One of the earliest calumnies against Jesus’s followers was the accusation that they took his body out of the tomb and hid it and then claimed, in the absence of any credible evidence, that he rose from the dead. In our Gospel reading today, the inspired author of Matthew, writing about 50 years later, turns the table on this accusation. We must be careful, however, not to let Matthew's blaming be a cause for religiously-rooted antisemitism.
This attempt at contextualizing should not give rise to religiously-rooted antisemitism. The author of Matthew takes great care in singling out Jewish religious leaders. Besides, it seems all but certain that the author(s) of Matthew, too, is Jewish.
Matthew’s Gospel was written for and in the midst of what we might call a Christian synagogue. In this Gospel we encounter a on-going polemic against the Jewish authorities of the day. Hence, it is not surprise that “the chief priests’ are said to be guilty of bribing the guards, who, it seems, were eyewitnesses of Jesus’s resurrection, to say that the Jesus’s disciples came along while they were sleeping and took his body.1
In addition to giving them a large sum of money in return for their false testimony, the chief priests also employed an element of blackmail: in exchange for their false testimony, the chief priests and the elders would vouch for the guards if the Roman governor of the unruly governate of Palestine learned of claims of Jesus’s resurrection and started to make inquiries.2
According to Matthew, Jesus only appears to the two Marys after they left the tomb in the wake of their encounter with the angel who informed them that Jesus was not in the tomb but was risen. The Gospel tells us that as a result of their encounter with the angel, the two women were “fearful yet overjoyed.”3 Fearful because they did not really know what it all meant. Overjoyed because just maybe Jesus was not dead but risen as they were told. Could it be?
As the women leave to go and tell the others that Jesus is not dead but alive and that he will meet them in their native Galilee, they run into the resurrected Lord in person. Upon encountering the Risen One, they fall down, embrace his feet, “and did him homage.”4 Their doubts, but not the fears, seem to be dispelled. Echoing the words of the angel, the risen Christ tells them “Do not be afraid.”5 Still repeating what the angel said, Jesus reiterates: “Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”6
But what about us? Those who believe without having the kind of concrete encounter Jesus’s first followers experienced? “Exalted at the right hand of God,” the Risen Lord has “poured” the Holy Spirit “forth.”7
The lengthy Scripture reading for this morning’s Office of Readings comes from the beginning of the First Letter of Saint Peter- the same Peter who testifies in our first reading on the day of the first Christian Pentecost. He writes about what is wrought by the Holy Spirit’s power:
Although you have not seen him you love him; even though you do not see him now yet believe in him, you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, as you attain the goal of [your] faith, the salvation of your souls8More importantly, he writes about just how salvation is achieved. He states that God, the Father, in his “great mercy” given us in and through Jesus Christ has given us
a new birth to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you who by the power of God are safeguarded through faith, to a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the final time9Our salvation is not achieved by our own merits but through the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, who bore our infirmities, both spiritual and physical. Neither should this rebirth be a cause of pious sentimentalism. Just as the first Christians suffered calumnies such as being accused of faking Jesus’s resurrection, accusations of cannibalism regarding the Eucharist, and, from a pagan perspective, even atheism, we, too, suffer. The pandemic and its effects are more indicative of the kind of suffering we continue to endure, which is common to all of humanity, not specific to Christians.
While we rejoice in our rebirth, “for a little while you may have to suffer through various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that is perishable even though tested by fire, may prove to be for praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ10
1 Matthew 28:11-13.↩
2 Matthew 28:14.↩
3 Matthew 28:8.↩
4 Matthew 28:9.↩
5 Matthew 28:10.↩
6 Matthew 28:10.↩
7 Acts 2:33.↩
8 1 Peter 1:8-9.↩
9 1 Peter 1:3-5.↩
10 1 Peter 1:6-7.↩
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