Easter Sunday: The Dawn of New Creation

Let me give you some background information…

Look at verse 1 of Matthew 28. It says that it was ‘after the Sabbath’ —that’s the Jewish Sabbath being referred to, which is Saturday. So it’s after the Sabbath, which is Sunday—verse one— ‘towards the dawn of the first day of the week’.

But also, it is dawn, so we’re having thoughts of new beginnings. Every day since the first day of creation there has been a dawn; there has been light defeating the darkness; and it has all ultimately been pointing to this moment that’s about to take place—the resurrection.

But Matthew isn’t just expecting his readers to be thinking about general new beginnings, but specifically of the new creation. That’s why he mentions the first day of the week—or the eighth day as it’s sometimes called…[1]

We read at the end of this verse that it was Mary Magdalene and the other Mary who went to look at the tomb. (Neither of these women are Mary the mother of Jesus by the way)…

Mary Magdalene is the Mary who Luke tells us had had seven demons driven out of her.[2] And the other Mary is Matthew’s way of referring back to the woman he’s already mentioned in 27:56—Mary the mother of James and Joseph.

Matthew has told us that both these Marys witnessed Jesus being crucified in the previous chapter, verses 55 and 56. So they’re followers of the Lord Jesus.

And then in chapter 27 verse 61, Matthew also tells us that Mary Magdalene and the other Mary sat opposite the tomb where Jesus was laid. They saw Jesus being buried. They saw that he died. They saw that he was buried.

So, these are qualified witnesses they’ve been there the whole time.

And now, on the first day of the week, having—as they had been commanded in the Old Testament—celebrated Saturday as a true day of rest and worship according to the Jewish law, they get up to look at the tomb. They’re devoted to the Lord Jesus. They care about the Lord Jesus. They need to go and pay their respects to the one who they think is the dead Lord Jesus.

All I want to make sure you’ve done at this point is that you’re picturing the scene, that you’ve got the accuracy of the time of the week, the time of the day, the location, and then the meaning that’s going to begin to come out, to do with new beginnings, a new creation, and the people involved—Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, the authenticity of these women not only as people who Jesus has helped, but people who have witnessed not only the death of Jesus but also the burial of Jesus, and who are soon to be witnesses of the resurrection of Jesus, have the scene set for you by Matthew.

[1] From the feast of tabernacles which culminated in the eighth day, to the number of people on the ark which was eight—ready for new creation, even to circumcision on the eighth day, marking entrance into new covenant life.

[2] The name “Magdalene” refers to the town of Magdala on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee.