Matthew 28:1-10
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 worshipped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me."
Jesus told us some things from the very beginning. One of those things was that he was here for something new, something entirely different. Isaiah 43 foretold this long before Jesus came to live and work among us. — “Do not dwell on the past...See! I am doing a new thing!”
The three synoptic gospels — Matthew, Mark, and Luke — all tell the same story that Jesus spoke about not putting new wine into old wineskins — that we just can’t do it because the effervescence of the new wine will burst and destroy the old, stiff wineskins. The story of Jesus’ resurrection seems unbelievable to us because we are still, so much of the time, stuck hanging onto our old wineskins of doubt and fear.
Jesus continuing to live among us after we watched him die on Good Friday seems to be a miracle to us, when in reality it is just Jesus living that new thing, that new life, he promised us from the beginning. We simply can’t fit Jesus into our old wineskins. We have to let go of them. The effervescence that is new life in Jesus simply refuses to be contained in our old, spent wineskins. When we let the truth of Jesus in, the old skins have to burst and we are thrust out into the light of Easter. An eternal new morning has broken on us. And we are invited to live in it for always.
Christ is Risen! Alleluia!
The three synoptic gospels — Matthew, Mark, and Luke — all tell the same story that Jesus spoke about not putting new wine into old wineskins — that we just can’t do it because the effervescence of the new wine will burst and destroy the old, stiff wineskins. The story of Jesus’ resurrection seems unbelievable to us because we are still, so much of the time, stuck hanging onto our old wineskins of doubt and fear.
Jesus continuing to live among us after we watched him die on Good Friday seems to be a miracle to us, when in reality it is just Jesus living that new thing, that new life, he promised us from the beginning. We simply can’t fit Jesus into our old wineskins. We have to let go of them. The effervescence that is new life in Jesus simply refuses to be contained in our old, spent wineskins. When we let the truth of Jesus in, the old skins have to burst and we are thrust out into the light of Easter. An eternal new morning has broken on us. And we are invited to live in it for always.
Christ is Risen! Alleluia!
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