest permitted to fulfil their work of love. But that very love, deep and true as it was, expressed itself in preparations which showed that they understood not the Saviour's words, or at least that the awful events of Friday had shaken their belief and destroyed their hopes. Neither Joseph and Nicodemus nor the holy women seem to have had any thought of seeing the Lord in life again. Joseph willingly gave his own new tomb to receive the dear remains. Perhaps he thought that one day his own bones might rest with the honoured body of him whom he so loved and reverenced. None of the followers of the Lord, not even those apostles who had been nearest to him, seem to have remembered those words of his which ought to have been their greatest comfort in the hour of darkness. The shock had been so great; they were so horrified, terror-stricken, bewildered. So it is with us sometimes in great pain, in overwhelming sorrow. We cannot collect our thoughts; we can scarcely pray; there seems to be no hope, nothing but darkness. It may give us some comfort to think that even saints, even apostles, shared this human weakness. But let us remember that in their despair they still loved the Lord; if they had lost hope, they still came to the sepulchre; if they thought that he could give them no help, that they had a living Lord no more, at least they clung to his sacred memory, and came to watch over and to care for his lifeless body. Let us in our sufferings try to keep the thought of the suffering Lord close to our very hearts. If there are times when we cannot find joy in the thought of his glory and majesty, let us try to find peace in the thought of his cross, his death, his burial. Let us pray that our anguish may be made the means of bringing us into closer sympathy with the suffering Lord, into "the fellowship of his sufferings; for if we have become united with him by the likeness of his death, we shall be also by the likeness of his resurrection."

2 . The descent of the angel. The women had said among themselves, "Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?" It was a task beyond their strength, and they were troubled. There was no need for their anxiety. So we often trouble ourselves about the future; we wonder how this or that difficulty shall be overcome; who shall save us from this or that threatening calamity. "Let not your heart be troubled," saith the Lord; "ye believe in God, believe also in me." "In quietness and confidence shall be your strength." Those fears of ours, those anxious thoughts which almost wear us out, come from want of faith. How often the event proves that there was no ground for them! We fretted ourselves vainly, we made needless vexations for ourselves; for after all the threatened trouble never came; or, if it did come, it was not so terrible; God gave us strength to bear it. It was so now. One stronger than they had rolled away the stone. There was a great earthquake. A mighty angel had come down from heaven; his appearance was as lightning, and his raiment white as snow. What could the Roman soldiers do in the presence of that effulgent, blinding radiance? For fear of him the watchers did quake (the very earth had quaked at his approach), and became as dead men. The mere sight of one angel of the Lord affrighted them into utter helplessness. How would it have fared with the presumptuous multitude who seized the Saviour in Gethsemane, had he, who is the Lord God of hosts, summoned those heavenly legions? Then he meekly yielded himself; for he willed to suffer and to die that we might live forever. Now his humiliation was over, the hour of his triumph was come; one angel of the Lord scattered the Roman guard. The strength of man is helpless to withstand the will of God.

3 . His address to the women. He had done what the women knew was beyond their strength; he had rolled away the stone; they found him sitting on it in his glorious beauty. The blessed angels terrify the enemies of the Lord; they bring joy and gladness to his chosen. The soldiers lay on the ground prostrate, like dead men. The holy women started at the glorious vision, but the heavenly music of the angel's voice soon gave them peace and joy. "Fear not ye, " the angel said. The pronoun is emphatic. The guards had cause to fear; not so those faithful women. The angel knew what had brought them there—their love and devotion for the crucified Saviour. But there was no need of their ointments and spices; there was no use for them; for the angel said, "He is not here; he is risen, as he said." There was something, perhaps, of gentle reproof in those words. The Lord had said again and again that he would rise again the third day; his disciples should have remembered his words; they should not have been thus hopeless and despairing; they should have looked forward, despite the agonies of the cross, despite the sealing of the tomb, to the glory of the Resurrection. That prophecy was now fulfilled; they might see the empty tomb: "Come, see the place where the Lord lay." They entered into the sepulchre, St. Mark tells us; they saw that the Lord was gone. The angel sent them to bear the great Easter tidings to the apostles. The apostles had not shown the courage, the affectionate devotion, of these holy women. St. John alone had stood beside the cross; no apostle, as far as we are told, had witnessed the burial. The women, too, were the first to visit the sepulchre; their devotion was rewarded; they first heard the glad tidings; they had the privilege of bearing the blessed news to the apostles, who were to be the witnesses of the Lord's resurrection and to preach his glorious gospel throughout the world. Holy women have often been the means of bringing to the faith of Christ those who have afterwards laboured most abundantly in the Saviour's cause. The angel repeated his charge: "Lo, I have told you," he said. They might not doubt; they had heard the great truth from an angel's lips.

II. THE RISEN LORD .

1 . The women on their way. They went at once, they ran. Their hearts were filled with mingled feelings. There was fear,—they could not look upon that form, bright as the lightning flash, without something of dread; but there was a great joy which overcame their fear. The Lord was risen. The thought was too great for them; it thrilled their hearts with strange, unwonted throbbings. But they went as they were bidden; and as they went a holier than an angel's voice fell upon their ears. The Lord manifests himself to those who work for him, who in obedience and faith carry to others the blessed story of his cross and his resurrection.

2 . The meeting with the Lord. Jesus met them on their way. Suddenly, in a moment, they saw the gracious form of their beloved Master; they looked once more upon that holy face, no longer stained with blood or fixed in death, but gazing on them with his wonted look of heavenly love in the full majesty of manifest Deity. "All hail!" he said; "rejoice!" Fear and joy were struggling in their hearts; but joy was the right feeling; there was no need to fear. "All hail! rejoice!" it was an ordinary formula of salutation; often a mere conventional greeting, but coming from those lips it spoke volumes; it was full of meaning, deep, holy, blessed meaning. It was the fulfilment of those precious words of his, "Ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you." The presence of the Lord bringeth joy. There is no joy so full and so holy, so sweet and so abiding, as that joy in the Lord which is granted to those who in patience and humility have taken up the cross, denying themselves daily for Christ's sake, recognizing in their hearts and lives the great truth that, since the Lord died for all, they which live should live no longer unto themselves, but unto him which died for them and rose again. These women loved the Lord; they had ministered to him; now they were going to tell the glad tidings of his resurrection. He met them himself; he bade them "Rejoice!" There, and there only, is true joy to be found, in the love of Christ, in work for Christ, in communion with Christ. They came and held him by the feet and worshipped him. They bowed themselves to the ground be[ore him in lowliest adoration. They felt something of that great awe mixed with exceeding joy which the next Sunday forced from the lips of the once unbelieving Thomas the exclamation of adoring faith, "My Lord and my God!" Their joy was too great for words; they could only offer him the worship of their hearts, prostrating themselves, holding those holy feet which three days before had been nailed to the cruel cross, scarcely able to look into his face for awe and wonder and overpowering joy. So the Christian falls down in adoring worship when the Lord reveals himself to the longing soul. When we see him by faith, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, when he manifesteth himself to his chosen as he doth not unto the world, when he saith, "Rejoice!" then they feel the truth of that most precious beatitude, "Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed;" then, though they see him not as the Marys saw his gracious face, yet, believing, they rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. In such moments his people offer up to him a holy worship—worship in spirit and in truth, such as, in his condescending love, he seeketh; a worship not selfish, not prayer for our own sakes, for the supply of our own needs, but higher than prayer; a worship which thinks not of self, but only of the Lord, which loses sight of self in the contemplation of his love, his holiness, his majesty, his glory. Such is the worship of his saints in heaven; so we must seek to worship in our poor way on earth.

3 . The message . The Lord calmed their agitation. "Be not afraid!" The angel had said the same, but the Lord's words were sweeter music even than the angelic voice. Fear was mingled even now with their great joy; human nature cannot but fear in the awful presence of God. But the Lord in his tender mercy taught them that, though risen now from the dead, he was still, not only very God, but also very Man. He sent them with the first Easter greetings to the apostles—to his brethren, as for the first time he deigned to call them. It was a message of love, a message of forgiveness. They had not acted as brethren should; they had forsaken the Lord in the hour of danger. But he recognized the truth of their love; he forgave their weakness, their terrors; he was "not ashamed to call them brethren." It was a gracious message indeed, full of sweetness to the sorrowing, conscience-stricken apostles. They were to meet the Lord in Galilee; there he would announce to them his assumption of Divine power and majesty; there they should receive the full apostolic commission and the promise of his continual presence unto the end. There were other meetings during the great forty days; but St. Matthew, who was led to dwell mainly upon the majesty and glory of the risen Lord, hastens to that great meeting, so full of momentous consequences, when the Lord in his royal power gave authority to his apostles to baptize all nations into the most holy Name.

LESSONS .

1 . The holy women loved the Lord. Let us imitate that affectionate reverent love.

2 . They said, "Who shall roll us away the stone?" Let us trust in God; the Lord will provide.

3 . The angel said, "Fear not ye." The holy angels minister for those who shall be heirs of salvation.

4 . The Lord met the holy women; he said, "Rejoice!" May we share that holy joy!

5 . They worshipped him. Let us learn to worship here, that we may one day worship in heaven.