Given my very poor grasp of English grammar I’m not a good authority to be making this point but there are two grammatical mistakes in the translation in the Gospel of Matthew that we have as our gospel reading today. They have to do with mistranslating verses 5 and 6. It reads, “But the angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said.’”
The mistakes are that in Greek the words “who was crucified” are in the perfect tense in Greek but they are translated as simple past tense in English. And that the words, “for he has been raised,” are in the simple past tense in Greek but they are translated into perfect tense in English. It should read, “…you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. He is not here; for he was raised, as he said.”
Now given the hour of the morning I’d be shocked if you noticed anything different about what I just said verse what’s translated in Matthew; and that’s okay. But it’s actually an important point. What is at issue here is what is the ongoing reality of Jesus? Do we see Jesus primarily as the crucified savior or as the resurrected savior?
Does it make any difference? It did to Matthew when he wrote his gospel and it is important to him for us to know that Jesus is the crucified savior first and foremost. Resurrected savior is secondary. He gives this message primarily through the Greek verb tenses and the problem is our translations get them wrong. Matthew’s point is that the resurrection was a one time event. It was great and all, but the ongoing identity of Jesus is the crucified one.
Why is it important to know Jesus as the crucified savior more than the resurrected savior? Because it affects what you think about God and how God works. Resurrection is a great miracle, but crucifixion is love. Ultimately it is love, not flashy miracles that saved us.
I am reading a true story about a woman who lived in the area I grew up in and she mentions one particularly horrific train wreck from the 1920’s which gruesomely killed many passengers. People immediately began to ask, “Where was God in all this?” “Why did these innocent people have to die?” “Why does God allow these terrible things to happen?”
These questions all come from an attitude which is rooted in seeing Jesus as the resurrected savior, not the crucified one. People want there to be happy endings. They expect God to make it so. They expect there to be special protection for faithful people. God should keep bad things from happening to good people. All-in-all they expect God to elevate situations above the ordinary dirt of the world.
But now look at it seeing Jesus as the crucified one. Was the crucifixion fair? Nope. Was it just? Nope. Did Jesus deserve it? No. God knows how dirty and hurtful and messed up this world is. He didn’t protect himself from it when he was here. And he isn’t going to magically wipe away the dangers of the world for us. Instead he promises in his love to be with us through the problems.
Why does God do it this way? Well, that’s for God to answer, not me. But here are a couple guesses. I think it’s like a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis. It is a hard struggle for the butterfly to do it. But if you help it to save it energy it will never develop the strength it needs to be able to fly. The hardship is essential for it to develop its potential.
This does not mean that I am going to preach on this Easter Sunday that God has decided we need to be toughened by the school of hard knocks. And he expects us to passively put up with it because he was crucified. It does however, mean that God’s love is real. If love is real then there has to be freedom. And if there is true freedom then there is the real risk of getting hurt.
Seeing Jesus as the one who has been crucified in no way reduces the amazement and joy of the resurrection. In fact it strengthens it. I think the joy in the resurrection will be all the greater for the bangs and bumps we encounter in this life.
What did Paul day in the 15th chapter of 1st Corinthians that we read earlier? “So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body.” What great things God has in store for us! Everlasting life so great and wonderful that words cannot describe it.
Our Lord has been crucified, and was raised. This is a promise of God’s love and commitment to us here and now. And it is the promise of God’s glory for us in the future. As I said before, resurrection is a great miracle, but crucifixion is love. Ultimately it is love, not flashy miracles that saved us. And that love is greater than words can describe too. Thanks be to God who promises to raise us up to fully know his love forever. Amen.
