12Apr
“The earth shook, the rocks split, and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.” (Matthew 27:51b-53 NIV)
As we read the life of Christ in the Gospels, we frequently run across the declaration that, “The Kingdom of Heaven is near.” Certainly, everywhere Jesus went, there was evidence of the presence of the power of the Kingdom of Heaven. It seems fitting that when Jesus defeated death, that resurrection power would reverberate through the cemeteries.
Commentators vary in how they deal with Matthew’s resurrection report. Some ignore it while others embrace it, admitting that the event is not mentioned anywhere else. The biggest challenge for most of the conservative biblical scholars is that this account is so brief.
Although what I am about to share cannot be verified, I would suggest the possibility that reports of the Matthew 27 resurrection event may have been behind the comments made by the Apostle Paul in his letters to the Thessalonians.
Paul encourages the Thessalonians in his first letter not to be concerned about their loved ones who had died (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). He seeks to comfort them by explaining that when the Lord comes, those who have already died will be resurrected first. Paul’s encouragement emphasized two consecutive resurrections, first the dead, and then the living. There is no stated significant time lapse between the two groups.
In 2 Thessalonians 2, Paul refutes the suggestion they had received, apparently by a letter supposedly from Paul, that the resurrection had already occurred “…[do] not become…unsettled…by the teaching allegedly from us…asserting that the day of the Lord has already come.” (2 Thessalonians 2:2 NIV)
My suggestion is that the resurrection event found in Matthew 27:51-53 could have been the premise for the claim circulated, which implied that the resurrection had already happened. It seems logical to expect that there would have been reports about the Matthew 27 resurrection of “many holy people” making their way across the Roman Empire. When that report finally reached the Thessalonians, it could have been misunderstood or could have contained inaccurate conclusions.
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