The Best Coffee After 4 Miles Up The Trail...Matthew 28:11-15...A different response


 A 4 mile hike this morning up over a 1000 ft to the cafe at the Alpine Visitor's Center in the RMNP.  A great hike with a friend and we arrived just before the doors opened so the coffee was hot and fresh.  What a great way to start the day and the week with a window seat with a mountain view!  Next was a 4 mile hike back to the car.


The Specimen Mountains are some of the main attractions on this hike.  We traversed up and then came back down to Milner Pass.  It was a trial run to make sure all was well for the ladies' hike on Friday down this trail.  These mountains are protected from hiking activity so the mountain sheep have a place to be roam freely.  Limitations can be annoying at times but some limitations we need to learn to appreciate and be thankful for.  That is a possible future lesson for sure.

We experienced a very different reaction from those who also heard of the angel of God, the earthquake, the other eyewitnesses there (the women) and the empty tomb.  Last week the women responded with worship and obedience.  This week the religious leaders hearing the report of the soldiers stationed at the tomb responded with bribery and a very bad made up story.  Actually they made up this story before hand when they were speaking to Pilate about making the tomb secure.  Now they were bribing the soldiers to tell a lie that fit the narrative they had already created.

This very bad made up story has some holes in it that any lawyer would rip right open.  I think the biggest hole is that how could the "all sleeping" guard know it was the disciples that stole the body of Jesus if they were all sleeping?  False narratives will eventually reveal the holes in their theories.  It has happened over the centuries as other false narratives have tried to replace the truth proclaimed by the angel of God that "He is risen!" and distributed to others by actual eyewitnesses to the fact.  Later would come more eyewitnesses that would see the risen Lord face to face.  

Our faith is not founded on a pre-made, man made story but rather on those who would testify with their very lives that Jesus was alive and most importantly coming again for His bride.  I think another big point is that Jesus had told them over and over again, prior to this happening that His rising would happen on the third day.  His resurrection verified what He had said.  It was a fulfillment to the prophecy from His very lips.  Our faith is boosted by the fact of His words, the empty tomb, the never recanting testimony of the eyewitnesses and the transformation of lives from utter despair to unwavering direction.  The same disciples that once fled would now stand firm even before the ones who condemned Jesus to death and handed Him over to the Romans to be crucified.

Matthew puts these two different responses side by side prior to the last section of chapter 28.  A decision has to be made at this point.  Do you side with the obedient women or do you side with the bribing religious leaders?  The next and closing words of this gospel account are for those who side with the obedient ones.  

Adam



A simple man serving a great God and the local pastor of Stillwater Community Chapel (stillwater-chapel.org). We are in our 40th year of full time ministry. God directed us to this local body of believers on the Western Range of the Rockies to grow with them in mission and mindedness of Christ.

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