[Chapter 22]
Christ talks in parable to them more while the Pharisees and Sadducees are already pissed off at Him.
22:1-14 - The King has a feast for son/prince and the people reject it and kill his servants and mock them. They fill this place with the good and bad who are invited. One comes in and is without a wedding garment and is taken away. Why does he pick this guy out? Because they gave people clothes. He had on street clothes. The man had no excuse not to wear it. It is supplied by the king. He tried to get in without accepting the garment.
Jesus wants all to repent and break themselves of their pride. Even when they know and get it, they want to reject Him and destroy Him. They don't want to be changed or change. God chose all of us but some do not want to change and you end up not completing your purpose.
22:15-22 - Then the Pharisees plot how to trap Him and bring the Herodians in on this plot (the Arab supporters and Jewish supporters of Herod). Matthew is showing how much they hate Jesus equally. Equivalent would be the Nazis and Communists teaming up to defeat someone. They ask if taxes should be paid to Caesar or not. If he says yes, he is pro-Rome and they can arrest him and if he says the opposite, they will hopefully see Him lose support. He is also in the Temple. They bring a graven image of Caesar to Him in the Temple. Jesus responds: Give to Caesar what is Caesar's. Give to God what is His.
[There is no fighting back against the government by the Early Church. You obey the state unless it makes you sin. Then, come what may. This converts Rome eventually]
22:23-33 - Sadduccees, resurrection-deniers, come and ask him a question about a bride who is for seven brothers who have died in succession.
The point Jesus makes here is that after the Resurrection of the dead, we will not be looking for a wife or having a children. It will be different so he is basically saying their question is retarded. They need to see the bigger issue. He then corrects them and proves the Resurrection by using only the Pentatauch, which the Sadduccees only accept to be the Old Testament. They are astonished. He got them too.
22:34-40 - The Pharisees regroup after seeing this and try another gotcha moment and try to get him into a dumb debate. This is on the greatest commandment. Jesus answers and owns them by saying "love God and love people". This passage also proves Jesus spoke Greek because he uses the word "mind" here.
22:41-46 - While they gathered, Jesus asks them a question. The reason he asks this is to show them and have them answer that He is God Incarnate. The Messiah therefore is not a mere man. He quotes Ps 109/110 (LXX/MT).
[Chapter 23]
Remember that this is Passover season and tensions are high because there have been "messiahs" before who started violent revolts versus Rome. Rome and Judea are both on edge. This is a highly charged atmosphere waiting for a storm to brew.
23:1-12 - "The Pharisees sitting in Moses' seat". This is a place where Moses' successors sit (part of the Jewish tradition and Jesus doesn't go against it. Moses was the Law-Giver and he had successors to teach the Law). This is apostolic succession, but you won't find this in the O.T. You find it in tradition that Jesus does not dispute and you find the apostles continue this practice.
Matthew writes this all after 70 AD. When he is writing it, we would have a "seat" for the bishop in the church. We developed on this from the Jews because we are the offspring of 2nd Temple Judaism.
Jesus refers to the Pharisees adding extra burdens and laws (v.4).
Shows them the Pharisees burden people and do not help relieve or lift them or help the outcasts and suffering.
They do all their works to be seen by men publically. They are in it for fame and notoriety. Virtue signalling. They are worshipping themselves. Setting up idols for themselves.
23:5 - They should keep the Law and in mind but this is false piety from them. Sadducees weren't really priests of Zadok. The Pharisees rejected the Sadducees and had lots of rabbinical trained people.
23:6-12 - Teacher is used in John 3:10; Acts 13:1; 1 Cor. 12:28; Eph. 4:11 and 2 Tim. 1:11. Father is also used in Luke 16:24; 1 Cor. 4:15 and Col. 3:21. It is not a prohibition.
All religious Jews are descended from the Pharisees. Rome in 70 AD wiped out the Sadducees and Zealots and Essenes were already a minority sect that died out in the deserts. The only survivors of Judaism were 1) Christians and 2) Pharisees post-70 AD.
After the Bar Kochba Revolt after 132-136 AD, the Wailing Wall (after 132 AD) it was the only piece of Jerusalem left. It wasn't until Constantine that they would be able to go to Jerusalem (the Jews) one time a day on the day of 70 AD as a commemoration day. A Temple to Zeus after the Bar Kochba Revolt would be built and erected and only torn down by St. Helena, mother of Constantine. At the time Mohammed lived, Jerusalem's Temple became a literal garbage dump.
23:13-36 - Jesus calls them out and curses the scribes and Pharisees for their hypocrisy and refusal to help people find salvation. They screw over everyone and are also turds for this. Any convert that they do make, he says is a son of hell with them because they are blind guides.
"Swear by the gold of the Temple" is an oath rule the Pharisees made up to get past using Roman currency. Jesus says it is meaningless. Christ swears here too when he says "woe".
He still gives them a shot to repent but shows them where they are headed (hell). If you make an oath, keep it.
23:25-26 - Clean the inside, not just the outside.
23:27-28 - They are like beautiful tomns but dead inside. The sons of the devil, the Pharisees are guilty of killing from Abel to Zechariah. The cup of inequity is close to being filled. The ancestors have helped fill this cup. When they kill Jesus, they are finishing themselves off and will be judged by God through Rome.
23:36 - From Abel to Zechariah: Abel was the first murder. This was recent, this murder of St. John the Baptizer's father, Zechariah, who was High Priest. All that wickedness is culminating and will (judgment) fall on this generation (70 AD).
Herod's men had killed High Priest Zechariah (the legitimate priest, not a Sadducee) when they tried to kill the babies. John's mother Elizabeth had fled to the desert and John was eventually according to Church Tradition, and I have no reason to disagree with this, raised by angels. There is no reason to doubt the history of Christians because we trust pagans to do history correct too for the most part. We should also trust more because archaeology keeps backing up the bible more and more. St. Thomas and India for example were once rejected as fake history but now we have found it to be true. It is not legends. It is historical fact and data.
23:37-39 - Jesus laments over Jerusalem after His judgments. He wishes He could get them to stop rejecting Him.
[Chapter 24]
The Eschatological Discourse: Matthew writes his Gospel post-70.
He keeps showing us all the places where Christ fulfilled things that were prophesied.
"The time is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live" (John 5:25). Those "last days" are here. We are in them. It is not in the future like a dispensationalist would say. The perspective of the New Testament, is that when Jesus' first advent begins that this is the beginning of the end. The dominoes are falling. After a great judgment (the Cross), what is to come later is the 2nd Coming and the Resurrection of the Dead and changing of the cosmos.
When the Old Testament prophets prophesy, they condense and smush prophecies together. Jesus here will go a bit back and forth with them when He talks to THEM about AD 70 and then also about His return.
24:1-2 - They leave the Temple and the disciples marvel about all Herod has built and so Jesus tells them that at some point there will be nothing left, which will happen in 70 AD when the Temple will fall, as will all of Jerusalem and the province of Judaea mostly after the Bar Kochba Revolt takes place in 132-135 AD where they will defeat the Jews (Rome) and then completely raze and bulldoze the land and keep the Jews out until centuries later.
24:3-14 - When is your "coming"? When is the destroying of the Romans happening? Jesus says not to be deceived by things that happen because they are only "the beginning of sorrows" and "the end is not yet".
There will be a time of the end that will take place; it is not yet.
Christ shows them that this event of 70 AD will take place but tells them not to fret because it is all part of His plan and that will come to pass.
He tells the Apostles to expect to be martyred and persecuted and that this will continue to happen and go on and that even kingdoms like Rome will one day pass away and fall in the process before He returns.
24:14 - The Gospel will be preached in all the world? The foundations of this were done in the book of Acts but continues to be done today through Christ's apostles' successors aka the Church, that is you and I.
24:15-28 -
v.15 - Matthew says "let the reader understand" (some code is used here - will explain soon). Perhaps this is put here in case a persecutor Jew will read this and then come after their community? We can only speculate somewhat here.
The "abomination of desolation" was Antiochus Epiphanes in Daniel. Antiochus sacrifices a pig on the altar to Zeus/Jupiter. Maccabeans Revolt ensued and then they made a treaty with Rome. This is what was referred to here. Jesus tells them that it is going to happen again. Matthew wrote this after the fact that it had happened and uses code here because he doesn't want Romans to think that he was one of the revolters there at the War probably should they confiscate and read this work. If you think this is strange, recall that Peter does code too when he calls Rome "Babylon". Jesus tells them to flee versus participating in this war because it will be pointless. They would die if they did, following after a pointless war they would lose. In 132-135 AD they would be following a false messiah too and lose that war too should they join it so Jesus is saying do not join them for they are false and wicked ways.
The Christians before AD 70 would, by angel, be told to flee and go to Petra. Jesus told them to flee and they historically did this. Matthew writes of it after the event takes place.
Many people will try to decieve but do not believe it for when He comes for real it will be unmistakeable. The sun will appear less bright because of Christ's glory and the fullness of His splendor. You will KNOW when Jesus comes back. It will be unmistakeable. Until then we must stay faithful and endure to be faithful servants.
The elect here in v. 24 is eklektos which is used like race - ethnos. It is the chosen group. Specifically the Jewish remnant but it refers to Christians (this includes Gentiles). The Romans thought AD 70 was a glorious event. The Jews obviously did not.
Eschatology often does this concept of already, but not yet. The time now is and is now coming. Christ's Resurrection for example already happened. Ours has not. Matthew 24 is primarily about and for them in the past but at the same time, it is not all about the past because in it He has TWO DAYS. One is this Day of the Lord (AD 70) and the other is this FINAL DAY (the 2nd Coming) also called the Last Judgment.
Matthew having wrote this after 70 AD finds it important to share with the post-70 Christians. It is for them at the time and us. This is not a double-prophecy, but it is like Isaiah 7 in a few ways in that it was fulfilled in Isaiah's time period but then is fulfilled by Christ on a deeper level. So this chapter Matthew 24-25 is about us too.
24:29-31 - This did not happen in 70 AD. Rome did not completely destroy Jerusalem. We also did not see the 2nd Coming happen in 70 AD.
"Immediately" is used here. In the Greek it is used more like "swiftly".
We have two events discussed here. First, Israel gets judged but there is a remnant. Then the Gentiles join and all nations get judged one day. In the Old Testament, often, and here in the New Testament, things get smushed as a tendency.
The Jews are judged at the Cross and the remnant of Jews come to bring all nations to God. Then the Final Judgment and 2nd Coming are one day to take place in the future. The Old Covenant ends at the Cross and the New Covenant is ushered in and the remnant and New People that were prophesied about fulfill the Old Testament prophets' visions of the New Jerusalem.
Now that the Gentiles are coming in, the 2nd Coming awaits when they no longer come in (Romans 11:25-27).
Already, not yet. The whole world will see the sign of the Son of Man.
24:32-44 - The nations of the world will mourn because it's judgment. So things will happen to them that also point to future events.
Verse 36 says "of that day and hour, none know, when it happens". This is a different Day spoken of here. It is not the AD 70 "day" that has been previously warned about.
Verse 32-36 is a transition here. There is "this day" and "that day". Already but not yet going on here. Distinct days are here. V. 34-35 he says "heaven and earth". What is shown here is that they are less reliable witnesses than His Word so He will not even swear on the heaven and earth because He is reliable and it will assuredly happen as He says.
24:37-44 - It will be like the Days of Noah. Unexpected judgment time; if they had listened to Noah, they would be saved but instead they all are judged in the Flood. It will be like this at His return. They did not know when and we won't either.
Two parables will be given about this time and Jesus will tell all readers to be prepared and work to repent.
24:45-51 - Loyalty. The Master returns and sees everything in disarray because of the servant. The servant decides he is now permanently Master and abuses everyone under him, thinking Master would not return. The Master throws the servant out and cuts him out. The place of the hypocrites is where they will receive the inheritance of Hades. The bad place. The one left is the one in the Master's house. The one taken away is the one that is judged. Jesus is coming HERE, not there. The vultures are eating on the wicked who have chosen death.
[Chapter 25]
25:1-13 - A parable is given about a wedding. The bridegroom is coming to the village for his wedding. They bring oil lamps. The foolish ones fail to do so. The groom is delayed but makes it. The door was shut. Those who planned ahead were prepared with their candles. The people who prepared are people of Light. The foolish don't prepare themselves.
25:14-30 - This parable is about taking the gift given, using it, investing it, and then these are the results. One of the servants were just lazy. Unproductive. He, the lazy one is taken away.
25:31-46 - Christ will come with His angels and sit on His throne and will judge the entire world. Hell was made for the demons and Satan. The people who will end up in the lake of fire at the end will be those who choose to go there.
The talent parables are totally what happens not just to people of 70 AD but also to everyone who rejects Christ. They (the Jews) reject the gift and abuse it. All are chosen but few become elect. The lazy servant is the goat mentioned. Not the sheep of the shephard.
These people judged know Jesus. They are His servants and failed. That is being said specifically too to his disciples. He expects a return when He returns. This applies to us too.
25:41 - The fire of hell is for the devil and his fallen angels/demons but some go with him in the Final Day (people who reject Christ).
[Chapter 26]
26:1-5 - Jesus and Apostles have been occupying the Temple. The Jewish factions have all failed to stop Jesus so they plot how to defeat and kill Him. They at first plot to do this after Passover and it goes to the top with the High Priest Caiaphas present. They could not execute him as Jews but could form a mob to do it but they wanted to wait though, as it might be worse for them to kill this man on the Passover... these people that claim to be holy and godly are plotting to murder.
After Christ's Eschatological Discourse, He tells the apostles that He will be crucified, though He is Messiah.
26:6-13 - They leave and it is night and they go to Bethany to the house of Simon the Leper, one who Jesus must have healed. Jesus is in the home of the poor. A woman shows up with oil and she is poor and pours wealthy perfume all on Jesus. The apostles are baffled at this at first because this place is poor all around them and she just seems to have wasted something that could have been sold for a seemingly better purpose than what she's just used it for.
Jesus tells the apostles she has done a good thing from her heart. Her offering is from the heart. That is not always going to look practical to us on the outside.
26:14-16 - Judas goes to the chief priests and betrays Jesus.
Iscariot is not Judas' last name because they did not have last names at this time. To distinguish, they would say something like Jesus bar Joseph or Jesus of Nazareth.
Iscariot usually comes close to the word for "red" and it could be representative of blood. In Latin, Sacariots are some zealots and they were assassins of Roman officials. It is possible Judas was one of these people and it seems likely since he is seeking to get paid to betray Jesus. Judas did not sign up to be killed by Romans but then Jesus says he will be killed by them for following Him. This is likely why he betrays but we cannot fully prove any of this and it is only speculation at the end of the day.
Judas for 30 pieces of silver betrays him. 30 pieces of silver isn't much but is the price of a young male slave. This would be the equivalent in 2020 to like $300 today. It is not much to kill someone. Acts is the only book that mentions a specific person going to Hell and it is Judas who is this man who is condemned.
26:17-25 - 32 AD Passover was on a proper Sabbath. The day starts off on Friday at sundown. They have to prepare the meal on Thursday to do it right and properly. He eats at night with them on Friday.
Jesus says to speak to a guy that he will go to their house for it.
The disciples prepare Pascha feast meals.
Jesus tells them that one will betray Him and they all ask if it is them who will betray them. This says subtly to the reader that the other disciples were unsure and antsy and even thinking somewhat about abandoning or betraying Him and in the end, they all do betray Christ and abandon Him to some extent. They have doubts and this shows how alone Jesus truly is and was. Jesus looks at Judas and it is pretty obvious. They may not have thought this betrayal was to be murderous.
26:26-30 - Jesus creates Christian worship here. New Covenant. Eucharist. In the Old Covenant, they used animal blood. In the New Covenant, this Covenant is the Blood. His Body and His Blood is the New Covenant. This is the Eucharist. After this v.30 they worship after taking this. After Pentacost, the Early Church does this and celebrates the Eucharist and will also begin doing hymns and the first proto-liturgies will be created in this time. The way our current Liturgy is structured is based on this and it is structured much like the Jews did them because this was originally Jewish worship, now Christian worship.
Judas has not left them yet. He took the Eucharist too and Jesus let Him. Back in Genesis, the covenant with Abraham was "cutting the covenant" (Gen 18). When we take the Bread and Blood we are cutting covenant with God. In Abraham's case, God walks through the middle of the covenant. God is to die for the covenant if Israel breaks it and Jesus does this. This new covenant is the same. We are cutting covenant with God and if we are unworthy, we condemn ourselves. So Judas signs on for the New Covenant and then is condemned for his cutting covenant here since he rejects Christ.
26:31-35 - They go to the Mount of Olives. Jesus tells them all they will fail Him tonight. Peter says he will not betray Jesus. Jesus then tells him that he is wrong and that actually Peter will do so. They all end up failing. Jesu goes to Gethsemene and begins to pray.
26:36-46 - Jesus shares our human nature. Jesus also shares our Divine Nature and Divine Will.
One will, one purpose, one goal. Human nature was originally the same way. Jesus doesn't have sin. He has the original human nature and will. His natural will and nature is to do good and the will of God. Because of sin, sometimes we cannot always do what we think is the best/good decision. The natural human will is to live forever with God and live. Jesus doesn't want to die because death is foreign to Him. The will of God is to die for all. This is to remind us that Jesus is really human and will feel this. It will be painful.
He finds them sleeping. Verse 41 - Their spirit is willing but they are weak minded and weak. He feels abandoned and is. He prays 3x and they fall asleep all three times that they are supposed to keep watch. They act like the virgins here in his eschatological discourse, having fallen asleep.
Judas comes to betray Him. Judas had stayed awake to betray him. They have brought the Temple Gaurds.
26:47-56 - Jesus tells the disciples to put down their swords because he doesn't need conflict here. He will also go willingly to the Cross. If He wanted to He could send "12 legions of angels" (v. 53). He is ready to fulfill the Scriptures. The disciples flee when Jesus is arrested.
26:57-68 - Peter follows at a distance Jesus, being sent to the Sanhedrin and Caiphas. They need two witnesses to match to convict Jesus and can't do it. They try to run with Jesus' saying eventually that he will destroy the Temple.
26:63 - Caiaphas puts Jesus under oath "Are you Messiah"? Jesus answers yes.
26:64 - Jesus says in the future He will bring judgment. Caiaphas claims it blasphemy but it is not. This is not a fair trial at all obviously. Now that they have something (his claim as King) they can go to Rome about it.
26:69-75 - By the fire, Peter is approached by a servant girl. Denies Jesus 3x. Another girl asks and then more do. They know he has a Galilean accent too. It is obvious he follows Jesus. Then the rooster crows 3x. He has failed.
[Chapter 27]
27:1-2 - Having admitted He is Messiah, He admits He is King and so they take Him to Rome. Judas and all the apostles have betrayed Jesus to some extent. They deliver Jesus to the Governor of Judea's province, Pontius Pilate in the morning.
Pilate was a ruthless man as governor. Crucifixion was a natural punishment for him and even Romans found him to be vicious. They ruled by terror. After 70 AD, because he had failed to keep order, he was beheaded. He considered Jews to be non-persons, sub-humans. In modern equivalent, the Jews of that time saw Pilate to be like Stalin or Hitler essentially. All these Jews of differing sects are working together vs. Jesus. They hate each other but work together. They are also now in the house of the "impure Gentiles" (Rome). The same people who were so mad at Jesus for eating with unclean Jews and Gentiles are now willing to do this. Hypocrites.
27:3-10 - Judas has remorse and tries to give his money back and these hypocrites say it is blood money and cannot be in the Temple. So Judas goes and hangs himself after realizing he has sinned against Jesus. The apostles repented while Judas did not. They use the money and buy a field to bury strangers and this fulfills Jeremiah 39:6-9 (LXX).
27:11-14 - Pilate asks Jesus "Are you King of the Jews?" The Romans hated kings. They considered them tyrants and this is why they made it a republic with senates. Ceasar Augustus has only recently made himself "Conqueror" and ruler. They hated the title "King" so though He is Emperor he doesn't use the title personally. To them, this peasant Jesus is contesting the Empire.
Jesus answers Pilate but not the Jews here. Pilate is marvelled that Jesus deosn't respond at all to them. This is all an unusual thing. Why is Pilate even talking to a peasant Jew?
27:15-26 - Barrabbas - son of Abbas. Pilate has a choice to free someone. He picks Jesus or this criminal. He tries to engineer this so that he doesn't get himself screwed up by the Roman Emperor later for causing an unrest. His wife tells him also before that Jesus is just and this becomes an omen. She has had dreams about this. Romans were very suspicious and superstititious so he is trying to get out of this and spare him. He also, if Jesus is just, is open to the judgment of the pagan gods when they set things straight (which in pagan pantheon they do). If he is executed, it is on him.
1) He asked if he was Messiah first and then 2) when this fails, he chooses gross Barrabbas and the Jews chose Barrabbas.
The Jews say "to crucify him". He asks why they want to kill this man claiming to be their messiah. He saw the crowd was becoming a mob and he wants and has to keep peace so he seems to be stuck here but he isn't. He could have done a bunch of things here to quell this growing mob. He washes his hands of this and lets Jesus be crucified though. He is not off the hook though. He has and knows this Jesus is innocent for a fact and will still have him crucified. He had many options but instead shows himself to be a weak coward morally and that he takes a coward's way out.
The Jews say "His blood be on us and on our children". In Deuteronomy, the Jews took an oath to follow God and they sprinkled blood on all the people to accept that they were all under the Old Covenant. Cutting the covenant is here too. Jesus' sacrifice is now going to bring about the New Covenant and if they reject Him, they will be in condemnation if they do not later repent. What was a trial has now become a time of the covenant being transitioned into the New Covenant. Just like in the Old Covenant.
He is scourged before crucified. Pieces of flesh are chunked out of Jesus in this process. They would be hitting him with these naked and pulling out chunks of skin. Usually, people would sometimes not even survive this before crucifixion.
27:27-31 - The Romans mock Jesus after scourging him. They spat on him and struck with a reed. The Old Testament has a goat that was sent out to die as a sin offering.
The Epistle of Barnabas says that they would spit and mock the goat and they would put a red ribbon on its neck. Jesus wears a red robe that they put on him. This is the red ribbon. The sins of the world are representative here with the red robe/red ribbon. Jesus has put on all the sins of the world and like the goat who is mocked and led out of the city to die for their sins, so shall He now.
27:32-44 - They make a Cyrene named Simon carry the cross because Jesus can't carry it anymore. They walk to Golgotha and make him try to drink some wine with gall. The Place of the Skull was in 2nd Temple Judaism, the place where they believed that Adam died (as they think that Jerusalem is where Eden used to be). Symbolism is obvious here.
The sour wine is considered a sign of mercy and Jesus rejects it, taking and accepting the full measure of this suffering. They crucified Him and Psalms 21:19 is fulfilled (LXX). They then keep watch while Jesus has to experience an excruciating pain and suffer up there on the Cross until He dies of asphyziation or something just gives out. You are also hanging out there naked and exposed to the elements. The Romans would be unconcerned as they see this every day. Jews as well.
Pilate has a sign set up "This is Jesus. King of the Jews". Robbers are on the left and right side of Him and are crucified with Him. He was blasphemed by people walking by and both robbers as well.
There is some temptations here. No one is friendly here to Jesus. He is utterly rejected and alone. Deserted. Mocked. All of humanity.
9 AM He is crucified. Noon (6th hour). 9th hour (3 in the afternoon).
There is darkness from 9-3. That is 6 hours that he is up there and dies in the 6th hour. Representative of the 7 days of Genesis, He will die in 6 hours and his work will be finished. He quotes Psalm 21: "My God... Why hast Thou forsaken Me?"
27:45-56 - One guy tries to give him wine again. Matthew presents Jesus rejecting it again and as he is dying he is praying the psalms. Jesus dies and then there is an earthquake and the veil of the Temple is torn, and people rise from the dead. This is a Day of Judgment and a day of reckioning and a Day of Darkness. The Prophets prophesied this event would take place. Jesus' death is a day of Judgement on Israel. There will be a remnant to be the New People. The people of Israel will join the New Covenant or be cut off. It is a judgment day here.
These people are sitting in their tombs for 2 days and don't come out until Jesus rises from the dead. They literally stay there because Jesus is the beginning of the resurrection of the dead.
27:54-56 - The Romans exclaim "truly this was the son of a god". They are superstitous enough as pagans to see that He might be legit and that they should not have killed this man. Meanwhile, the Jews still do not see it.
27:55-56 - The women watched Jesus die and all this take place. They are witnesses. This is unheard of to use women as witnesses in this time period. Christians have a place for women here.
27:57-61 - Joseph of Arimathea comes to see Pilate and asks if he can bury Jesus. Pilate allows it. The disciples are off in hiding right now. Joseph risks his life here to have him buried. He is a courageous man.
Pilate just experienced an earthquake and darkness on a weird and awful day. To appease the gods he probably allows this man to do it. So Joseph and these women are witnesses. We miss this but women are witnesses here which speaks to how the Early Church saw women.
27:56 and 61, to establish a fact, names three women. Usually, you would have people hang and be eaten and exposed by the animals and elements. This does not happen and Joseph buries Jesus. Christianity says women are equal to men to God. Also slaves. They are people. This is why Rome hated Christianity. Christianity literally uprooted the social order and upheaved it.
27:62-66 - The chief priests remember Christ said he would resurrect. This is on the Day of Preparation. They just killed Jesus on the Sabbath and had profaned it. Now they want to still try to do whatever to stop a dead man and his movement. Pilate gives them gaurds to rule the tomb and watch it and is sick of it. They set a seal on it so that if someone breaks it they will know someone tried to come in.
[Chapter 28]
28:1-8 - The women come to the tomb and there is an earthquake. An angel comes and rolls the stone. The penalty for falling asleep for a Roman soldier is death. They pass out at the sight of the angel. The women don't fear this angel. Christ has risen from the dead and they are told to tell the disciples.
28:9-10 - Jesus shows up and tells them to do it and two women serve as His witness. The gaurds run to the priests.
28:11-15 - They ask the Jews to cover for them.
28:16-20 - He appears to the disciples and they see Him but some doubted. Jesus says last in the Gospel that "all authority of heaven and earth has been given to Me". He is victorious. He has defeated Satan. All the nations of the world are now Christ's, not Satan. Anyone who follows and represents the devil has lost.
Now with this authority, He tells the disciples to go out and make disciples of all nations and baptize and live holy lives.
All heaven and earth. He is in charge of everything and is the authority. He is the Emperor. Rome is no longer in charge. God is.
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