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Message Notes: 31/03/24
They came to a place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). They crucified him, Above his head they placed the written charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS. From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. When Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. When they saw earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!
… After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. Peter saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 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.” 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. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.
God!
The WONDER of what happened - there is so much rich symbolism here!
We are in a world that has lost its wonder. Everything needs to be logical, rationalized, explained, and understood.
Formation in the way of Jesus requires WONDER!
3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:3
It is not easy to convey a sense of wonder, let alone resurrection wonder, to another. It’s the very nature of wonder to catch us off guard, to circumvent expectations and assumptions. Wonder can’t be packaged, and it can’t be worked up. It requires some sense of being there and some sense of engagement. The way of Jesus cannot be imposed or mapped — it requires an active participation in following Jesus as he leads us through sometimes strange and unfamiliar territory, in circumstances that become clear only in the hesitations and questionings, in the pauses and reflections where we engage in prayerful conversation with one another and with him. Eugene H. Peterson
PASSOVER
2.5M - 3M people in the city to celebrate and recall how God delivered them from Egypt - saved by the blood of the lamb
DARKNESS
covered the land from 12 pm - 3 pm
Echoes of Genesis 1 and the 9th plague in Exodus 10:22-23 (the 10th plague was the killing of the firstborn
Most likely this was the time when Jesus was enduring the wrath of the Father
VICTORY SHOUT
"It is finished"
CURTAIN TORN
likely 15 x 20m heavy veil, cut from top to bottom. The priests would have been in the inner court at 3 PM when this happened, preparing for the evening sacrifice.
The way into God's presence is now open and the sacrificial system is made obsolete
EARTH QUAKE
Echo of Sianai and, Psalms, earth-shaking!! Intervention, judgment, anger
TOMBS OPENED
The finality of the grave is removed
This happens Friday afternoon, as the Sabbath is about to start
Likely No one would deal with the open graves until after the Sabbath
JESUS
The way Matthew records this, it seems Jesus left the tomb before the stone was moved!! And his Graveclothes the way the text is written, not unwrapped, but as if his body just passed through. Either way, there is something very intentional about it!
RESURRECTED DEAD
People whose tombs were opened on Friday now rise up and go into the city
Unexpected - No one was expecting this! You never know what God is going to do.
response the very point is to catch us off guard.
Undramatic - The revelation of Jesus himself is low-key
Unlikely - the most unlikely person, Mary Magdalene, is chosen to be the first Gospel
Cultivating WONDER
Slow down enough to wonder!
Response: Fall in reverence (Hb shachah) | and touch his feet (Gk proskuneo)
Shachah - bow down, go lower, on knees, forehead on the ground.
Proskuneo - move toward with the intention of intimacy
We need both for wonder - Fear, familiarity
