Week 16—Saturday Matthew 28:2-4
Matthew 28:2-4
DEBATE ENDS AND DEDICATION BEGINS
Suppose Jesus had answered all these questions verbally as philosophers and theologians do. It would have all ended in a debate and question marks. But when he answers them in the Resurrection, debate ends and dedication begins. Our question marks are straightened out into exclamation points! Our questions now become a quest—a quest to “know him and the power of his resurrection” (Phil. 3:10).
Evil is self-defeating. The universe is not made for the triumph of evil. For the word evil is the word live spelled backwards—an attempt to live life against itself. Only as you throw enough good around evil is it able to survive—for a time. Force can go a long way—it can fill the earth with wars and devastation. But force is now shown to be bankrupt—shown on a world scale. God is saying to humanity, “You have used force through the ages to settle your disputes, now I’ll let you see force.” And God uncovered the heart of an atom. When we saw it we turned pale, for God also said, “But if you use it again, both sides will be ruined irretrievably.” That is the utter bankruptcy of a method, the end of the rake’s progress: Use it again and everybody concerned is ruined. This took two thousand years of experimentation to prove itself. But Jesus exposed the impotence of force when in the presence of the Resurrected One “the guards trembled and became like dead men” (Matt. 28:4)—the custodians of force helpless in the presence of this New Power. People wouldn’t take that Embodied Answer, so two thousand years of agony and pain have ensued, and the Great Fear is over our heads and in our hearts. God has two hands. We wouldn’t take the answer from the hand of Grace, so we had to take it from the hand of Judgment.
O Divine Redeemer, redeem us from our illusions—illusions which are costing us deeply. Save us by your Truth. Wisdom is in your nail-pierced hands, not in the hands that loose atom bombs. Save us—from ourselves. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: It will save me a lot of costly experimentation if I find the answers in Christ.