April 21, 2025 • 39 mins
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Thanks, leo.
Leo's a junior.
We've been getting differentseniors to come up here.
Those of you who've been herethe last couple of weeks We've
been highlighting them.
Next week we're going to have asenior back.
It's going to be awesome, but Idid want to highlight actually
a senior.
I want to thank you personallyfor your generosity.
We learned this last week thatthere is a senior high schooler
at Benicia High that has foundthemselves homeless and nowhere
(00:23):
to live and has been likesleeping like in the bushes and
this young girl, and so we gotconnected and through your
generosity, we were actually,and some other people were able
to find her a room to stay in.
Last night she stayed there forthe first time.
We covered her rent through theend of the year so she could
finish high school.
So it was great, you guys.
So she doesn't come here, butshe came here today actually
(00:45):
because she wanted to meetpeople and say thank you,
because she slept in this newspace.
You guys helped furnish some ofthat, even with dishes and food
.
So thank you for yourgenerosity.
Just by being a part of thisfaith community, you know we're
living this out, representing tothe community and to the young
ones.
So just specifically thank youfor that.
So there's a highlight of asenior Before I get into this.
(01:07):
We have a gazillion things goingon.
I sent out an email this lastweek Over the next two weeks.
So many things going on.
So I'll just say it reallyquickly.
Right now we have a prayer roomexperience going on.
It's literally happening rightnow.
It's in the Commons building.
You can check that out if youwant to.
We have space.
There's prompts in there.
You don't even have to knowwhat you're doing.
You can go after this serviceif you want to.
It's 24 hours a day throughthis entire week up to our Good
(01:30):
Friday experience.
There's also a table out there.
You can sign up for differenttimes If you want to pick a slot
.
Those of you who are a nightowl, go check it out.
Do the crazy middle of thenight stuff.
It's a great experience.
Don't miss it.
On that, that all leads up toour Good Friday experience.
This is like a reflective moment, like Stations of the Cross.
This room's going to be emptiedout, there's going to be
(01:51):
different stations and this isat a go-at-your-own pace.
So I believe your stuff saysanytime between four and seven.
You can just drop in andparticipate in that.
It's very powerful, veryreflective.
It's a somber, apparent note.
It's like PG-13, just as aheads up for that Reflective.
And then that's in preparationthen for Easter service Doing
(02:12):
three services on Easter.
We're going to have to knockdown some walls to make all the
room for everybody.
This is going to be great.
We're going to have those threeservices 7 o'clock that all of
you are so excited to come to.
The seven o'clock service.
It's going to be awesome.
Then we have nine o'clock and11 o'clock.
Right now we have over 70people currently signed up to
get baptized, which is going tobe amazing.
And this is what I'm going tosay about that.
(02:41):
Yeah, for sure, I'm excited.
It's going to be invited.
Someone come to whicheverservice is best and most
comfortable for them.
But two, don't just like stayat home because you're like, oh,
there's so many people, or likeI want to make space.
Do not miss out on the holymoment that's going to take
place as we celebrate the stuffthat's going to go on in here,
like as a faith community, let'sgather.
Let's gather in person.
So those of you online, I'llsee you next week in the room.
(03:02):
It's going to be great.
So it's Easter service baptismsnot too late to sign up for
that, you can do that.
And then the week after, thisis incredible Today, including
today, there's only three weeksleft.
In the book, according toMatthew, we've been going
through this for like 17 years.
It's awesome.
We're wrapping up no, literallyalmost four.
And so the week after, mark iton your calendar as the 27th.
(03:24):
Come here, we're going to dosome celebrating, like we're
going to finish this thing.
I don't care if you just caughttwo, just come for the last two
, like let's go, and then we'regoing to see what kind of goes
next from there.
But we're going to end that,too, with a picnic.
We got like a shaved ice placecoming.
We got some iPhone person.
(03:48):
If you make your phone go likethis against it, it works.
If you're an Android, you justhave to, like I don't know bang
it or something like that, butanyways, it pops up and there's
a place to sign up for, like apark, because we have parking
spots to reserve there.
Also, you can sign up for anyof the stuff that I told you
about.
So there, all right, let's hopin.
There is so much, as you heard,there's so much to cover today,
that we are unpacking and Jesuswas dead.
(04:09):
Remember that's how we ended.
Jesus is dead.
That is the first thing that wehave to understand as we
approach the text this morningthat Jesus was dead after six
long, torturous hours hanging onthe cross, life slowly ebbing
out of him, moment byexcruciatingly painful moment,
(04:30):
and finally, as we ended lastweek, he cried out again in a
loud voice and gave up hisspirit, and with that Jesus was
dead.
Now, having described thismoment when Jesus died on the
cross, matthew actually callsupon his readers, or, at the
time, his listeners, to considerfour phenomenon that occurred
(04:54):
at this terrible moment whichsupernaturally now marked the
Messiah Jesus's death.
Now I'm going to talk firstabout the first three, and those
words start in today's verses,starting in verse 51.
At that moment, the curtain ofthe temple was torn in two from
top to bottom.
The earth shook and the rockssplit.
(05:15):
So the first, the veil of thetemple, was torn in two from top
to bottom.
Now the temple veil wasdescribed in Exodus 26.
This is in the Old Testament,and it's divided.
The temple there is dividedinto like a main sanctuary and
it divided those into twoseparate rooms.
The first chamber was calledthe holy place.
The second chamber was locatedbehind the veil, which is called
(05:37):
the holy of holies.
God's presence on earth wasthought to reside in the holy of
holies because this is wherethe chamber that originally
housed and held the Ark of theCovenant in the mercy seat, and
no one was allowed to go beyondthe temple veil and enter the
Holy of Holies, except for oneperson, who was the high priest,
(05:58):
and they were only allowed todo it on one occasion per year,
on Yom Kippur, or this is knownas the Day of Atonement.
Not only that, but the templeveil was massive.
The Mishnah, which is thisancient oral tradition of the
Jews.
It actually describes thedimensions.
It says that the curtain hasthe thickness of a hand breath.
(06:19):
And with regard to thedimensions of the curtain, its
length was 40 cubits as theheight of the ceiling of the
sanctuary, and its width was 20cubits to match the width of the
entrance.
Now these ancient measurementsapproximately convert to 60 feet
high, which is almost twice ashigh as this building, and 30
(06:41):
feet wide, with a thickness offour inches or more.
So I mean, this thing ismassive.
It is so heavy, and the Mishnahactually goes on to explain
that, when the priests wouldmake a new veil, that the
curtain was so heavy and you canimagine this, it was so heavy
that more than 300 priests hadto carry it.
So let's just imagine this fora minute.
(07:03):
I mean putting it intoperspective that the tearing of
the temple veil in two from topto bottom would have been deeply
disturbing to the Jews.
Like it would have likely.
They would have interpreted itin a couple different ways.
I mean, first, they would haveinterpreted this as they
experienced this, to signify,maybe, that the Lord's presence
(07:24):
was no longer with Israel.
Another way the Jews could havealso interpreted the tearing
was to signify the Lord'sdispleasure with Israel.
But what this was was Godshowing how his earthly temple
home was no longer going to be aroom of bricks, but rather he
was going to dwell in humanhearts.
(07:46):
So the significance of the veilin the temple being torn in two
is actually the opposite offear and dread.
It signified something likemarvelous and wonderful that was
taking place.
The tearing of the temple veilindicated that the barrier
between holy God and sinful manwas no longer going to be the
(08:07):
obstacle in a relationshipbetween the creator and the
image bearers and Jesus removedthe veil.
The temple of the veil beingtorn in two was also a result,
actually, of Jesus's fulfillmentof the law and the yielding of
his spirit, which Matthew hadjust mentioned, which completed
the perfect and everlastingsacrifice.
(08:30):
Now what we can do is noticehow Matthew links the Messiah's
death and the yielding of aspirit immediately to the
tearing of the veil by making itthe first thing that he records
after the death of Jesus, whereGod shows how the manifestation
of his divine presence is nolonger going to be confined to a
(08:52):
temple stone, but God wasmoving out.
God's new earthly temple wouldbe human hearts, and we actually
see and read later in Scripturethat God sent his spirit 50
days later to live in the heartsof believers.
And that's just a teaser as aheads up more on the Holy Spirit
(09:12):
this summer.
The second phenomenon thatMatthew lists that marked Jesus
the Messiah's death, it says,and the earth shook.
Matthew is the only one of thefour gospels to mention these
next three phenomenon the earthshaking, rock splitting.
And then we'll get to the lastone in just a few moments.
(09:33):
Matthew's mentioning of theearth shaking was connecting,
which he often tried to do, aswe've read throughout the entire
gospel connecting to thefulfillment of prophecy.
As we've read throughout theentire gospel connecting to the
fulfillment of prophecyconcerning the Messiah's death.
Jesus' death right here is theday of judgment and the earth
shook and when he died, thisactually fulfilled the prophecy
(09:56):
that was written in the OldTestament by Joel foretold what
would happen on the day ofjudgment.
Actually, in Joel 2.10, it saysbefore then, the earthquakes,
the heavens tremble, the sun andthe moon grow dark.
Remember, the earth grew darkin those moments and the stars
lose their brightness.
Now it's interesting.
If you do your historicalresearch, you can actually find
(10:17):
this event was recorded outsideof Scripture as well.
At that time, the Olympics weretaking place in Philegon of
Triales, the chronicle of theOlympiad.
That takes into account thehistorical and major natural
events stretching all the wayback to the time of the first
Olympic Games, and Jerome quotesPhilegon as saying this.
(10:40):
However, in the fourth year ofthe 202nd Olympiad, an eclipse
of the sun happened, greater andmore excellent than any had
happened before it, at the sixthhour.
Recall the last week when thistook place.
Day turned into dark night, sothat the stars were seen in the
sky, and an earthquake inBithynia toppled many buildings
(11:04):
of the city of Nicaea.
The third phenomenon Matthewlists that marked Jesus, the
Messiah's death was that therocks were split.
So this is important for us tounderstand that the rocks
splitting upon Jesus's birth,jesus's death, was only found in
Matthew.
But when Jews heard this orwould read this that was written
(11:29):
, this gospel that was writtento them, they would have
immediately connected a dot, andthat dot was to Moses in the
wilderness.
We don't do that necessarily asquickly because we're not as
familiar, and this was somethingthat they constantly were
learning and reading about andthey understood deeply.
And this was about when Moseswas leading Israel through the
(11:50):
desert wilderness.
And what had happened was Mosesstruck a rock and the Lord
miraculously caused life-givingwater to gush forth, allowing
the people and their livestockto actually drink freely.
And these events were talkedabout and retold numerous times
throughout all of the OldTestament, not just in the
narrative when it took place,but King David talks about it
(12:11):
many times through the Psalmsand immediately upon hearing
this or reading this, thelistener would have jumped right
away to that moment.
Now there's no reports that wesee in history of physical water
flowing when the rocks split atJesus's death, but we do know
that Jesus, who Matthew ispainting as the second Moses,
provides living water, spiritualwater for spiritual life in a
(12:37):
desert of sin, and thisspiritual drink of eternal life
became freely available toeveryone upon Jesus' death, and
its availability actuallysignified it was signified by
the splitting of the rocks.
Another way people caninterpret it is you look at that
, and Jesus himself talked about.
When they won't speak up aboutwho I am, even the rocks will
(12:58):
cry out, and in this moment ofsplitting could be the rocks
crying out as well.
Now the fourth phenomenon thisis the one we've been waiting
for lists that marked Jesus theMessiah's death was the tombs
were opened and many bodies ofsaints who had fallen asleep
were raised.
Get this, here we go, verse 52.
(13:19):
The tombs broke open.
The bodies of many holy peoplewho had died were raised to life
.
They came out of the tombsafter Jesus's resurrection and
went into the holy city andappeared to many people To which
we go.
Wait, what, right?
How many of you guys have heardthis or read this?
And you just skin right backand you're like wait, I do not
(13:41):
remember that zombie moment,right?
Like we're like what in theworld is going on right there.
Even as I was like sitting onthis for the last couple weeks,
I'm like what is going on here,Like this is cray, cray, so like
what I'm just saying there.
Just to clarify some stuff.
One is that, again, matthew'sthe only one who records this.
It's such an odd flybystatement where you're like, why
(14:04):
isn't anyone else talking aboutthe zombies, right, like what's
happening right now?
And then it's so fascinatingbecause he's talking about these
four things.
Now, remember, one of Matthew'sbig points is to point back to
fulfillment of prophecy, right?
This is to prove to the readers, like, hey, you have been
preparing for a Messiah, you'vebeen waiting for a Messiah,
(14:27):
here's the evidence of who theMessiah is.
So he's constantly going oh mygosh, here's a fulfillment,
here's a fulfillment, here's theevidence of who the Messiah is.
So he's constantly going oh mygosh, here's a fulfillment,
here's a fulfillment, here's afulfillment.
So the same thing is takingplace here Now.
It's also kind of fascinatingand odd at the same time,
because it's almost like he'swriting this, and again he's
writing this decades later, ashe's writing this and he's like,
oh yeah, and then this happenedand the earth shook, and then
(14:47):
the rocks split.
Oh, yeah, rocks split.
That reminds me that tombsopened and people woke up.
And then they walked around andthey saw people after the
resurrection.
Now, remember, he hasn't evenbeen buried yet, so he's like
spoiler alert he's going toresurrect, but we need you to
know that after that, theseother things happen.
Now again, remember, this is afulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy
(15:09):
, which says in Isaiah 26, saysyour dead will live, their
corpses will rise, you who liein the dust, awake and shout for
joy, for your due is as the dueof dawn, and the earth will
give birth to departed spirits.
Crazy, okay, let's keep going.
We have a lot more to unpack.
(15:29):
And some of you are like whoa,whoa, no, no, no, we're not
going to keep moving.
We are sorry, go talk aboutthat with somebody else.
Okay, verse 54.
When the centurion and thosewith him who were guarding Jesus
saw the earthquake which isnuts, not just felt, it saw it.
So this is a big one, and allthat had happened is a big one.
(15:55):
In all that had happened, theywere terrified and exclaimed
surely he was the son of God.
Now, remember, we just talked amoment ago a little bit about
Moses.
Well, the imagery of Jesus on across connects to this image of
Moses with a bronze serpent ona pole, and they both relate to
the concept of salvation.
Jesus, lifted up on a cross, isseen as parallel to Moses
(16:18):
rising a serpent up, wherelooking at this serpent led to
healing and to life.
Both scenarios illustrate God'sprovision to humanity's
spiritual, physical needs,respectively.
See, this story actually comesfrom Numbers 21.
You can read about it.
It's a fascinating story.
In the narrative of Moses, wherethe Israelites were afflicted
(16:42):
by poisonous snakes I mean, theywere coming out of the
woodworks, they were coming intotheir tents, they were biting
people and people were dyingbecause these were poisonous
snakes and they're begging.
Like Moses, help us.
Like what's going on?
What do we need to do?
And so Moses turned to God andGod's command to Moses was erect
a bronze serpent on a pole andthen tell them to look upon the
serpent which will bring healing, representing God's grace and
(17:05):
forgiveness, because this wasall also happening, because they
were wild children, right, theywere just doing their own thing
.
Then you jump all the way to theNew Testament and Jesus
actually talking in John,chapter 3.
And he actually draws parallelto this moment.
Jesus is now having thisconversation with a Pharisee,
actually in the middle of thenight with Nicodemus.
(17:28):
This is a Pharisee he had aconversation with, like a secret
convo about who he was, andhe's telling Nicodemus this is a
Pharisee he had a conversationwith, like a secret convo about
who he was, and he's tellingNicodemus in chapter 3, verse 14
, just as Moses lifted up thesnake in the wilderness, so the
Son of man must be lifted upthat everyone who believes may
(17:48):
have eternal life in him.
Now, this is a fun one.
That's verses 14 and 15.
But then we turn to verse 16.
For God so loved the world thathe gave his one and only son
that whoever believes in himshall not perish but have
eternal life, to which some ofus are like whoa, whoa, whoa.
That's on cardboard, right,that's like hanging in our house
(18:11):
.
Well, did you maybe not knowthat this was actually a
parallel back to the time ofMoses and a conversation that
Jesus was actually having withNicodemus about who he was?
That he was to be lifted uplike a snake in the wilderness
that everyone who believes inhim.
Because God so loved the worldthat he gave his only son, that
whoever believes in him shallnot perish but have eternal life
(18:33):
.
For he says God did not send hisson into the world to condemn
the world, but to save the worldthrough him.
That whoever believes in him,whoever believes in him is not
condemned, but whoever does notbelieve stands condemned already
because they have not believedin the name of God's one and
(18:54):
only son.
This is the verdict.
Jesus says Light has come intothe world, but people love
darkness instead of the lightbecause their deeds were evil,
and everyone who does evil hatesthe light and will not come
into the light for fear thattheir deeds will actually be
exposed.
But whoever lives by the truthcomes into the light so that it
(19:17):
may be seen plainly that whatthey have done has been done in
the sight of God.
So Jesus's crucifixion here ispresented in a similar act of
salvation, where looking on himin faith offers eternal life and
forgiveness.
This atonement that we talkedabout last week, that this
(19:39):
serpent represents sin and thecurse of death, while this pole
or cross symbolizes God's way ofdealing with sin through
sacrifice.
Jesus who was forsaken, wheresin and death are now placed
upon him.
And now looking at the serpentin Jesus is an act of faith and
(20:04):
trust leading to healing andsalvation.
And then the centurion says andsurely he was the son of God?
This statement made by thecenturion standing directly
under the cross, looking up atJesus, was actually the first
time in all of scripture thatthis statement was made, that he
(20:24):
was the son of God.
Looking up at this man hangingon a pole, this was not said by
a disciple, a follower of Jesus,but an outsider.
A man who most likely just gotdone mocking Jesus, who most
likely actually participated inthe nailing of him on the cross,
gambling for his clothes,spitting on him Friends, is now
(20:48):
having himself a moment face toface with the Son of God.
Verse 55.
There's so many Marys.
(21:13):
Why are there so many Marys?
Everybody's Mary.
So first you have MaryMagdalene.
She was from the town ofMagdala.
This is her namesake.
This is a small town or villagejust in the Sea of Galilee,
right along the water.
There.
Some of you actually came withme a couple years ago.
Beautiful place.
This is where Mary had anencounter with Jesus and became
(21:34):
a devout follower and caregiverof Jesus, even funding some of
his ministry and what was takingplace, where he had cast demons
from her.
Then you have Mary, the motherof James and Joseph.
So we're like which Mary isthis?
Well, it's actually the motherof Jesus.
And so we're like, why wouldn'twe just say that's Mary the
mother of Jesus?
(21:54):
Well, remember, jesus had justdied.
And so, as Matthew's writingthis, he's saying Mary is now
next of kin, the mother of James, the half-brother of Jesus, and
Joseph, the half-brother ofJesus.
So this is his mom.
You have Mary, magdalene andMary's mother, and then the
mother of the Zebedee sons.
(22:15):
These were also known as thesons of thunder.
This is the mother of James andJohn.
And John was there, he was thebeloved one.
And last week we saw like, hey,mom, that's now your brother,
brother, that's now your mom.
But also this woman was thesister of Mary.
Which one?
Right, the mother of Jesus.
(22:36):
This was her sister.
So these were her cousins, thiswas his cousins that were there
as well.
Then it says in verse 57, asevening approached, there came a
rich man from Arimathea namedJoseph, who had himself become a
disciple of Jesus, and, goingto Pilate, he asked for Jesus's
body, and Pilate ordered that itbe given to him.
(22:57):
So now, remember, jesus is dead.
And what has to happen now?
Now, he needs a burial, and Iknow that seems rather obvious
when I say it out loud like ofcourse Jesus needs a burial, but
here's the deal.
In those days, the Romans tendedto leave the body of executed
criminals hanging on the crossfor an infinite period of time
(23:19):
to be scavenged and torn apartby vultures, or else afterwards
they would eventually take thebodies down and they would throw
them into a cart, and then theywould throw them into a garbage
pit that they were no longerworthy of a proper burial, that
they now were criminals, andthey were just thrown and tossed
away.
Either way.
The idea with this, of justthis site that was taking place,
(23:42):
was actually to serve as awarning to others.
This is why people wereexecuted outside the gates as
this warning as they came in tobe like if you want to do that,
this is what you get.
If you're going to be arevolutionary and push up
against us, this is what's goingto happen.
If you're going to be acriminal and take from us,
that's what's going to happen.
And then they would leave themdead and rotting there for days
(24:03):
to continue to show that's whatyou get.
You are nothing, you're nothing.
And so Joseph of Arimatheadecided he can't hide any longer
, he can no longer be a secretfollower.
And so what does he do?
He does actually theunthinkable.
After he had watched Jesusbleed to death and die on the
cross proven by the fact thatthe Roman soldier pierced his
(24:25):
side with a spear he did theunthinkable and went to Pilate
himself to ask for the body ofJesus.
Now, this wouldn't have beenunprecedented, like if you had
enough money, you could bribeyour way into getting the body
of a crucified loved one.
You had to pay a lot, butgenerally you would not go to
Pilate.
You went to a Roman officer andwent to the person who was
(24:47):
actually then taking the wagondown to Gehenna to dump those
bodies and say like you wouldsay like hey, can you stop the
wagon and be like hey, for a fewdenarii could I take the body?
And so he would look left, youwould go right and you'd get a
body if you needed to.
But it was unthinkable to go tothe person who had someone
(25:07):
crucified to come out openly andto say I am so committed, I
care so much for that onecriminal that I would like for
you, pilate, to give mepermission, the authority, to
actually take his body.
And so Matthew tells us thatthere was a tomb that Joseph of
Arimathea he took Jesus to.
(25:28):
That he had a tomb that he hadcreated for himself, for his
family, for his family members,and he took the body of Jesus.
And he tried to do this quickly, before Shabbat started, which
was Sabbath.
And the Jews, they wereconcerned about getting bodies
of their dead into tombsunderground, since touching the
dead could make one rituallyunclean.
So even in the case of anexecution, there were
(25:50):
faith-based procedures thatneeded to be followed, and soon,
since it was the day ofpreparation.
Now, why is it the day ofpreparation?
Well, they're preparing andgetting all the things that they
need because they're going togo ahead and like, sit on the
couch all day, like this is aday of rest, they're not going
to work for anything, so theyprepare to be able to rest and
take that off.
And they have to get all thisdone before sundown.
(26:12):
And sundown is getting ready totake place, because that's when
it started, sundown to the nextsundown.
That was the day of Shabbat.
And the fact, biblicallyspeaking, is that we don't
actually know that much aboutJoseph Arimathea.
He doesn't even show up in thegospel story until this point in
the passion narrative, and thenhe's never heard about again.
(26:32):
But he's mentioned in all fourof the gospel accounts and
that's because he's the one.
He's the one that actuallycomes forward to serve as the
undertaker, so to speak, toretrieve and care for Jesus's
body.
And based on these accounts, weknow that he was from Arimathea
(26:53):
, which is in the city outsideof Judea.
We also know that he was arespected member of the council
of the Sanhedrin.
This was the body of religiouselites in Jerusalem that
actually conspired to convictand ultimately rid themselves of
Jesus.
But Luke, the gospel of Luke,actually puts it this way.
(27:15):
He throws it in there.
He said that he, joseph ofArimathea, had not agreed to
their plan and action.
Luke goes on to describeactually Joseph as a good and
righteous man, and Matthew makesthe point, as we just read, to
call him a rich man, while Marksaid that he was waiting
expectantly for the kingdom ofGod.
(27:37):
But I think maybe perhaps one ofthe most telling thing about
Joseph actually comes fromJohn's version of the story, and
he says that Joseph was adisciple of Jesus, though a
secret one because of his fearof the Jews.
So in essence, then, joseph ispretty much a secret disciple,
(28:06):
is pretty much a secret disciple, a follower in the shadows, as
it were.
An admirer of Jesus who opposedhis crucifixion, who actually
had some opportunity to speak upabout his opposition, but kept
it to the background rather thanrisk his own life or his
reputation to stop it than riskhis own life or his reputation
to stop it.
And yet it's Joseph, and Josephalone, who, at this moment of
(28:32):
Jesus's death, steps in and doeswhat is right.
It says he went boldly toPilate and asked for the body of
Jesus, an act that in itself,friends, was dangerous to the
point of possibly beingconsidered treasonous.
It's Joseph who, perhaps alongwith Nicodemus, another secret
disciple who'd first come toJesus by night in John chapter 3
, carried Jesus' body down fromthe cross and then, according to
(28:54):
faith tradition, wrapped hisbody in fresh linen cloth and
laid it in a tomb that had beenhewn out of rock.
And it's Joseph, it's Joseph,who brings this part of the
story to an end when he thenrolls a stone against the door
of the tomb, thus saying to theworld, in a way that it is
(29:15):
unmistakable and undeniable, andas believers still proclaim as
part of our faith and creed,that Jesus suffered under
Pontius Pilate and was crucified, dead and buried.
If this did not happen, hewould have never been laid in a
tomb.
(29:36):
It was Joseph who did all ofthis, and it was Joseph, the
secret disciple, who became thevery caretaker of Christ when
Jesus' own public disciples hadfailed to do so.
Remember, they had allscattered, they had all bailed
for fear of their own life, orthey're just in chaos, not even
(29:57):
knowing what's going on.
And so the question is like whyDo you ever wonder?
Like why?
What made him do this?
Was it an overwhelming feelingof guilt or remorse on Joseph's
part, the nagging feeling thatif he had just said something,
that if he had simply spoken outthat, perhaps that it would
(30:18):
have gone differently?
Was it the piercing realizationdeep down within his heart that
, by virtue of his position, hetoo was culpable for what had
happened to him?
Was it an effort to pay somekind of penance for a sin of
omission?
Or was it to make up for hismistake by doing something now,
(30:40):
after the fact?
Or could it be that in thosehours standing before the cross
of Jesus, watching this man die,did Joseph of Arimathea finally
understand the truth of whoJesus was, of all the prophetic
things that are now taking place, the truth of his teaching what
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the kingdom of God was allabout, the truth of what had
just happened on that hill thatwas so aptly called Valgatha,
the place of the skull.
There is a reason, you see, whya man like Joseph of Arimathea
came to this particular momentand was moved to act and to
(31:21):
proclaim to the world, by hisvery act, his true allegiance.
And it is because, ultimately,there is a great difference
between being merely a admirerof Jesus and a follower of Jesus
.
And at the end of the day,literally, literally at the end
(31:42):
of the day, in this case, josephof Arimathea was no longer an
admirer, he was a follower.
Now, what I think is sointeresting in the gospel
according to Matthew, is this isa man who he mentions was rich.
Now, if you remember, as we'vespent years going through this,
rich people kind of get a badrap right, like it's very hard
(32:06):
for rich people to enter thekingdom of the God.
They're always struggling withstuff, and Jesus was very much
about the poor or the fringe, orthe outsider.
Joseph of Arimathea was alsovery powerful.
He was a person of a powerfulposition which Jesus was always
talking about, the least ofthese, a servant.
And what's also interesting ishe was a secret follower.
(32:28):
He wasn't out about his faith,he wasn't walking around like
I'm a disciple of Jesus.
He kind of kept things closeand quiet because of fear of
what others might think abouthim or even do to him fear of
what others might think abouthim or even do to him.
And I think it's just abeautiful story, a redemptive
(32:51):
story in this moment that Godordained to use a rich, powerful
secret follower to do whatneeded to be done.
There are people in this roomand in this community that are
rich.
You have affluence that can beused to do powerful things for
the kingdom of God.
You're in a powerful positionand responsibility and
leadership that can be used todo beautiful, powerful things
for the kingdom of God.
And some of you are even inthat space where you struggle
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with being a secret follower,like I don't know.
I don't want to be too pushy, Idon't really want any people to
know kind of what's going on,because I'm fear of what people
might think or do with thatinformation.
I don't know what the Spirit'sgoing to do with you connecting
these dots.
But if God had not used a rich,powerful secret follower, I
(33:38):
don't know if we would have hadthe resurrection.
What do I mean by that?
He'd still be hanging on across for a couple of days, he
had to be buried, and it took arich, powerful secret follower
to to actively take steps toparticipate in this moment.
Jesus probably would have beenup there for a couple of days,
(33:59):
just like the other criminalshad been, and then ultimately
thrown into a garbage heap, andthen the resurrection would have
been him come walking out ofthe garbage dump being like oh
gosh would not have been from atomb, but it was just as it was
supposed to be.
Verse 59, joseph took the body,wrapped it in clean linen cloth
and placed it in his own newtomb that he had cut out of the
(34:22):
rock, and he rolled a big stonein front of the entrance of the
tomb and then he went away.
Verse 61, mary Magdalene and theother Mary were sitting
opposite the tomb.
What a flyby sentence, right?
You're like why are they justin there opposite the tomb?
This is what Matthew does.
He like lays these littleEaster eggs.
Let me fast forward you spoileralert.
Right.
Next week we're going to talkabout something different.
(34:43):
Who shows up at the tomb to gocare for Jesus properly?
That wasn't a rhetoricalquestion, mary.
Just say Mary, there's so manyMarys, you're right.
Right, mary and Mary are theones who actually go to the tomb
and show up and see thatJesus's body is not there, that
(35:04):
he had risen Spoiler.
That's going to be happeningnext week.
What Matthew's doing right hereis he's saying like hey, this is
how they knew where he was.
None of the disciples knew.
They all bailed, it was over,he was dead, he was gone.
So how would they even knowwhere he ended up?
Like what tomb he was going togo to?
(35:24):
For all they knew he was stillgoing to be hanging up there.
He was going to be in thegarbage dump.
That's where Jesus was going tobe.
And then Matthew gives us thislittle Easter egg right here.
Mary Magdalene and the otherMary were sitting opposite of
the tomb.
Just hold on to that, becausesomething else is gonna happen.
Then, the next day this isduring Shabbat, the one after
the preparation day for theSabbath the chief priests and
(35:47):
the Pharisees went to Pilate,sir.
They said remember that whilewe were still, remember while
he's still alive.
That deceiver said after threedays I will rise again.
So give the order for the tombto be made secure until the
third day, because otherwise hisdisciples may come and steal
the body and tell the peoplethat he had been raised from the
(36:07):
dead and that last deceptionwill be worse than the first.
I mean, this is crazy.
They had already kind of won,but they knew, they knew
something.
They're like we gotta make surehe stays dead, like he stays in
there, like they're stillscared about it.
They ultimately got done whatthey wanted to get done Take a
guard.
(36:27):
Pilate answered Go, make thetomb as secure as you know how.
And so they went and made thetomb secure by putting a seal
around the stone and postingguard.
That's it, it's done, sealedOver, dead.
(36:48):
Now we know that the storycontinues and we will see what
has fallen asleep, wakes up injust a few short days.
But for now, as we leave thisplace and enter into Holy Week a
(37:12):
week maybe even in the prayerroom, as we prepare for the Good
Friday experience or evenEaster itself, what is it?
What is it that you need toseal up and bury in the tomb?
In a few moments, I'm actuallygonna ask you to take a card.
(37:35):
I'm gonna ask you to write thatdown.
What is it that you need toseal up and bury in the tomb?
What is it that needs new life?
What is it that needs to begiven up and buried?
What is it that needsrestoration to become something
new in you, as a part of you,something new in you as a part
(37:57):
of you?
There's tables around the roomand along the back walls and
there's these cards right here,and that's what I'm asking you
to do.
I'm saying, hey, let's writethis down, and I'm asking you to
seal it up.
And then, during this next song, I'm asking you to come up to
one of these baskets in here andI'm going to say bury it.
To come up to one of thesebaskets in here and I'm gonna
(38:18):
say bury it.
So ask yourself what is it thatneeds to be put away?
What is it that needs to bemade new?
What is it that needs to beredeemed?
What is it that needs to berestored?
Seal it up, leave it and thenawait my beloved friends for new
(38:39):
life, for we know he has risen,and he has risen indeed, but
for now, I'm gonna ask you toget up and go, grab one of these
cards and not to leave the roomas a distraction of this holy
moment as you surrender and buryand await for new life.
(39:00):
So, friends, may you go andparticipate now.
Thanks, leo.
Leo's a junior.
We've been getting differentseniors to come up here.
Those of you who've been herethe last couple of weeks We've
been highlighting them.
Next week we're going to have asenior back.
It's going to be awesome, but Idid want to highlight actually
a senior.
I want to thank you personallyfor your generosity.
We learned this last week thatthere is a senior high schooler
at Benicia High that has foundthemselves homeless and nowhere
(00:23):
to live and has been likesleeping like in the bushes and
this young girl, and so we gotconnected and through your
generosity, we were actually,and some other people were able
to find her a room to stay in.
Last night she stayed there forthe first time.
We covered her rent through theend of the year so she could
finish high school.
So it was great, you guys.
So she doesn't come here, butshe came here today actually
(00:45):
because she wanted to meetpeople and say thank you,
because she slept in this newspace.
You guys helped furnish some ofthat, even with dishes and food
.
So thank you for yourgenerosity.
Just by being a part of thisfaith community, you know we're
living this out, representing tothe community and to the young
ones.
So just specifically thank youfor that.
So there's a highlight of asenior Before I get into this.
(01:07):
We have a gazillion things goingon.
I sent out an email this lastweek Over the next two weeks.
So many things going on.
So I'll just say it reallyquickly.
Right now we have a prayer roomexperience going on.
It's literally happening rightnow.
It's in the Commons building.
You can check that out if youwant to.
We have space.
There's prompts in there.
You don't even have to knowwhat you're doing.
You can go after this serviceif you want to.
It's 24 hours a day throughthis entire week up to our Good
(01:30):
Friday experience.
There's also a table out there.
You can sign up for differenttimes If you want to pick a slot
.
Those of you who are a nightowl, go check it out.
Do the crazy middle of thenight stuff.
It's a great experience.
Don't miss it.
On that, that all leads up toour Good Friday experience.
This is like a reflective moment, like Stations of the Cross.
This room's going to be emptiedout, there's going to be
(01:51):
different stations and this isat a go-at-your-own pace.
So I believe your stuff saysanytime between four and seven.
You can just drop in andparticipate in that.
It's very powerful, veryreflective.
It's a somber, apparent note.
It's like PG-13, just as aheads up for that Reflective.
And then that's in preparationthen for Easter service Doing
(02:12):
three services on Easter.
We're going to have to knockdown some walls to make all the
room for everybody.
This is going to be great.
We're going to have those threeservices 7 o'clock that all of
you are so excited to come to.
The seven o'clock service.
It's going to be awesome.
Then we have nine o'clock and11 o'clock.
Right now we have over 70people currently signed up to
get baptized, which is going tobe amazing.
And this is what I'm going tosay about that.
(02:41):
Yeah, for sure, I'm excited.
It's going to be invited.
Someone come to whicheverservice is best and most
comfortable for them.
But two, don't just like stayat home because you're like, oh,
there's so many people, or likeI want to make space.
Do not miss out on the holymoment that's going to take
place as we celebrate the stuffthat's going to go on in here,
like as a faith community, let'sgather.
Let's gather in person.
So those of you online, I'llsee you next week in the room.
(03:02):
It's going to be great.
So it's Easter service baptismsnot too late to sign up for
that, you can do that.
And then the week after, thisis incredible Today, including
today, there's only three weeksleft.
In the book, according toMatthew, we've been going
through this for like 17 years.
It's awesome.
We're wrapping up no, literallyalmost four.
And so the week after, mark iton your calendar as the 27th.
(03:24):
Come here, we're going to dosome celebrating, like we're
going to finish this thing.
I don't care if you just caughttwo, just come for the last two
, like let's go, and then we'regoing to see what kind of goes
next from there.
But we're going to end that,too, with a picnic.
We got like a shaved ice placecoming.
We got some iPhone person.
(03:48):
If you make your phone go likethis against it, it works.
If you're an Android, you justhave to, like I don't know bang
it or something like that, butanyways, it pops up and there's
a place to sign up for, like apark, because we have parking
spots to reserve there.
Also, you can sign up for anyof the stuff that I told you
about.
So there, all right, let's hopin.
There is so much, as you heard,there's so much to cover today,
that we are unpacking and Jesuswas dead.
(04:09):
Remember that's how we ended.
Jesus is dead.
That is the first thing that wehave to understand as we
approach the text this morningthat Jesus was dead after six
long, torturous hours hanging onthe cross, life slowly ebbing
out of him, moment byexcruciatingly painful moment,
(04:30):
and finally, as we ended lastweek, he cried out again in a
loud voice and gave up hisspirit, and with that Jesus was
dead.
Now, having described thismoment when Jesus died on the
cross, matthew actually callsupon his readers, or, at the
time, his listeners, to considerfour phenomenon that occurred
(04:54):
at this terrible moment whichsupernaturally now marked the
Messiah Jesus's death.
Now I'm going to talk firstabout the first three, and those
words start in today's verses,starting in verse 51.
At that moment, the curtain ofthe temple was torn in two from
top to bottom.
The earth shook and the rockssplit.
(05:15):
So the first, the veil of thetemple, was torn in two from top
to bottom.
Now the temple veil wasdescribed in Exodus 26.
This is in the Old Testament,and it's divided.
The temple there is dividedinto like a main sanctuary and
it divided those into twoseparate rooms.
The first chamber was calledthe holy place.
The second chamber was locatedbehind the veil, which is called
(05:37):
the holy of holies.
God's presence on earth wasthought to reside in the holy of
holies because this is wherethe chamber that originally
housed and held the Ark of theCovenant in the mercy seat, and
no one was allowed to go beyondthe temple veil and enter the
Holy of Holies, except for oneperson, who was the high priest,
(05:58):
and they were only allowed todo it on one occasion per year,
on Yom Kippur, or this is knownas the Day of Atonement.
Not only that, but the templeveil was massive.
The Mishnah, which is thisancient oral tradition of the
Jews.
It actually describes thedimensions.
It says that the curtain hasthe thickness of a hand breath.
(06:19):
And with regard to thedimensions of the curtain, its
length was 40 cubits as theheight of the ceiling of the
sanctuary, and its width was 20cubits to match the width of the
entrance.
Now these ancient measurementsapproximately convert to 60 feet
high, which is almost twice ashigh as this building, and 30
(06:41):
feet wide, with a thickness offour inches or more.
So I mean, this thing ismassive.
It is so heavy, and the Mishnahactually goes on to explain
that, when the priests wouldmake a new veil, that the
curtain was so heavy and you canimagine this, it was so heavy
that more than 300 priests hadto carry it.
So let's just imagine this fora minute.
(07:03):
I mean putting it intoperspective that the tearing of
the temple veil in two from topto bottom would have been deeply
disturbing to the Jews.
Like it would have likely.
They would have interpreted itin a couple different ways.
I mean, first, they would haveinterpreted this as they
experienced this, to signify,maybe, that the Lord's presence
(07:24):
was no longer with Israel.
Another way the Jews could havealso interpreted the tearing
was to signify the Lord'sdispleasure with Israel.
But what this was was Godshowing how his earthly temple
home was no longer going to be aroom of bricks, but rather he
was going to dwell in humanhearts.
(07:46):
So the significance of the veilin the temple being torn in two
is actually the opposite offear and dread.
It signified something likemarvelous and wonderful that was
taking place.
The tearing of the temple veilindicated that the barrier
between holy God and sinful manwas no longer going to be the
(08:07):
obstacle in a relationshipbetween the creator and the
image bearers and Jesus removedthe veil.
The temple of the veil beingtorn in two was also a result,
actually, of Jesus's fulfillmentof the law and the yielding of
his spirit, which Matthew hadjust mentioned, which completed
the perfect and everlastingsacrifice.
(08:30):
Now what we can do is noticehow Matthew links the Messiah's
death and the yielding of aspirit immediately to the
tearing of the veil by making itthe first thing that he records
after the death of Jesus, whereGod shows how the manifestation
of his divine presence is nolonger going to be confined to a
(08:52):
temple stone, but God wasmoving out.
God's new earthly temple wouldbe human hearts, and we actually
see and read later in Scripturethat God sent his spirit 50
days later to live in the heartsof believers.
And that's just a teaser as aheads up more on the Holy Spirit
(09:12):
this summer.
The second phenomenon thatMatthew lists that marked Jesus
the Messiah's death, it says,and the earth shook.
Matthew is the only one of thefour gospels to mention these
next three phenomenon the earthshaking, rock splitting.
And then we'll get to the lastone in just a few moments.
(09:33):
Matthew's mentioning of theearth shaking was connecting,
which he often tried to do, aswe've read throughout the entire
gospel connecting to thefulfillment of prophecy.
As we've read throughout theentire gospel connecting to the
fulfillment of prophecyconcerning the Messiah's death.
Jesus' death right here is theday of judgment and the earth
shook and when he died, thisactually fulfilled the prophecy
(09:56):
that was written in the OldTestament by Joel foretold what
would happen on the day ofjudgment.
Actually, in Joel 2.10, it saysbefore then, the earthquakes,
the heavens tremble, the sun andthe moon grow dark.
Remember, the earth grew darkin those moments and the stars
lose their brightness.
Now it's interesting.
If you do your historicalresearch, you can actually find
(10:17):
this event was recorded outsideof Scripture as well.
At that time, the Olympics weretaking place in Philegon of
Triales, the chronicle of theOlympiad.
That takes into account thehistorical and major natural
events stretching all the wayback to the time of the first
Olympic Games, and Jerome quotesPhilegon as saying this.
(10:40):
However, in the fourth year ofthe 202nd Olympiad, an eclipse
of the sun happened, greater andmore excellent than any had
happened before it, at the sixthhour.
Recall the last week when thistook place.
Day turned into dark night, sothat the stars were seen in the
sky, and an earthquake inBithynia toppled many buildings
(11:04):
of the city of Nicaea.
The third phenomenon Matthewlists that marked Jesus, the
Messiah's death was that therocks were split.
So this is important for us tounderstand that the rocks
splitting upon Jesus's birth,jesus's death, was only found in
Matthew.
But when Jews heard this orwould read this that was written
(11:29):
, this gospel that was writtento them, they would have
immediately connected a dot, andthat dot was to Moses in the
wilderness.
We don't do that necessarily asquickly because we're not as
familiar, and this was somethingthat they constantly were
learning and reading about andthey understood deeply.
And this was about when Moseswas leading Israel through the
(11:50):
desert wilderness.
And what had happened was Mosesstruck a rock and the Lord
miraculously caused life-givingwater to gush forth, allowing
the people and their livestockto actually drink freely.
And these events were talkedabout and retold numerous times
throughout all of the OldTestament, not just in the
narrative when it took place,but King David talks about it
(12:11):
many times through the Psalmsand immediately upon hearing
this or reading this, thelistener would have jumped right
away to that moment.
Now there's no reports that wesee in history of physical water
flowing when the rocks split atJesus's death, but we do know
that Jesus, who Matthew ispainting as the second Moses,
provides living water, spiritualwater for spiritual life in a
(12:37):
desert of sin, and thisspiritual drink of eternal life
became freely available toeveryone upon Jesus' death, and
its availability actuallysignified it was signified by
the splitting of the rocks.
Another way people caninterpret it is you look at that
, and Jesus himself talked about.
When they won't speak up aboutwho I am, even the rocks will
(12:58):
cry out, and in this moment ofsplitting could be the rocks
crying out as well.
Now the fourth phenomenon thisis the one we've been waiting
for lists that marked Jesus theMessiah's death was the tombs
were opened and many bodies ofsaints who had fallen asleep
were raised.
Get this, here we go, verse 52.
(13:19):
The tombs broke open.
The bodies of many holy peoplewho had died were raised to life
.
They came out of the tombsafter Jesus's resurrection and
went into the holy city andappeared to many people To which
we go.
Wait, what, right?
How many of you guys have heardthis or read this?
And you just skin right backand you're like wait, I do not
(13:41):
remember that zombie moment,right?
Like we're like what in theworld is going on right there.
Even as I was like sitting onthis for the last couple weeks,
I'm like what is going on here,Like this is cray, cray, so like
what I'm just saying there.
Just to clarify some stuff.
One is that, again, matthew'sthe only one who records this.
It's such an odd flybystatement where you're like, why
(14:04):
isn't anyone else talking aboutthe zombies, right, like what's
happening right now?
And then it's so fascinatingbecause he's talking about these
four things.
Now, remember, one of Matthew'sbig points is to point back to
fulfillment of prophecy, right?
This is to prove to the readers, like, hey, you have been
preparing for a Messiah, you'vebeen waiting for a Messiah,
(14:27):
here's the evidence of who theMessiah is.
So he's constantly going oh mygosh, here's a fulfillment,
here's a fulfillment, here's theevidence of who the Messiah is.
So he's constantly going oh mygosh, here's a fulfillment,
here's a fulfillment, here's afulfillment.
So the same thing is takingplace here Now.
It's also kind of fascinatingand odd at the same time,
because it's almost like he'swriting this, and again he's
writing this decades later, ashe's writing this and he's like,
oh yeah, and then this happenedand the earth shook, and then
(14:47):
the rocks split.
Oh, yeah, rocks split.
That reminds me that tombsopened and people woke up.
And then they walked around andthey saw people after the
resurrection.
Now, remember, he hasn't evenbeen buried yet, so he's like
spoiler alert he's going toresurrect, but we need you to
know that after that, theseother things happen.
Now again, remember, this is afulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy
(15:09):
, which says in Isaiah 26, saysyour dead will live, their
corpses will rise, you who liein the dust, awake and shout for
joy, for your due is as the dueof dawn, and the earth will
give birth to departed spirits.
Crazy, okay, let's keep going.
We have a lot more to unpack.
(15:29):
And some of you are like whoa,whoa, no, no, no, we're not
going to keep moving.
We are sorry, go talk aboutthat with somebody else.
Okay, verse 54.
When the centurion and thosewith him who were guarding Jesus
saw the earthquake which isnuts, not just felt, it saw it.
So this is a big one, and allthat had happened is a big one.
(15:55):
In all that had happened, theywere terrified and exclaimed
surely he was the son of God.
Now, remember, we just talked amoment ago a little bit about
Moses.
Well, the imagery of Jesus on across connects to this image of
Moses with a bronze serpent ona pole, and they both relate to
the concept of salvation.
Jesus, lifted up on a cross, isseen as parallel to Moses
(16:18):
rising a serpent up, wherelooking at this serpent led to
healing and to life.
Both scenarios illustrate God'sprovision to humanity's
spiritual, physical needs,respectively.
See, this story actually comesfrom Numbers 21.
You can read about it.
It's a fascinating story.
In the narrative of Moses, wherethe Israelites were afflicted
(16:42):
by poisonous snakes I mean, theywere coming out of the
woodworks, they were coming intotheir tents, they were biting
people and people were dyingbecause these were poisonous
snakes and they're begging.
Like Moses, help us.
Like what's going on?
What do we need to do?
And so Moses turned to God andGod's command to Moses was erect
a bronze serpent on a pole andthen tell them to look upon the
serpent which will bring healing, representing God's grace and
(17:05):
forgiveness, because this wasall also happening, because they
were wild children, right, theywere just doing their own thing
.
Then you jump all the way to theNew Testament and Jesus
actually talking in John,chapter 3.
And he actually draws parallelto this moment.
Jesus is now having thisconversation with a Pharisee,
actually in the middle of thenight with Nicodemus.
(17:28):
This is a Pharisee he had aconversation with, like a secret
convo about who he was, andhe's telling Nicodemus this is a
Pharisee he had a conversationwith, like a secret convo about
who he was, and he's tellingNicodemus in chapter 3, verse 14
, just as Moses lifted up thesnake in the wilderness, so the
Son of man must be lifted upthat everyone who believes may
(17:48):
have eternal life in him.
Now, this is a fun one.
That's verses 14 and 15.
But then we turn to verse 16.
For God so loved the world thathe gave his one and only son
that whoever believes in himshall not perish but have
eternal life, to which some ofus are like whoa, whoa, whoa.
That's on cardboard, right,that's like hanging in our house
(18:11):
.
Well, did you maybe not knowthat this was actually a
parallel back to the time ofMoses and a conversation that
Jesus was actually having withNicodemus about who he was?
That he was to be lifted uplike a snake in the wilderness
that everyone who believes inhim.
Because God so loved the worldthat he gave his only son, that
whoever believes in him shallnot perish but have eternal life
(18:33):
.
For he says God did not send hisson into the world to condemn
the world, but to save the worldthrough him.
That whoever believes in him,whoever believes in him is not
condemned, but whoever does notbelieve stands condemned already
because they have not believedin the name of God's one and
(18:54):
only son.
This is the verdict.
Jesus says Light has come intothe world, but people love
darkness instead of the lightbecause their deeds were evil,
and everyone who does evil hatesthe light and will not come
into the light for fear thattheir deeds will actually be
exposed.
But whoever lives by the truthcomes into the light so that it
(19:17):
may be seen plainly that whatthey have done has been done in
the sight of God.
So Jesus's crucifixion here ispresented in a similar act of
salvation, where looking on himin faith offers eternal life and
forgiveness.
This atonement that we talkedabout last week, that this
(19:39):
serpent represents sin and thecurse of death, while this pole
or cross symbolizes God's way ofdealing with sin through
sacrifice.
Jesus who was forsaken, wheresin and death are now placed
upon him.
And now looking at the serpentin Jesus is an act of faith and
(20:04):
trust leading to healing andsalvation.
And then the centurion says andsurely he was the son of God?
This statement made by thecenturion standing directly
under the cross, looking up atJesus, was actually the first
time in all of scripture thatthis statement was made, that he
(20:24):
was the son of God.
Looking up at this man hangingon a pole, this was not said by
a disciple, a follower of Jesus,but an outsider.
A man who most likely just gotdone mocking Jesus, who most
likely actually participated inthe nailing of him on the cross,
gambling for his clothes,spitting on him Friends, is now
(20:48):
having himself a moment face toface with the Son of God.
Verse 55.
There's so many Marys.
(21:13):
Why are there so many Marys?
Everybody's Mary.
So first you have MaryMagdalene.
She was from the town ofMagdala.
This is her namesake.
This is a small town or villagejust in the Sea of Galilee,
right along the water.
There.
Some of you actually came withme a couple years ago.
Beautiful place.
This is where Mary had anencounter with Jesus and became
(21:34):
a devout follower and caregiverof Jesus, even funding some of
his ministry and what was takingplace, where he had cast demons
from her.
Then you have Mary, the motherof James and Joseph.
So we're like which Mary isthis?
Well, it's actually the motherof Jesus.
And so we're like, why wouldn'twe just say that's Mary the
mother of Jesus?
(21:54):
Well, remember, jesus had justdied.
And so, as Matthew's writingthis, he's saying Mary is now
next of kin, the mother of James, the half-brother of Jesus, and
Joseph, the half-brother ofJesus.
So this is his mom.
You have Mary, magdalene andMary's mother, and then the
mother of the Zebedee sons.
(22:15):
These were also known as thesons of thunder.
This is the mother of James andJohn.
And John was there, he was thebeloved one.
And last week we saw like, hey,mom, that's now your brother,
brother, that's now your mom.
But also this woman was thesister of Mary.
Which one?
Right, the mother of Jesus.
(22:36):
This was her sister.
So these were her cousins, thiswas his cousins that were there
as well.
Then it says in verse 57, asevening approached, there came a
rich man from Arimathea namedJoseph, who had himself become a
disciple of Jesus, and, goingto Pilate, he asked for Jesus's
body, and Pilate ordered that itbe given to him.
(22:57):
So now, remember, jesus is dead.
And what has to happen now?
Now, he needs a burial, and Iknow that seems rather obvious
when I say it out loud like ofcourse Jesus needs a burial, but
here's the deal.
In those days, the Romans tendedto leave the body of executed
criminals hanging on the crossfor an infinite period of time
(23:19):
to be scavenged and torn apartby vultures, or else afterwards
they would eventually take thebodies down and they would throw
them into a cart, and then theywould throw them into a garbage
pit that they were no longerworthy of a proper burial, that
they now were criminals, andthey were just thrown and tossed
away.
Either way.
The idea with this, of justthis site that was taking place,
(23:42):
was actually to serve as awarning to others.
This is why people wereexecuted outside the gates as
this warning as they came in tobe like if you want to do that,
this is what you get.
If you're going to be arevolutionary and push up
against us, this is what's goingto happen.
If you're going to be acriminal and take from us,
that's what's going to happen.
And then they would leave themdead and rotting there for days
(24:03):
to continue to show that's whatyou get.
You are nothing, you're nothing.
And so Joseph of Arimatheadecided he can't hide any longer
, he can no longer be a secretfollower.
And so what does he do?
He does actually theunthinkable.
After he had watched Jesusbleed to death and die on the
cross proven by the fact thatthe Roman soldier pierced his
(24:25):
side with a spear he did theunthinkable and went to Pilate
himself to ask for the body ofJesus.
Now, this wouldn't have beenunprecedented, like if you had
enough money, you could bribeyour way into getting the body
of a crucified loved one.
You had to pay a lot, butgenerally you would not go to
Pilate.
You went to a Roman officer andwent to the person who was
(24:47):
actually then taking the wagondown to Gehenna to dump those
bodies and say like you wouldsay like hey, can you stop the
wagon and be like hey, for a fewdenarii could I take the body?
And so he would look left, youwould go right and you'd get a
body if you needed to.
But it was unthinkable to go tothe person who had someone
(25:07):
crucified to come out openly andto say I am so committed, I
care so much for that onecriminal that I would like for
you, pilate, to give mepermission, the authority, to
actually take his body.
And so Matthew tells us thatthere was a tomb that Joseph of
Arimathea he took Jesus to.
(25:28):
That he had a tomb that he hadcreated for himself, for his
family, for his family members,and he took the body of Jesus.
And he tried to do this quickly, before Shabbat started, which
was Sabbath.
And the Jews, they wereconcerned about getting bodies
of their dead into tombsunderground, since touching the
dead could make one rituallyunclean.
So even in the case of anexecution, there were
(25:50):
faith-based procedures thatneeded to be followed, and soon,
since it was the day ofpreparation.
Now, why is it the day ofpreparation?
Well, they're preparing andgetting all the things that they
need because they're going togo ahead and like, sit on the
couch all day, like this is aday of rest, they're not going
to work for anything, so theyprepare to be able to rest and
take that off.
And they have to get all thisdone before sundown.
(26:12):
And sundown is getting ready totake place, because that's when
it started, sundown to the nextsundown.
That was the day of Shabbat.
And the fact, biblicallyspeaking, is that we don't
actually know that much aboutJoseph Arimathea.
He doesn't even show up in thegospel story until this point in
the passion narrative, and thenhe's never heard about again.
(26:32):
But he's mentioned in all fourof the gospel accounts and
that's because he's the one.
He's the one that actuallycomes forward to serve as the
undertaker, so to speak, toretrieve and care for Jesus's
body.
And based on these accounts, weknow that he was from Arimathea
(26:53):
, which is in the city outsideof Judea.
We also know that he was arespected member of the council
of the Sanhedrin.
This was the body of religiouselites in Jerusalem that
actually conspired to convictand ultimately rid themselves of
Jesus.
But Luke, the gospel of Luke,actually puts it this way.
(27:15):
He throws it in there.
He said that he, joseph ofArimathea, had not agreed to
their plan and action.
Luke goes on to describeactually Joseph as a good and
righteous man, and Matthew makesthe point, as we just read, to
call him a rich man, while Marksaid that he was waiting
expectantly for the kingdom ofGod.
(27:37):
But I think maybe perhaps one ofthe most telling thing about
Joseph actually comes fromJohn's version of the story, and
he says that Joseph was adisciple of Jesus, though a
secret one because of his fearof the Jews.
So in essence, then, joseph ispretty much a secret disciple,
(28:06):
is pretty much a secret disciple, a follower in the shadows, as
it were.
An admirer of Jesus who opposedhis crucifixion, who actually
had some opportunity to speak upabout his opposition, but kept
it to the background rather thanrisk his own life or his
reputation to stop it than riskhis own life or his reputation
to stop it.
And yet it's Joseph, and Josephalone, who, at this moment of
(28:32):
Jesus's death, steps in and doeswhat is right.
It says he went boldly toPilate and asked for the body of
Jesus, an act that in itself,friends, was dangerous to the
point of possibly beingconsidered treasonous.
It's Joseph who, perhaps alongwith Nicodemus, another secret
disciple who'd first come toJesus by night in John chapter 3
, carried Jesus' body down fromthe cross and then, according to
(28:54):
faith tradition, wrapped hisbody in fresh linen cloth and
laid it in a tomb that had beenhewn out of rock.
And it's Joseph, it's Joseph,who brings this part of the
story to an end when he thenrolls a stone against the door
of the tomb, thus saying to theworld, in a way that it is
(29:15):
unmistakable and undeniable, andas believers still proclaim as
part of our faith and creed,that Jesus suffered under
Pontius Pilate and was crucified, dead and buried.
If this did not happen, hewould have never been laid in a
tomb.
(29:36):
It was Joseph who did all ofthis, and it was Joseph, the
secret disciple, who became thevery caretaker of Christ when
Jesus' own public disciples hadfailed to do so.
Remember, they had allscattered, they had all bailed
for fear of their own life, orthey're just in chaos, not even
(29:57):
knowing what's going on.
And so the question is like whyDo you ever wonder?
Like why?
What made him do this?
Was it an overwhelming feelingof guilt or remorse on Joseph's
part, the nagging feeling thatif he had just said something,
that if he had simply spoken outthat, perhaps that it would
(30:18):
have gone differently?
Was it the piercing realizationdeep down within his heart that
, by virtue of his position, hetoo was culpable for what had
happened to him?
Was it an effort to pay somekind of penance for a sin of
omission?
Or was it to make up for hismistake by doing something now,
(30:40):
after the fact?
Or could it be that in thosehours standing before the cross
of Jesus, watching this man die,did Joseph of Arimathea finally
understand the truth of whoJesus was, of all the prophetic
things that are now taking place, the truth of his teaching what
(31:00):
the kingdom of God was allabout, the truth of what had
just happened on that hill thatwas so aptly called Valgatha,
the place of the skull.
There is a reason, you see, whya man like Joseph of Arimathea
came to this particular momentand was moved to act and to
(31:21):
proclaim to the world, by hisvery act, his true allegiance.
And it is because, ultimately,there is a great difference
between being merely a admirerof Jesus and a follower of Jesus
.
And at the end of the day,literally, literally at the end
(31:42):
of the day, in this case, josephof Arimathea was no longer an
admirer, he was a follower.
Now, what I think is sointeresting in the gospel
according to Matthew, is this isa man who he mentions was rich.
Now, if you remember, as we'vespent years going through this,
rich people kind of get a badrap right, like it's very hard
(32:06):
for rich people to enter thekingdom of the God.
They're always struggling withstuff, and Jesus was very much
about the poor or the fringe, orthe outsider.
Joseph of Arimathea was alsovery powerful.
He was a person of a powerfulposition which Jesus was always
talking about, the least ofthese, a servant.
And what's also interesting ishe was a secret follower.
(32:28):
He wasn't out about his faith,he wasn't walking around like
I'm a disciple of Jesus.
He kind of kept things closeand quiet because of fear of
what others might think abouthim or even do to him fear of
what others might think abouthim or even do to him.
And I think it's just abeautiful story, a redemptive
(32:51):
story in this moment that Godordained to use a rich, powerful
secret follower to do whatneeded to be done.
There are people in this roomand in this community that are
rich.
You have affluence that can beused to do powerful things for
the kingdom of God.
You're in a powerful positionand responsibility and
leadership that can be used todo beautiful, powerful things
for the kingdom of God.
And some of you are even inthat space where you struggle
(33:13):
with being a secret follower,like I don't know.
I don't want to be too pushy, Idon't really want any people to
know kind of what's going on,because I'm fear of what people
might think or do with thatinformation.
I don't know what the Spirit'sgoing to do with you connecting
these dots.
But if God had not used a rich,powerful secret follower, I
(33:38):
don't know if we would have hadthe resurrection.
What do I mean by that?
He'd still be hanging on across for a couple of days, he
had to be buried, and it took arich, powerful secret follower
to to actively take steps toparticipate in this moment.
Jesus probably would have beenup there for a couple of days,
(33:59):
just like the other criminalshad been, and then ultimately
thrown into a garbage heap, andthen the resurrection would have
been him come walking out ofthe garbage dump being like oh
gosh would not have been from atomb, but it was just as it was
supposed to be.
Verse 59, joseph took the body,wrapped it in clean linen cloth
and placed it in his own newtomb that he had cut out of the
(34:22):
rock, and he rolled a big stonein front of the entrance of the
tomb and then he went away.
Verse 61, mary Magdalene and theother Mary were sitting
opposite the tomb.
What a flyby sentence, right?
You're like why are they justin there opposite the tomb?
This is what Matthew does.
He like lays these littleEaster eggs.
Let me fast forward you spoileralert.
Right.
Next week we're going to talkabout something different.
(34:43):
Who shows up at the tomb to gocare for Jesus properly?
That wasn't a rhetoricalquestion, mary.
Just say Mary, there's so manyMarys, you're right.
Right, mary and Mary are theones who actually go to the tomb
and show up and see thatJesus's body is not there, that
(35:04):
he had risen Spoiler.
That's going to be happeningnext week.
What Matthew's doing right hereis he's saying like hey, this is
how they knew where he was.
None of the disciples knew.
They all bailed, it was over,he was dead, he was gone.
So how would they even knowwhere he ended up?
Like what tomb he was going togo to?
(35:24):
For all they knew he was stillgoing to be hanging up there.
He was going to be in thegarbage dump.
That's where Jesus was going tobe.
And then Matthew gives us thislittle Easter egg right here.
Mary Magdalene and the otherMary were sitting opposite of
the tomb.
Just hold on to that, becausesomething else is gonna happen.
Then, the next day this isduring Shabbat, the one after
the preparation day for theSabbath the chief priests and
(35:47):
the Pharisees went to Pilate,sir.
They said remember that whilewe were still, remember while
he's still alive.
That deceiver said after threedays I will rise again.
So give the order for the tombto be made secure until the
third day, because otherwise hisdisciples may come and steal
the body and tell the peoplethat he had been raised from the
(36:07):
dead and that last deceptionwill be worse than the first.
I mean, this is crazy.
They had already kind of won,but they knew, they knew
something.
They're like we gotta make surehe stays dead, like he stays in
there, like they're stillscared about it.
They ultimately got done whatthey wanted to get done Take a
guard.
(36:27):
Pilate answered Go, make thetomb as secure as you know how.
And so they went and made thetomb secure by putting a seal
around the stone and postingguard.
That's it, it's done, sealedOver, dead.
(36:48):
Now we know that the storycontinues and we will see what
has fallen asleep, wakes up injust a few short days.
But for now, as we leave thisplace and enter into Holy Week a
(37:12):
week maybe even in the prayerroom, as we prepare for the Good
Friday experience or evenEaster itself, what is it?
What is it that you need toseal up and bury in the tomb?
In a few moments, I'm actuallygonna ask you to take a card.
(37:35):
I'm gonna ask you to write thatdown.
What is it that you need toseal up and bury in the tomb?
What is it that needs new life?
What is it that needs to begiven up and buried?
What is it that needsrestoration to become something
new in you, as a part of you,something new in you as a part
(37:57):
of you?
There's tables around the roomand along the back walls and
there's these cards right here,and that's what I'm asking you
to do.
I'm saying, hey, let's writethis down, and I'm asking you to
seal it up.
And then, during this next song, I'm asking you to come up to
one of these baskets in here andI'm going to say bury it.
To come up to one of thesebaskets in here and I'm gonna
(38:18):
say bury it.
So ask yourself what is it thatneeds to be put away?
What is it that needs to bemade new?
What is it that needs to beredeemed?
What is it that needs to berestored?
Seal it up, leave it and thenawait my beloved friends for new
(38:39):
life, for we know he has risen,and he has risen indeed, but
for now, I'm gonna ask you toget up and go, grab one of these
cards and not to leave the roomas a distraction of this holy
moment as you surrender and buryand await for new life.
(39:00):
So, friends, may you go andparticipate now.
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