Based
on Matthew 28:2–15; Mark 16:1–8 (9-18); Luke 24:1–12; John 20:2-18
Over the past Christmas holiday, Hollywood released a
movie called Matrix Resurrections, a reboot of a movie trilogy which began in
1999. Somehow, both main characters who were killed off at the end of the
trilogy are brought back to life (not because it makes sense but because the
producers undoubtedly thought it would make more money from the franchise).
By no means is this movie series a Christian saga, but it
is interesting to think about the movie’s plot: that this world is an illusion
and that there is a greater reality beyond this world. But in an infinitely greater
spiritual sense, there is indeed a greater reality then this present age and
world (1 Timothy 6:17, 2 Timothy 4:10).
If you have been reading this as designed, then today is
Good Friday, a day dark in church history in despair, marking the day in which
Jesus Christ died. Today’s reading, however, reminds us that when things seem
utterly dark, a resurrection is on the horizon. Or as one person said, “It may
seem like Friday night, but Sunday’s on the way.”
Some of the darkest funerals we have experienced over the
last couple of years have been those who were young and in the prime of life.
All deaths are hard, but burying a child or grandchild is especially tough.
Today’s reading merges the four very different accounts
of the resurrection together. You would think that the gospel writers would
have collaborated a little more to make the resurrection story a little more
coherent and a little more believable.
But the differences in the four gospels make them more
believable. The heroes of the story (the disciples) are all doubters is not
very flattering to their faith. Jesus appearing to Mary Magdalene and then to
the other women the morning of the Resurrection before going to His disciples also
appears curious if it wasn’t true. Surely, the authors of these resurrection gospels
could have made it a little more “believable” to a male-dominated, patriarchal society
like first century Judaism.
John’s account is tender, but different than the other
gospels. The open-endedness of Mark’s gospel of “the women leaving the tomb,
saying nothing because they were afraid,” certainly begs for a better closure
than this! It’s bleak and sudden ending probably prompted some to add more verses
to make Mark more in harmony with the other gospels. Matthew and Luke are a
little more similar, but even these have some glaring differences in the
resurrection accounts, most notably that Matthew states the Jesus appears to all
the women who went to the tomb, but Luke does not. But the truth from the
events flows without contradiction.
There is even something more mysterious than these things:
For something as important as the resurrection of Jesus, why does God not make
it more…I want to find a better word than “believable” but I can’t. We are
talking about eternal life, not just for Jesus, but also for ourselves. Heaven
and hell are literally on the line, and we are having to trust the Almighty on
this with less than stellar evidence?
I suppose we will have to wait until we get to Heaven to let the Almighty
know how we may “disagree” with how He handled the “story line” of this world’s
“reality”. It is indeed His Story to tell! Unlike the movie Matrix, however,
God’s reason for His Son’s resurrection was not to make a buck, but to give us
an eternity to spend with Him, if for no other reason, just to learn more about
His reality.
--By Tim McKeown
