Witnesses
Resurrection
After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.” So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came to him, took hold of 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.” —Matthew 28:1-10
Let’s hold on to that phrase for a little while, So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Have you ever been caught between fear & joy?
Some of my stories about having both fear and joy involve new beginnings. For example, my daughter’s birth… And my daughter’s wedding… Stories of fear & joy.
Fear & joy often come with new beginnings: Sending a child off to school, handing them the keys to the car, presenting their hand in marriage. Fear & joy. Like, beholding the resurrection for the first time.
The women go to the tomb, see that it is empty, meet the messenger, hear his news, receive his instruction to tell the disciples, and run away to tell the disciples with fear and joy. It isn’t hard to imagine why. Do you hear them talking to one another. How could we really say that?! –When it sounds so crazy, when we have no proof beyond our words, when we’re women for crying out loud, and no one will ever believe us! Why are we the ones elected to be the first witnesses of the resurrection?
The women are captive to old authority structures that would never permit such speech. And according to Luke 24:11, the disciples did receive it as “idle talk” or “nonsense.” But they go anyway, with fear and joy.[1]
The resurrection! It’s a new dawn; old things are gone. The future will never be the same because God has acted by raising Jesus from the dead. And these women are the first to behold it; the first to testify about it; with fear & joy. These women are our first gospel witnesses.
Now a witness is one who beholds, sees, and experiences. Because they have gazed upon the evidence, then they turn and give voice to what they have seen and heard. They testify. Like a witness of a car accident, you have an obligation. You see the accident. You give a report to the officer. And if there is a dispute, you offer testimony in court.
And we behold the resurrection for the first time by either reading the stories in the Bible, listening to a preacher, or listening to a friend share their faith. And the first time we think about resurrection, it is more than odd; it’s unbelievable. Nothing in our experience supports the claim. Nothing in the hard sciences supports the claim. It is beyond incredible; it is nonsensical, illogical, unverifiable, and irrational. And that is the thing about testimony, it is not something that can be proven, only believed or rejected. The only proof is the reliability or credibility of the witness.
So, we read this text and behold an empty tomb. The “how” is not explained by Matthew. The resurrection is not even described. It is as though it happens off stage. What we have in Matthew is: frozen guards, a rolled away stone, an angel as witness, and an empty tomb. And we are here 2000 some odd years later and we believe this text and experience God and God’s salvation through our own resurrections.
For us to be “witnesses,” then there needs to be good news to proclaim. “Is there any news?” When we talk to our neighbors, friends, colleagues, will there be any news today? Will God be named today? Imagine your friends are like the disciples locked up in a room and for whom the world has sagged under the weight of living out its days with no good news to give it life. Suddenly there we are at the door, out of breath from our running, faces flush from what we have seen and heard at the empty tomb, and they look at us with wonderment and expectation, their faces asking, ‘Is there any news?’”[2]
[1] Adapted from Anna Carter Florence, Preaching as Testimony, pgs. xvii, 118.
[2] Adapted from Tom Long, “No News is Bad News,” in What’s the Matter with Preaching, 157.