Daily Bread

So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them and said, ‘Greetings!’ And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshipped him. 
Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.’

While they were going, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests everything that had happened. After the priests had assembled with the elders, they devised a plan to give a large sum of money to the soldiers, telling them, ‘
You must say, “His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.” If this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.’

So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story is still told among the Jews to this day.

The religious authorities knew about the prediction that Jesus would rise from the dead and so they feared that if his body was stolen, his disciples would falsely claim he was resurrected. So they set guards by the tomb.

So it was that the first people to experience the resurrection were palace guards. Matthew tells us the guards were shaken by an earthquake and saw the Angel of the Lord who rolled the stone away. The sight was so terrifying that they passed out cold.

When they reported the body of Jesus gone, the religious authorities, to keep their grasp on power, played on the guards' fear of being punished, and offered a bribe for them to say the body had been stolen. Those seasoned soldiers knew the truth, but fear, sweetened by a promise of protection and some money, convinced them to tell this lie.

The women — whose testimony was not even valid in a court of law — saw Jesus and worshipped him. In humility, they clutched his scarred feet and the power of that worship so filled them with delirious joy, that they ran off and told all they met.

When we hear someone tell us of an encounter with God that we know to be true we need to be supportive, not to be afraid to tell the truth because we might look weird in believing them — or in standing with them, other relationships may suffer.

When God reveals himself to us, our response needs first to be worship and then to tell.

The worship brings us to a place where we can tell the story — his story, and ours — with truth. It also connects us to God in a way that allows us to receive a deeper understanding. He can reveal himself to us more fully as our wounded and resurrected Lord. And grasping the scarred feet of Jesus’ sacrifice fills us with the strength we need to be brave and to speak.

Oh dear Jesus,
In the glory of your awesome resurrection power,
you reach out with scarred hands,
still bearing the nail-marks of your sacrifice for me.
When I feel your tender touch,
may I fall on my knees in awe and wonder.
As I grasp your feet in worship,
fill me with the fearless power of your love
that I may tell your story in word and deed to all I meet this day.