The Main Event

PASSAGE FOR THE DAY:
Matthew 28 (click the link)


KEY PASSAGE:
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20, NIV)


THE BIG IDEA:
Jesus has risen. Jesus conquered death. Jesus has been given all authority in heaven and on earth.


REFLECTIONS:
This chapter is huge, the main event. Bigger than the Big Bang by a gazillion billion. I’ll attempt to do justice to this chapter, but I tremble at my puniness. 

We have a unique faith. Christianity holds that God in the form of man, lived, preached, died for our sins; but unique from all faiths we believe that Jesus, this man/God or God/man, rose from the dead resurrected and now sits at the right hand of the Father. 

At this point in Matthew, Jesus had completed his ministry. He had lived a perfect life. He was the new Adam. He had also been crucified, making Him a perfect sacrifice for all our sins. He paid the price. I believe He, as divine, did all this as a man limiting His Godliness. He showed us that a man could live a perfect life, sinless. All the miracles He performed were really through His perfect relationship with His Father. In this perfect relationship with the Father He followed through with the plan and died on the cross, but then an earthquake and lightning and BAM! it happened, the main event. He rose from the grave and was resurrected. 

I really liked Leigh Anne’s take on the transfiguration of Jesus found in Matthew 17. She stated “This fascinates me because it wasn’t a new miracle, but the temporary suspension of an ongoing one. The real miracle was that most of the time Jesus could keep from displaying His glory.” So we see in Matthew 28 Jesus taking on his true nature and now He displays His glory. 

This chapter is broken into 3 sections:

• Jesus Has Risen
• The Guards’ Report
• The Great Commission

The first section is the main event for Christianity and I’m not sure I could ever do it justice in a devotional, so I’ll focus on a detail that fascinates me. I’m like that. I notice that there seems to be an inconsistency between what the angel tells the women will happen and what actually happens next. The angel says “Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.” Then notice what happens: “So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. ‘Greetings,’ he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him” (28:8-9). It seems to me that the angel and Jesus didn’t sync up on the plan. Jesus was going to meet them in Galilee, but here He is where they are. Why? 

I don’t really know that this is an important detail, but I like to think that this is just like our God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. He is where we need Him. These women must have been filled with an amazing amount and diversity of emotion. I would think that they were about to explode. In that moment Jesus responds to their need and meets them. He interrupts His plans and meets them and is willing to meet us in our moments of need. 

The next section is just goofy, but right on track with how many responded to Jesus. The guards were there at the tomb and saw with their own eyes the angel and the stone being rolled away and yet were willing to take money from the chief priests to deny the resurrection of Jesus. The priests who were looking for a Messiah and wanting signs really were working against what they believed. Check out Matthew 27:62-66. In this sub plot to the story, the priests knew Jesus had said “On the third day I will rise again” and so they posted this guard to make sure Jesus’ words didn’t come true. But Jesus’ words did come true. The guards and the priest knew it, but didn’t accept what they now knew to be true. This shows their stubbornness and is one more example of mankind’s stubbornness to God’s plan. 

The last section, the Great Commission, reminds me of the parable found in Matthew 20 called the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard. In this parable a landowner is urgently gathering workers for harvest. Here in the Great Commission Jesus enlist the disciple to gather workers for His harvest. I’m focusing here on “Therefore go and make disciples of all the nations” (28:19). The call is make disciples not just for the disciples to harvest. Jesus is calling for more workers in the fields. 

The last of interesting details I’ll go into are the words that cover the reactions of those at these events. The women were “afraid yet filled with joy” and the disciples “worshiped Him, but some doubted." When I come into contact with the divine presence of God these emotions fit mine, afraid, but joyful, worshipful, but doubting. I’m afraid because I’m not sure I’m ready or able to accept the call of God. I’m joyful because God has included me. I worship because I’m struck by the greatness of God. I doubt because I can’t understand what God would see in me. 


POINT OF ACTION:
I want to be resurrected. I want a resurrected body, but better still I want a resurrected mind and spirit. Jesus came to earth and lived a perfect life, but I’ve made so many mistakes. Meditate on Jesus words and relationship with the Father. Accept the justifying grace given all of us by Jesus on the cross and know that Jesus conquered all through the resurrection. He can change your heart and mind if you’ll let Him. 


PRAYER:
Jesus, you have authority over all heaven and earth and now my mind, heart and spirit. Heal me and make me new again. Help me to hear your voice and accept your call to the harvest. 


WHO AM I?
While I was writing this Gayle and I were preparing to travel to Israel with six others from PRF.  While you’re reading this we would have been in Israel about a week. We (Greg & Leigh Anne Bland, Beth Peeples, Pam Hucht, Adrien Branch, Lesa Wheat, and David and Gayle Norris are all very excited. Once fully assembled in New York, the group will total 35. Please pray for us on this trip. Pray that our minds are opened to and that our hearts filled with the Holy Spirit while we spend time in Israel. Love y’all and see you when we get back.