1 Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.
2 And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it.
3 His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow.
4 And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.
5 But the angel answered and said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.
6 "He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.
7 "And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you."
8 So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His
disciples word.
The stone covering the tomb entrance was usually a thick, heavy circular slab that was rolled into a deep-cut slot carved into the rock before the entrance used to keep animals and robbers out, and usually required several men to roll it into place. Rolling it back was even more difficult as the stone had to be rolled up out of its slot and onto level ground again.
The corpse usually remained in the tomb until decomposition was complete, then the bones were removed and were usually interred on an "ossuary", a stone box that contained the bones of family members.
It is interesting that an ossuary containing the bones of Joseph ben Caiaphas, the High Priest that prosecuted Jesus as His trial was found in Israel a few years ago when excavators accidentally broke into am ancient tomb. Inside was a beautifully carved limestone ossuary with the inscription reading "Joseph ben Caiaphas. An examination of the bones determined that of a man who had died while in his 60's.
The Temple guards fainted from fear when they saw the angel and that he moved the stone from the entrance of the cave. I can't say that I blame them! Can you imagine being on watch, it is early in the morning, the sun hasn't come up yet, it is still dark and quiet. The only sounds you hear are an occasional dog bark and the quiet muttering of your comrades. You yawn sleepily, hoping your relief arrives soon so you can go to bed.
Suddenly there is a deep rumble from the ground under your feet. Everything begins to shake, rocks are tumbling down the hillside forcing you to scramble out of the way and suddenly a brilliantly shining figure appears out of nowhere and with ease rolls back the stone slab from the tomb you are guarding that it took several burly men to roll into place! Shaking with fear, you look at your fellow guards and see from the looks on their faces that they are seeing the same thing.
The reason for rolling the stone back was to show that Jesus was no longer in the tomb, not to let Him out. After His resurrection He was no longer restricted by such trivial things as space, time, and matter.
And it is interesting that the women weren't worried about being ritually defiled by entering the tomb,
they looked inside and raced away in fear and overwhelming joy to tell the other disciples the good
news that Jesus had risen from the dead as He had promised!
Matthew 28:9-10
9 And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, "Rejoice!" So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him.
10 Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me."
The last time they had seen Jesus was to wrap his mutilated crucified body and place it in a cave for burial. And here He is standing before them, not only alive, but completely whole! The joy of seeing Him again must have been incredible! Who could not worship Him?
Remember that Jesus had told the disciples that He would meet them in Galilee after His death;
Matthew 26:30-32
30 And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.
31 Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.
32 But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee.
Matthew 28:11-15
11 Now while they were going, behold, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all the things that had happened.
12 When they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers,
13 saying, "Tell them, 'His disciples came at night and stole Him away while we slept.'
14 "And if this comes to the governor's ears, we will appease him and make you secure."
15 So they took the money and did as they were instructed; and this saying is commonly
reported among the Jews until this day.
The priests and elders must have been astonished and terrified when they heard the news. But even then, their power, wealth and position were too important for them to give up, and they even then still refused to repent. Notice that only some of the guard came back. The rest were probably still running!!!
The chief priests and elders also knew that word would soon reach Pilate who would demand answers and launch an investigation into the incident. So, they told the guards to say that they were overpowered by zealous disciples who stole the body and claimed that He was resurrected, which to Pilate would be a reasonable explanation.
It's a good thing the guards weren't Roman troops! Discipline in the Roman army was brutal and abandoning their post would have resulted in their execution, and nothing the priests and elders did could have stopped it from happening.
The usual Roman method of execution for this was to have the soldiers stand as their clothing was
heaped around their feet. The clothing was smeared with a flammable substance and the soldiers were
burned alive as an example to others.
Matthew 28:16-17
16 Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them.
17 When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted.
Jesus met with his disciples and helped them overcome their doubts and fears. Some condemn those
who doubted, but after seeing what had happened to Jesus would we readily believe if we saw Him
again?
Matthew 28:18-20
18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 "teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.
We are to share Jesus with others whenever possible, just as others shared Him with us. But
remember, once the person knows about Jesus, then it must be their freewill choice to follow Jesus. It
is never our job to force anyone to follow Jesus.
With His resurrection the Father gave all of His authority in both Heaven and Earth so that Jesus is now in control of everything. The Father did this that all men may honor His Son as much as they honor Him, much as subjects in a kingdom honor both the king and his son(s).
And in this way, we can only access the Father through Jesus. There is no other mediator between us and God the Father. We worship and pray to Jesus and He in turn intercedes with the Father on our behalf.
By the same token, there is no mediator between us and Jesus Christ. We pray directly to Him and make our requests only to Him. With His death He removed the barrier of sin between men and God which had required a priesthood to intercede for us. With the removal of the barrier of sin, the need for a priesthood was also removed.
Praying to anyone (such as "Mary" and the "saints" to intercede for us before Jesus, is
necromancy, communication with the dead, condemned by God as witchcraft. They may be
alive to God, but they are dead to us! God has never commanded us to pray to or
communicate with the dead as this places them in the position of deity, which makes them
gods. No man or woman living or dead is to be prayed to, or worshiped, ever.
And while Jesus can't be here with us physically, He has sent the Holy Spirit of His Father to dwell
within us until He comes back to take us to be with Him forever. Thus He is with us always, until death
or the end of all things, whichever comes first.
Amen!!!