Take for instance verses 2-7....
"And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing a white as snow. The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come see the place where He was lying."
Okay, did anyone else stop and think to themselves, "A severe earthquake, an angel of the Lord that was strong enough to break the special Roman sealed tomb, who also happened to look like lightning and dressed in all white... o AND was scary enough that the guards feared him enough to become like dead men, DEAD MEN. That's right just the appearance of the angel was scary enough to do that! Wait and if the story wasn't full of tons of crazy "WHAT?!?!?!" moments, the angel talks to the women, saying what to me are the most critical words ever spoken by any angel. "He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said." Seriously, how does Matthew cram all of that into five verses. I'm not asking for him to include the weather information but at least a little more information than that.
O but to continue on this journey of complete astonishment... verses 8-10
"And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to report it to His disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them. They came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and take word to My brethren to leave for Galilee, and there they will see me."
Umm, Jesus appears, talks, and gives instructions in 3 verses, enough said.
Verse 11-15
"Now while they were on their way, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all that happened. And when they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, and said, "You are to say, 'His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep.' And if this should come to the governor's ears, we will win him over and keep you out of trouble." And they took the money and did as they had been instructed; and this story was widely spread among the Jews, and is to this day."
Now, I know this is important to the story but truthfully, Matthew just told us about Jesus appearing, talking, and giving instructions. Why the interlude? Get on with the Jesus stuff.
Verse 16-20
"But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful. And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
Whatever you say boss, you just rose from the dead.
See what I mean, Matthew took 19 verses to give us a detailed description of who begot who and only gives us 20 verses on the resurrection of our King? Not even 20, five of them are talking about the soldiers plot to lie to the whole world. Really? Does it sounds bad that I find myself grateful for the other three gospels. At least this book doesn't end as choppy as the book of Acts. Acts always leaves me with this since of what? I was just getting into the story? Where's the next 600 pages.
Moving onto Mark. Pray that your bible reading for the year is going well. FRAC family, I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Grateful for His grace,
Brandy
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