Mysteries Of Gloryنموونە

The Resurrection of Jesus

There is no story in the Bible quite as dramatic, uplifting, or inexplicable as the story of Jesus’ resurrection. As our first mystery to ponder upon, it is stunning.

We focus on Matthew’s telling of the story and note with interest his depiction of the angel in the scene.

Previously in Matthew’s Gospel the angels only spoke with humans through dreams (Chapter 1), they ministered in person to Jesus in the wilderness (Chapter 4), and Jesus referred to them seeing the face of God (Chapter 18).

Here though, after the resurrection, the angel appears in person and physically rolls away the stone and then with a delightful touch of detail sits on the stone.

The angel is terrifying, a fact demonstrated by the guards being frozen with fear. It sits on the stone though and tells the two Marys not to be afraid. These two women are able to not only remain conscious in the presence of such a being, but respond to its instruction.

It is profound to realise that when we respond to God’s continual message of ‘not being afraid,’ we are able to witness to and play our part in the implementation of His Kingdom here on earth.

One detail to note is that the angel is not letting Jesus out of the tomb, Jesus has already left, but rather the angel is letting the Marys into the tomb. The angel reveals a truth that changes our understanding of everything.

Of course, the angel is not the focus of this story. The focus is on the one who is not there – Jesus. The mystery of the resurrection is totally beyond our comprehension. We, at best, have glimpses of understanding of what happened. We have pages of theology helping us grapple with it, but in truth, it is simply a mystery. Jesus, fully human, fully divine, died and then rose again and this transformed the universe.

Let us repeat a simple prayer over and over as an aid to allowing the enormity of this mystery to fill our being. We pray that we too can ‘not be afraid’ and thus witness God’s profound action in our daily lives.