The Stone is Rolled Away

Matthew 27:62-28:15

Immanuel – 7/27/25

          For the past few weeks we have walked through the most crushing portions Matthew’s Gospel. Without a doubt, these chapters have been the most emotional, most difficult to bear. Yet, even in that great darkness, glory has beamed through the shadows.

          At the conclusion of last week’s passage Jesus lay dead and in a tomb. His lifeless body still bearing the marks from a horrifically severe whipping, and the brutality of the cross. His body was utterly broken, his blood spilled out, his life was gone. Jesus of Nazareth, the hope of so many, lay dead.

          But today, in this darkest of moments, the unfetter brilliance of heaven bursts from our pages. Oh Lord, give us eyes to see it!

          Our passage opens with, The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation…

          Completed Preparations

          Jesus was crucified and died on Friday. But Matthew does not state that it was Friday. Instead he refers to it as the day of Preparation. Matthew was signaling something much larger than the mere day. The day of Preparation was the day when provisions were made for the Sabbath – when the people were meant to rest from their work. All the work was to be accomplished on Friday, so the people could rest on Saturday – the Jewish Sabbath.

Not only was it the day of Preparation for Sabbath, it also happened to be the day of Preparation for an annual celebration: the Festival of Unleavened Bread – a seven-day feast. God had given special instructions for the first day of Unleavened Bread.

          On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work.                                                                                  -Leviticus 23:7

          The day after Jesus died, the people were meant to rest from their work; all the work had been accomplished on the day of Preparation. Do you see what God has done?

          Jesus lived the life God created each of us to live, yet in our sin and brokenness we have failed to live. But Jesus lived in perfectly loving relationship with the Father, and in perfectly loving relationship with other people. Then Jesus willing went to the cross as a substitute, to be condemned for our sins, to have his body broken though it is we who are broken.

          Jesus did all the work. He lived righteously. He bore our condemnation. And if we trust Jesus to have done these things for us, the Father promises we are forgiven and freed! He unites us to Christ, clothes us in Christ; so when the Father looks upon us he does not see our brokenness and filth, he sees the perfect life of his beloved Son! Because of Jesus we are lavishly loved by God, recipients of his glorious grace, and adopted as his own sons and daughters!

          Jesus has done it all for us! The preparations have all been made and we can find rest for our souls! This is most ultimately why Jesus summons us:

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” 

-Matthew 11:28-30

          O come to Jesus and find rest for your soul! How wearying it is, how dreadfully burdensome, for a soul to be separated from God! You’ll either end up trying to earn God’s love (Is love something that can be earned?) or you’ll spend yourself suppressing the truth. Come to Jesus and find rest for your soul!

          Yet on a day when people are supposed to be resting, it is no small irony that the Jewish religious leaders were busying themselves trying to suppress the truth, and compelling others into the work of denying Jesus.

          Read vs 62-64

          Matthew weaves so many ironies into these final chapters. The religious leaders, who so ferociously opposed Jesus, remember Jesus’ words about a resurrection on the third day. Meanwhile, it seems Jesus’ disciples have all but forgotten, lost in their grief, expecting the story to be over.

          Of course, the religious leaders do not actually believe Jesus will rise. They just want to be sure the disciples cannot take Jesus’ body and spread lies that he has risen. With a sort of twisted wisdom, they perceive that news of Jesus’ resurrection would be more powerful than anything that happened before the cross. An incredible insight despite their profound spiritual blindness!

          Pilate sees their rationale and grants them a guard, encouraging the religious leaders to make the tomb as secure as possible.

          Read vs 65-66

          Once more, Jews and Gentiles, representatives from earth’s greatest religious establishment and earth’s most powerful military force, unite to secure the tomb of a poor, homeless man from Nazareth. And once more, they are unwittingly caught up in the Father’s sovereign plan.

          They seal the enormous stone blocking the entrance (or exit) to the tomb. The guard is set on continuous watch. With such secure measures, the enemies of Christ ensure Jesus’ body could not be stolen nor tampered with; neither could Jesus have swooned on the cross and revived later. The guard guarantees nothing natural could have brought the body of Jesus out of that tomb.

          It would have to be something, or someone, supernatural. Indeed, this would be no ordinary Sunday dawn. Miracles would spill from that morning’s Son rise.

          Read 28:1

          He is Risen!

          Here again we see the female disciples of Jesus. Matthew names two women, but from the other Gospels we know there were a few more.

Let me repeat what I said last week: If anyone tries to tell you the Bible demeans women, they do not understand what they are saying! In an age when women were not considered credible witnesses, the Father defied those conventions and planned for women to be the primary witnesses of the most significant events in human history. Only they were there to see it all.

It is they who provide continuity from cross, to empty tomb, to first sightings of the resurrected Christ. The women, not the men, will be the primary witnesses to Jesus’ death and resurrection.

And as these faithful women approach the tomb, where only two days ago they saw the body of Jesus placed, were about to be thunderstruck with wonder.

Read vs 2-4

          You get the sense that language fails with the description of the angel. What does it mean for a being to look like lightning? Brilliant and flashing light, blinding to behold, with white hot radiance. And when this embodied radiance touched the ground, the earth trembled beneath him. The earthquake occurs because the angel descended from heaven. The earthquake had nothing to do with the rolling of the stone.

And though the angel is from an entirely different realm, hear how physical he is. Presumably with hands, the angel pushed the stone aside – as if it were nothing. And then with a lightness, almost a childlike cheer, the angel sat on the stone. The barrier preventing any human passage has been reduced to a simple chair. Did the angel’s legs dangle and kick with amusement as he sat atop the rock?

The Roman soldiers, on the other hand, were not amused! Surely, during their military career they had seen some formidable foes. Indeed, there were none so formidable as Roman legionnaires: conquerors of the world, iron enforcers of imperial rule! But an angel come from heaven, concussing the earth, flashing like lightning – never had they faced such otherworldly wonderment!

Matthew gives us another irony! These men who were set to guard the dead, have themselves become like the dead! Seized and thrown to the ground with astounding sensory overload, they are scared stiff, like trembling corpses, strong men rendered utterly infantile!

Women, which the ancient world regarded as weak and less significant, evidently did not fall useless to the ground as did the men. And then we learn the angel had come with a message for the women.

Read vs 5-6

The angel had not come to terrify the women; he had come with glad tidings of great joy! It was natural for them to fear a supernatural appearance, so the angel speaks words of peace and encouragement: “Do not be afraid!” The soldiers were scared to death, but the angel offers no comfort to them. What is different about these women? They were followers of Jesus! They had come to honor their King, even if they thought they would find him still dead.

The realities of God, and of heaven, are terror to those who do not believe. As the writer of Hebrews articulates, “For our God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:29) But to those who do believe, who are called by his name, God “will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.” (1 Peter 5:10) Do not be afraid!

“I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.” There is no confusion in that graveyard, they are all talking about Jesus who was crucified, whose body was behind that stone – now rolled away. “He is not here.”

And after these strengthening and perplexing words, the angel speaks to the women – for the first time in all time – the most transformative words ever to be uttered: “He has risen!”

Then the angel adds, “as he said.” Meaning, Jesus told you this would happen. Again we see, the women were following Jesus all along – it wasn’t just the men who heard Jesus prophesy. More than a year earlier, Jesus began to tell them about his death and resurrection.

From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.                                                   -Matthew 16:21

The angel called the women to remember. And while Jesus’ prophecies are now careening through the women’s heads, along with the angelic news that Jesus has risen, the angel beckons them to enter the tomb. “Come, see the place where he lay.”

This is why the angel rolled the stone away. It was not for Jesus to come out. It was for the women to come in. And presumably the women entered right away. It was found empty. The body was not there. It’s not proof that Jesus had risen, but it was an essential bit of evidence. And the fact that they were talking to an angel robed in lightning was a helpful indicator.

After examining the empty tomb, the angel has a mission for the women.

Read vs 7

The news of Jesus resurrection cannot be kept quiet! It is never meant to be absorbed and silently understood. Once understood, the resurrection of Jesus Christ must be proclaimed!

The angel says the women are to go quickly and tell the other disciples – the male disciples. The women shall be the first heralds of the full gospel: Jesus who was crucified is risen! The disciples, who in fear had recently been scattered, are now to gather back Galilee, and there they will meet the risen Christ.

(Parenthesis)

From the other Gospels we know Jesus reveals himself to the disciples in and around Jerusalem, but Matthew choses to ignore all of those appearances. Remember, Matthew arranges his gospel according to themes rather than a precise chronological account.

Throughout his Gospel, Matthew has been showing us now that Christ had come, the temple, and the city in which it sat, were obsolete. Beyond buildings, beyond borders, beyond bloodlines, something entirely new was being created in and through Jesus Christ.

So Matthew choses to focus on Jesus’ return to Galilee. Why? Because of something he wrote back in chapter 4, a quotation of the prophet Isaiah.

“The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles – the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.”

                                                                             -Matthew 4:15-16

The Gospel was going to Galilee of the Gentiles. And when gathered in Galilee, we will hear Jesus commission the disciples to go, and make disciples of all nations. The gospel would not be bound by buildings, bloodlines, or borders, but would be good news of great joy for all people.

From that empty tomb would be born a whole new creation. The empty tomb became the womb of a new creation. How good is God’s plan, at the fullness of time women would be the first to witness that new birth; women would be the first to carry that news and quickly deliver it?!

(Close Parenthesis)

But first, the women would be found by the one they were looking for.

Read vs 9-10

They saw Jesus crucified. They saw his body laid in the tomb. They saw that same tomb empty. Now they are the first to see the risen Christ. They women are the continuity of these history changing events!

I love Jesus’ greeting to the women. It’s so common: “Greetings.” “Hello!” It’s the greeting of a friend. But the women do not respond to Jesus as a mere friend. They fall at his feet and take hold of them, as one would do before a king in that time. And he has feet that can be held. This is no vision, nor is Jesus a ghost. He is physical, a man with a body, the resurrected King of kings, Lord over life and death. They have met the risen Christ, proof positive in resurrection.

The women worship Jesus, and Jesus accepts their worship; for he is King and Lord and God over all.

Jesus reinforces the message of the angel. “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.” Again, the resurrection demands disciples go and tell. Jesus wants the women to tell the men, but he calls them his brothers.

And how do we know Jesus refers to his disciples when he speaks of brothers? Because of what Jesus said back in chapter.

“Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”                                                                 -Matthew 12:50

The will of the Father is to trust his Son, to believe in what Jesus has done in life and death and life again, and rest in Christ’ completed work! The will of the Father is that we, in response to what Jesus has done, that we make him the Lord of our lives and live in obedience to him – to go and tell. God poured out his love for us on that cross, let us therefore pour out our lives in love for him!

And as the women were leaving the tomb, quickly taking their first steps of gospel obedience, the solders, too, were hurrying to go and tell.

Read vs 11-15

Matthew writes the soldiers told the religious leaders all that had taken place. What does all mean? Did they speak of the earthquake, the angel rolling the stone as if it were a pebble, that they fell down like dead men, that the angel spoke to women, that the body of Jesus had disappeared? How much of all did they tell?

Regardless, it does not seem they lied about what happened. The religious leaders heard the truth. How hard were their hearts to brush it all aside and persist in suppressing the truth? They paid the soldiers a substantial bribe, compelled them to lie, and promised they had their back.

Ironic that the lie the religious leaders wanted to prevent on Saturday is the very lie they are propagating on Sunday. Matthew states at the time of his writing, the Jews were still spreading these lies. In the 2^nd century, church father Justin Martyr records the Jews still spreading this same lie: that the disciples had stolen Jesus’ body, pretending he had risen.

But the disciples received no earthly gain from this claim – that Jesus is risen. All of the Apostles were severely persecuted, 11 of them (Paul included) were executed. Who would die for something they knew to be a lie, for a fairytale, a fiction? No one. Life is too precious to give away for nothing.

But if it’s true that Jesus is risen, that is news which changes everything. It means every claim made by Jesus is trustworthy. It means he really is the resurrection and the life. It means rest truly can be found in him, and forgiveness, and freedom, and favor with God.

Brothers and sisters, the same two claims from Matthew 28 exist today. One claim says that Jesus’ resurrection is a lie, a fantasy. The story about the disciples stealing the body has faded. Nearly every scholar believes that the disciples were convinced Jesus had risen. But still, it’s too fantastical. To rise from the dead is impossible. The disciples were hallucinating, or saw something else.

Like Paul writes to the Corinthians, a crucified and risen Jesus is foolishness to Gentiles and offensive to Jews. The vast majority of the world scoffs, and claims the resurrection is a fantasy. And if it’s a fantasy, it has no real bearing on our lives. Nothing needs to change.

But the other claim, pouring from the pages of the Bible: Jesus is risen! And if Jesus is risen, everything has changed. It means by faith in him, death is defeated. Resurrection proves he is the Lord of life and death, and we must thus trust him with our life and death. We trust that he will show us the best way to live. We trust he will rescue us from the stillness of death. We trust our sins to be forgiven, we have been freed from the bondage of selfishness and pride, we are loved by God, and we have found rest for our souls. The resurrection of Jesus Christ validates all of these glorious claims!

And brothers and sisters, if that tomb is empty and Jesus is risen, and if all of these claims are true, we must not be silent! We must quickly go and tell what Jesus has done! What an incredible privilege to be ambassadors of such gloriously good news! We are not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes! (Romans 1:16)

For the past two weeks I have closed the sermon with questions, let me close today with a questions Jesus asks:

“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

                                                                             -John 11:25-26