Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.”
Scholars use the argument that Jesus trusted these women with the message of the resurrection of Jesus as evidence to the truthfulness of the account. At the time of Jesus, both in Jewish and Roman culture, women were not seen as reliable sources of testimony. In fact, had the Roman soldier guarding the tomb falsly testified against the women about the resurrection, his account would have been taken over theirs.* To tell a story the way Matthew did of what happened and it be convincing, the culture would suggest that he should overlook the account of the women and skip over to where the men were involved. Again, according to the culture of the time of Jesus, this would have provided a more convincing story, but he didn’t. Scholars argue that the Gospels’ inclusion of the testimony of the women made such little sense at the time, it must have been true.*
Why would Jesus do this? First, Jesus was in the habit of including, welcoming, and trusting those that the world would call, “the least of these.”* Unfortunately, and erroneously, the culture of the time saw women as “the least of these.”
Second, these women were the last of the followers of Jesus to leave the cross and the first at the tomb.* They were faithful followers who Jesus knew that He could trust with the most important message in the history of humanity, regardless of what the culture thought.
What about you and me? What does our culture say about us? Are we a reliable source? Do we have the credibility to be heard? What does it take to have a voice in our culture? Fame? Money? Influence? Education? I don’t have enough of any of that. So why me? Why you?
We certainly do not measure up to the majesty of His message. We mess up, fall short, and allow darkness into our hearts and minds; yet, Christ trusts us with the most important message to ever come to humanity.
We are the “least of these;” He is the greatest.
Today, take a step.
Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to remember that He knew who you were when He called you: imperfect. Perhaps today God wants you to forget what culture says you should be and embrace what He’s created and called you to be and do. Maybe God wants you to carry His message to those who need it most.
Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.
Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a water break… we all get thirsty.
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*Leon, Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew. Pillar New Testament Commentary (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1992), 733–740), and Keener, C. S., Matthew (Vol. 1, Mt Mt 28:1–10).) (InterVarsity Press, 1997).