A Lenten Reading of Matthew - Easter Sunday

Scripture Reading: Matthew 28:1-20 (NRSVUE)

I've certainly enjoyed working through Matthew's Gospel during this Lenten Season and I appreciate you following along.  Although Lent ended yesterday, I felt it appropriate to end with the Easter chapter on Easter Sunday.

Matthew has the earth shake when Jesus dies on the cross, so it seems appropriate that the earth shakes again with the resurrection.  This is a cosmic understanding of Jesus' death and resurrection in that even the earth groans under this significant and dynamic event.

We also see the soldiers at the tomb in Matthew stricken with fear.  They were large and in charge when Jesus was crucified as a revolutionary.  But we see a reversal in Matthew.  They are now the dead - or at least appear to be so.

It is a not-so-subtle commentary on the power of God overcoming the earthly power of empire.

The guards' story in verses 11-15 are an early apologetic by Matthew for his community to help downplay rumors that were going around at that time.  The bribes offered and accepted are reminders of Judas and we can see that this doesn't lead to life.

Matthew treats his listeners as mature in that he includes doubt as a part of the response of the disciples to the resurrection.  It would be quite natural to question reality in viewing the risen Lord - especially after the violence that had taken place.  It is not shameful and is a part of faith.

The larger part of faith is to act in spite of one's doubts.  

As they receive the Great Commission, they act upon their faith even though doubt was present.  They declare through the church that resurrection is stronger than violence.  Life overcomes death.

In Matthew, Jesus ends as he began: Emmanuel - God with us.  Christ is with us always.  To the end of the age.

This is how we maintain our faith in the midst of difficulty.  This is how we can embrace righteousness as a way of deeply caring for those on the outside looking in.  This is how we can take the Sermon on the Mount and the parables to heart.

May the risen Christ be with you today and always!

Prayer for the day:

The risen, living Christ calls us by our name;
   comes to the loneliness within us;
   heals that which is wounded within us;
   comforts that which grieves within us;
   releases us from that which has dominion over us;
   cleanses us of that which does not belong to us;
   renews that which feels drained within us;
   awakens that which is asleep in us;
   names that which is still formless within us;
   empowers that which is newborn within us;
   consecrates and guides that which is strong within us;
   restores us to this world which needs us;
   reaches out in endless love to others through us.
The risen, living Christ calls us by our name.

Prayer by Flora Slosson Wuellner, United Church of Christ, 20th Century

Photo by Tim Haynes via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license.

Daily Devotion for Easter Sunday 2025

Today's Reading: Job, Chapter Forty-two

It is fitting to finish this study on Job on Easter as we see that resurrection comes in today's conclusion.

Job is finally vindicated just as he has been asking for throughout the book.  It is interesting that we see Job is responsible for praying for his three friends.  Their fate is in his hands.  I can see them saying to him, "Remember how we came and sat with you in silence for seven days?"

Of course, Job forgives them because Job is a righteous man.

Or it could be that it would be nice to have his friends around so he could rub their noses in his victory for the rest of their lives!  This is written tongue-in-cheek (and doesn't fit with his righteousness) but is funny to think about nonetheless.

Job's fortunes in livestock are restored to twice what he had before.  We assume his boils and sores also heal nicely.

One difficulty for modern readers is the ten replacement children that Job sires.  Job's wife may not have felt that this was such a great blessing at her age (and already birthing ten previously)!

This reminds us that this story is told from a patriarchal lens.  The restoration has more to do with the honor of the head of the household.  The family name and prosperity are secured with these new offspring.  In this culture, the individual is minimized to the point where an ancient reader would be fine with the idea that ten new children are acceptable replacements for the former children.  They are regrettable losses and it is sad to be sure, but what matters is the security of the overall family line.

Another odd thing about this ending is that this is actually the argument that Job's three friends were making all along: the righteous receive earthly blessings while the wicked are punished in the here and now.  If you are blessed materially, you must have God's favor for good behavior.  If you are suffering, you must have done something offensive to God.

The argument that Job (and the theme running throughout the book) is that faith is not always transactional.  Sometimes the wicked get away with their bad deeds (at least at a surface glance) and sometimes people are good but are not necessarily rewarded for it.

We see this new way of thinking through the Easter story.

Judas dies but is not killed by God.  Rather, Judas takes his own life.  

Peter gets off the hook for his denials.

Thomas isn't told to go to the back of the class for his doubting - he receives the same assurance as the other disciples.

The eleven disciples who deserted Jesus are promoted to apostles who will lead the church.

We see grace offered in spite of their failings.  But this doesn't mean that being a disciple is a get-out-of-suffering-free card.  What we find is that our faith helps get us through the difficulties of life.

A resurrection faith is optimistic - we believe that life is ultimately stronger than death and that God will eventually win out.  This seems to be the point of Job.  This would be especially true if we see Job as a metaphor for Judah.  The exile is not permanent, and God's people will have a future.

For a people that are more community-oriented rather than individual-oriented, this is enough.

Prayer for the day:

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.  Amen.

Prayer from the Gloria Patri: Lesser Doxology, 3rd-4th centuries

Photo by Jason Thompson on Unsplash

Daily Devotion for Lent 2024, Wrap-up for Easter Sunday

“No good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit; for each tree is known by its own fruit. For people do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a bramble bush.  The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil, for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks."

“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I tell you?  I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, hears my words, and acts on them.  That one is like a man building a house who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock; when a flood arose, the river burst against that house but could not shake it because it had been well built.  But the one who hears and does not act is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river burst against it, it quickly collapsed, and great was the ruin of that house.”

                                                                    Luke 6:43-49 (NRSVue)

 

Can a leopard change its spots?  

Can you teach an old dog new tricks?

Can you make a silk purse out of a sow's ear?

These old adages allow us to stay set in our ways as if change were impossible.  They become easy excuses for us to hold onto when we know we need to make some fundamental shift in the way we are doing things.

Change is difficult.  I've heard it said that when people are told to alter their diets or they will surely eat themselves into the grave, the majority are unable to make a long-lasting adjustment.  So old habits do seem to die hard.  

It would take a miracle to change.

For Christians, we celebrate this miracle in the world through Easter.  The resurrection allows us to see others differently and it allows us to see ourselves in a new light.  It forgives the sins that lead to death and declares that they are not as powerful as we make them out to be.

Easter reveals that you are good fruit today and that we can throw yesterday's thorns in the trash.  

The important part of reading through the Sermon on the Mount and the Sermon on the Plain through Lent will come tomorrow.  How do we integrate these messages into our lives?

What does Easter mean on Monday?  or Tuesday?

Can we develop an Easter foundation for our house?

Jesus believes we can or he wouldn't have wasted his time preaching this message. 

We can turn a new leaf.

We can start from scratch.

We can wipe the slate clean.

But on Easter, we recognize that we don't have to do this of our own accord.  Life and light have won over death and darkness.  That is enough for me and for you.

Prayer for the day: Loving God, we give thanks for the teachings of Jesus that give us life.  When we see them in light of the resurrection, they begin to take a new shape for us.  Help us to live out these sermons of resurrection in the everyday.  May we be more like the saints Jesus declares us to be.  And may our foundation in Christ never waver.  We pray these things in the name of the risen Lord.  Amen.

Photo by Claudio via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license. 

New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.