April 08th, 2023

You probably already know that this Sunday is Easter Sunday, the Sunday we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord. And you also probably know that the gospel text for this Sunday is a short one, especially when compared to last Sunday’s text. The gospel text which follows immediately after last Sunday’s typical text (on the Passion of Christ) is only the first ten verses of the beginning of the last chapter of the Gospel according to Matthew (28:1-10).

We are not that far, as we have our own pace through this Gospel account. We are basically going straight through that gospel account, in an effort to see its literary structure, without some of the distractions of chapter and verse divisions. We are all still headed toward the same ending. And, along the way, there may be some not-so-obvious references to Jesus’ death and resurrection.

As far as our placement within our own pace, we are currently in the middle of the first two sermons in this gospel account. The first one is the Sermon on the Mount. And the next one will be the sermon to the disciples before Jesus sends them out.

Last week we looked at the text that had the first historical present after the Sermon on the Mount that was not ‘he says’. The text does NOT say that the disciples of John ‘approached’ Jesus. It says that the disciples of John ‘are approaching’ Jesus (verse 14). Jesus is interacting with others, and he continues to do so.

Then Jesus hints that he will be taken away from them for some ‘days’ and that his followers will mourn. This seems to be a reference, basically to his departure during his arrest, his crucifixion, and his time in the tomb.

What follows below is a somewhat-literal translation of the next section, Matthew 9:18-26. Note that it connects to the previous text in a very basic way because Jesus, at the beginning of this text, is being interrupted.

These things, he speaking to them, behold, a ruler, one, coming, worshipped him saying, “The daughter of me, just now, died; but on the contrary, coming, lay on the hand of yours upon her, and she will live.” And, rising, Jesus was following him, also the disciples of him.

And, behold, a woman, blood flowing twelve years, approaching behind, touched the fringe of the garment of him, for she was saying in herself, “If only I may touch the garment of him, I will be saved.”

Now Jesus, turning and seeing her, said, “Be of good cheer, daughter; the faith of you has saved you.” And she was saved, the woman, from the hour, that.

And coming, Jesus, into the house of the ruler and seeing the flute players and the crowd, troubled, he was saying, “Depart, for not she died, the little girl, but on the contrary, she sleeps.” And they were laughing at him. Now when it was put out, the crowd, entering, he took hold of the hand of her, and she was raised, the little girl. And it went out, the report, this, into all the land, that.

In the previous text, Jesus mentioned the days when the bridegroom is taken away, and then, there is the above text that points to a resurrection. For those who know how this gospel account will end, it is relatively easy to connect these two things to the death and resurrection of Jesus that will be coming relatively soon.

Life is very complicated. But think of how complicated it was for Jesus! And there are more important things for Jesus than just speaking here and healing there. If we slow things down a bit, we may see a purpose in all of this.
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As we live in this world, we basically have some life-and-death situations. But Jesus is a death-and-life situation. And that makes a huge-and-eternal difference.