I’ve said many times before how much I love the Gospel accounts of the resurrection of Jesus. Critics will often point out all the discrepancies we find in them and declare the whole story as untrustworthy because of them. But it’s precisely because of those discrepancies that I find them so compelling! The narrative carries the tone of people who were shocked by something unexpected and impossible to believe, who stumble all over themselves trying to piece together the chain of events that led to their world being turned upside down.

We’re just a few studies out from completing our study in Matthew, and we’ll be reading Matthew 28:1-15 which describes the mind-imploding event of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.

Everything about this event carries the message of God’s intent for this world. Resurrection proclaims new creation. That’s what we’ll be focusing on this Sunday.

There’s an interesting pattern of reversal that we find that bridges ch 27:45-66 and ch 28:1-15. We start with darkness, then an earthquake, then Jesus dies and the religious leaders plot. Then in ch 28 we begin with light, and an earthquake, then Jesus lives, and the religious leaders plot. It’s a reversal of things…well, not all things, the religious leaders seem stuck in their repeated action – but for those outside of that, new life, new light, and new hope has dawned.

We’ll get into in more depth on Sunday. I hope you can join us as we explore the most important event that human history contains.