From the Garden to the Mountain

Week Two - Day 3

Today's Reading -- Matthew 26:36 to Matthew 28:20

The finale of Matthew's gospel produces a roller coaster of emotions.  It begins late at night in the Garden of Gethsemane as Jesus prays for strength and the disciples struggle against sleep.  This will be a long night as Jesus is betrayed, arrested, and brought to the house of the high priest.  The question the high priest wants answered is "Are you the Messiah?"  His interest is whether the man standing before him, this Jesus of Nazareth, might actually be the one who would expel the Romans from the land.  If this were true, the priests could get behind Jesus to attain their goal of reestablishing the religious monarchy. Instead, Jesus' words move the high priest to charge him with blasphemy and call for his death.  Jesus is then taken to Pilate, the Roman governor of the region.  The question that Pilate wants answered is, "Are you the King of the Jews?" If this were the case Jesus would be a threat to Pilate's authority and control.  Jesus, however, would not answer any of Pilate's questions.  After Pilate's offer to release Jesus is rebuffed, Jesus is handed over to the Roman soldiers and crucified.  

Matthew's account is meant to answer the questions of the high priest and Pilate.  Throughout, Jesus is the master of the situation.  He is both humble Messiah and King who remains in control of himself and the situation.  As Matthew records it, it is not a death that goes unnoticed as the earth itself shook and is fractured, and the curtain in the Temple that kept the holiest area hidden from view is ripped from top to bottom. The religious foundations of the nation are themselves being shaken, and steps are taken by the chief priests to contain the damage.  Guard the tomb and make sure nothing more happens.  Keep this matter bottled up.  Of course, God is not to be denied or controlled, and on the Sabbath day Jesus is found to have been raised from the dead.  Even the bribing of the guards will not keep the truth from coming out.  God has declared something new to his people, and the center of that message is Jesus. 

The only thing left is for the disciples to be commissioned to spread the Good News.  In a final mountaintop appearance back in Galilee, Matthew has Jesus deliver his charge to the disciples to go to all nations, baptize believers in the name of the Triune God, and teach all that they have received.  As the church has received it this is to be done, with Jesus ever-present, until the end of the age.

It is a commission with which we still strive today, for the call to the kingdom of God knows no time or place.