Keys to the Kingdom By Carolyn Tucker
Famous Rolling Stone
I have cherished photos of my immediate family when I was 14 months old. The year was 1959 in Covina, California. Mom was wearing a hat, dress with a thin belt, a corsage, white gloves, and black patent-leather heels. Dad wore a white dress shirt, necktie, white suit jacket with a handkerchief in the breast pocket, black slacks, and black leather dress shoes. My 11-year-old brother was outfitted in a white shirt, bow tie, suit jacket, and dark slacks. I was wearing a ruffled bonnet with a matching dress, and white walking shoes. I wouldn’t part with these sentimental photos for love nor money. We were on our way to church to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world!
Matthew’s account tells us how the extremely-massive stone at the door of the tomb was rolled away. “For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it“ (Matthew 28:2 NLT). On this first Resurrection Sunday, the rolling-stone angel scared the living daylights out of the four Roman soldiers assigned to guard Jesus’ tomb. “His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint“ (Matthew 28:3-4 NLT). The soldiers were so terrified at the immense size, power, and brilliance of this angel that they fell to the ground, violently trembling and so paralyzed with fear that they couldn’t move! When they somewhat revived, they got up and ran away like little girls. The Bible doesn’t say that they screamed…but I wonder.
“After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to view the tomb“ (Matthew 28:1 CSB). According to Luke 24:10, there were also other women with the two Mary’s. When the women came to the tomb (which had been officially sealed shut by Roman soldiers), they found that the enormous stone had been rolled away! A massive earthquake had occurred simultaneously at the moment of Jesus’ resurrection sometime before the women arrived at the garden. Just as the earth shook when the Son of God died on the cross, now the earth had exploded with jubilation at the resurrection of Jesus!
“The angel told the women, ‘Don’t be afraid, because I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here. For He has risen, just as He said. Come and see the place where He lay. Then go quickly and tell His disciples, ‘He has risen from the dead and indeed He is going ahead of you to Galilee; you will see Him there.’” (Matthew 28:5-7 CSB). These brave ladies were instructed to “go and see” and then “go and tell.”
When it comes to telling a story, it’s been said that women describe all the details and men just basically tell the headlines. Maybe that’s why the angel told women, and not men, to look inside the tomb and then “go and tell” what they saw. Even though they were perplexed and astonished, they obeyed the angel’s instructions.
I guess we can say that Jesus was the inventor of “show and tell.” A few days after Resurrection Sunday, Jesus appeared to His disciples a second time. (The first time, Thomas was absent so he didn’t believe that Jesus was alive.) The risen Savior spoke directly to Thomas and said, “Put your finger here, and look at My hands. Put your hand into the wound in My side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!“ (John 20:27 NLT). Christ followers cannot be faithless and do the Kingdom of God any real good.
The Key: The most-famous rolling stone is the one that couldn’t keep Jesus entombed.