Who Am I? The Gospel According to Matthew

Good morning! Chris and I are on vacation for the next two weekends. We are thrilled to be on a trip together exploring the beauty of Alaska. Today we will be on the ship and cruising up toward Juno Alaska.

So the question of the day is: Where is your favorite destination… or what vacations have you felt closest to God because of His beautiful nature?

READ: Matthew 27: 57-61

⁵⁷ Now when evening had come, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus. ⁵⁸ This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be given to him. ⁵⁹ When Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, ⁶⁰ and laid it in his new tomb which he had hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the door of the tomb, and departed. ⁶¹ And Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, sitting opposite the tomb.

When Jesus was born he was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger, now he was wrapped in clean linen cloth and laid in a tomb. Wealthy men from a foreign land brought expensive gifts to honor Jesus in death.

So what do we know about Joseph of Arimathea?

John 19: 38-39 says that Nicodemus went with him. Who was Nicodemus?

Ellen White writes, “Joseph and Nicodemus came boldly to their aid. The help of these rich and honored men was greatly needed at this time. They could do for their dead Master what is was impossible for the disciples to do; and their wealth and influence protected them, in a great measure, from the malice of the priest and rulers.”

Joseph used what he had and gave to Jesus.

What do you have that He is calling you to give?

How can you serve Jesus?

Ellen White writes in the Desire of Ages, “At his birth the star had known Christ, and had guided the wise men to the manger where He lay. The heavenly hosts had known Him, and had sung His praise over the plains of Bethlehem. The sea had known His voice, and had obeyed His command. Disease and death had recognized His authority, and had yielded to Him their prey. The rocks had known Him, and had shivered into fragments at His cry. Inanimate nature had known Christ, and had borne witness to His divinity. But the priests and rulers of Israel knew not the Son of God."

How could the stars, the wise men, the sea, disease and death, the sun, all know him, but the priest and the rulers of Israel Not? How is that possible?

How are we to bear witness to who He is?

So after being wrapped and put in the tomb, it is not the Sabbath. Jesus, our Savior was now resting. Resting on the Sabbath day. At creation He blessed the Sabbath day and hollowed it. He said it was a day to rest. On that first Sabbath He rested from all He had done, from all He had created. Not on this Sabbath day He was also resting. Resting from all the work He has done. This rest is the same kind of rest that we all experience when we die.

Jesus was resting, but there were many who were not resting. There were those who had witness His death who at first had chosen Barabbas, but now after all they had seen they questioned what they had done. That Sabbath wasn’t a rest for them. Then there were the leaders, the church leaders who still didn’t know who He was. Even all they had seen didn’t convince them.

Are you at rest?

What do you need rest from?

Why can we be at rest?

How do we rest?

Where does our rest come from?

Read: Matthew 27: 62-64

⁶² On the next day, which followed the Day of Preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate, ⁶³ saying, “Sir, we remember, while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise.’⁶⁴ Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples come by night^[b] and steal Him away, and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead.’ So the last deception will be worse than the first.”

⁶⁵ Pilate said to them, “You have a guard; go your way, make it as secure as you know how.” ⁶⁶ So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard.

How many times do we try to orchestrate things so that there will be no doubt about a situation or theology, or even our Savior? How many times do we try to keep Jesus in the tomb? How many times do we box Him in?

Is it possible to box Jesus in?

Is it possible to keep Him in the tomb?

How many times do we short change who Jesus is and what He had done for us?

Aren’t we trying to keep Him in the tomb when we don’t believe we have been forgiven?