Matthew 28:1-18 is the lectionary text for Sunday, April 12
They must have felt that the movement would last forever.
Jesus' teachings and acts of love moved people and drew them.
And Jesus' message was clear to Rome - your power, wealth and status mean nothing in the Kingdom.
The wealth of the greedy, power of the tyrants and status of the entitled elites means nothing to God.
It was a message of love for those not feeling loved under empire.
It was a message of life for those whose lives were downtrodden under empire.
It was a message of hope for people who had been occupied and oppressed for a long time under empire.
As more people came and responded to Jesus' Kingdom values of Agape Love and Grace, they must have at one time thought that the movement would last forever and become the new norm in this part of God's Kingdom, here and now!
God's Kingdom was winning! Love and Grace were winning over the evils of empire.
This Passover would mean a renewal of Moses' deliverance from oppression!
And then, after the triumphal entry and cleansing of the Temple, the forces of evil rose up and conspired, corrupted and acted.
The betrayal and denial of the most trusted.
The wrongful arrest, the mocking and torture, the perp walk complete with cross and the execution.
The death.
Hope died. The movement died. They were scattered, isolated, hiding.
How could it end this way?
Is that all there is? Empire wins? Evil wins?
Jesus was in the tomb, a borrowed one. He was gone. It was over.
What a let down, a disappointment, a trauma!
And the women, ever present and caring, ever attentive and giving care, went to offer their final act of loving service - to prepare Jesus' body for permanent burial.
Then, it was announced that Jesus was not dead, but raised!
Then they saw Jesus! Alive!
Then these women were the first witnesses to His resurrection!
And even though the conspirators still conspired, even now, the witness went out!
Jesus was not Moses alone, but also Passover Lamb, whose blood saved God's children.
Saved from sin and death, from the bondage of hearts and minds to empire, from the bondage of ignorant hatefulness as people love God with their whole MINDS and HEARTS and SOULS!
Jesus is Messiah, sent to deliver, who delivered.
Jesus gave a different truth, even under empire, that we need not be subject to it!
We can live by a different set a values to the destructive forces of greed, lust for power and desire for status which are empire.
We can live Agape Love and Grace, Mercy and Kindness, Generosity and Advocacy with one another in spite of empire which is all around us!
We are saved from the forces of evil that would oppress, hold down, back and out, and destroy us!
We are free to live as people who have life, life abundant and life forever because of God's Grace!
From HOSANNA to HALLELUJAH!
Live like the children of God who have been delivered from the evils of empire, to live the Kingdom of God values of Agape Love and Grace, here and now, in THIS PART of God's Kingdom!
Hallelujah!
Pastor Jamie
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