Pure Nonsense (part 1)

But these words seemed like pure nonsense to them, and they did not believe them. – Luke 24:11  (NET)

The words that are reported to have been nonsense to the disciples of Jesus were a part of the attempt by some women to convey what was an amazing experience.  A group of women had gone to the tomb of Jesus.  There had been loyal followers of and providers for the one that they believed had been the messiah.  They were “taking the aromatic spices they had prepared” (24:1b).  Not only was this an obvious expression of love and devotion for and towards Jesus by these women, but what they were doing was a regular part of then-current Jewish burial practices. 

The report of the Gospel narratives is that Jesus had been buried in a tomb “where no one had yet been buried” (23:53b).  Though it is said that no one had yet been buried there, over time there would have been many people placed in that tomb.  Though He would be the first, it would have been highly unusual for Jesus to have been the lone occupant.  Then as now, real estate was valuable, and the tomb that would house Jesus’ body was in a choice location, as would be expected of the tomb of the presumptive owner, Joseph of Arimathea. 

Quite simply, a tomb was not designed for one person and one person only.  This was not the common practice.  That is the reason for the women taking the aromatic spices to the tomb.  A body would be placed in the tomb, and while that body was in the tomb, other bodies would also be placed in the tomb.  The spices would function to counteract the smell of decaying and putrefying flesh, which would make the further placement of bodies in what was likely a family tomb somewhere more bearable. 

After a period of time, when the flesh of a body had completely decomposed, family members would return to the family tomb to collect the bones of the deceased.  The bones would be placed in a jar or box.  These bones, now collected together into a more compact container, would either be taken to another location or left on a shelf or in a nice in the tomb.  So it was for this reason that each body laid in the tomb would have aromatic spices applied to them.  So even though the women that had planned to apply the aromatic spice to the body of Jesus were doing so out of love and devotion (with this normally done for family members, but most likely rarely done for the shamed victim of crucifixion), they were not doing something that was uncommon or unique (much like the use of nails, crowns of thorns, whips, reeds, robes, and mocking were not at all uncommon to crucifixion).    

This plan to carry out basic burial practices serve to point out that none of Jesus’ disciples or followers expected Him to be raised from the dead.  They were simply engaging in a routine activity.  None of them were looking forward to Jesus’ Resurrection.  Clearly the women were not expecting a resurrection from the dead, because again, they were taking the spices to the tomb as part of the normal burial routine.  So when “they found that the stone had been rolled away from the tomb” (24:2), and even though they were surely aware of the guard that had been set and the seal that had been set on the stone, they might not have thought that to be a completely odd occurrence.  One of the first thoughts to cross the minds of these women might very well have been that somebody was already there, perhaps one of His disciples (perhaps the one known as the one Jesus loved, who is reported in the Gospel of John to have followed Jesus all the way to the cross) doing to Jesus’ body exactly what it was that they had come with the intention of doing. 

John's Inquiry (part 1 of 3)

Now when John heard in prison about the deeds Christ had done, he sent his disciples to ask a question: “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” – Matthew 11:3-4  (NET)

In light of the flurry of first-century messianic figures in Israel, the question that John asks his disciples to put to Jesus is one that is both legitimate and understandable.  Just like a great number member of the nation of Israel in that day, as Israel stood under Roman occupation, John seems to have carried, based on his message, some expectation that Israel’s God was going to break in to history through His Messiah, to go about establishing His kingdom.  To John, the deeds of Jesus, in the areas of healing sickness and disease, casting out demons and giving of sight to the blind, looked very much like the Scriptural portents that indicated what types of events would accompany the time (and the person or persons---messiah figure) through which Israel’s God would become King.  A the same time, the words that Jesus was speaking, and the way in which He was going about building a following, differed from much of the expectations of the messiah that had been created by Scriptural interpretation, Israel’s sense of itself, and the actions of the previous would-be messiahs. 

In consideration of these things, and though some do, we should find that there is absolutely no justifiable reason to chastise John for asking the question of Jesus.  Frankly, it would have been the question on the minds and on the lips of nearly everybody with whom Jesus came into contact.  Surely, John was not the only one to ask this question of Jesus’ messianic status; but Matthew, so as to be able to provide a context for further statements about John that were to come from Jesus, puts the question into the mouth of John ahead of all other questioners. 

How does Jesus respond to the question?  Does he send John’s disciples back to him with a stern rebuke?  Does Jesus say, “How dare you ask such a thing?”  No, of course He doesn’t.  Considering the subversive nature of His ministry---as He appears to be cutting across all of the religious and political movements within Israel in that day (that would seem to be at least one of the ideas to be garnered from the Gospel presentations of Jesus), and also considering the fate of every single person that had claimed the status of messiah for themselves (death on a cross at the hands of the Romans)---Jesus answers in the only way possible.  He offers a gentle answer, albeit indirect but in the affirmative, saying “Yes, I am He.”  How does He do this?  He says, “Go tell John what you hear and see: The blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news proclaimed to them” (11:4b-6). 

Though we do not utilize Luke to interpret Matthew, as the authors had different intentions for their biographical offerings, looking to other portraits of Jesus does allow us to get a better sense of the way in which Jesus was understood in His own time and relatively shortly thereafter.  Of course, we also consider that Matthew and Luke had a common source (often thought to be the Gospel of Mark) that provided the underlying structure of their own works.  So if we look to the Gospel of Luke in consideration of the response of Jesus in Matthew, how do we hear and see Jesus announcing Himself?  While in the synagogue in Nazareth, he read from a scroll, saying “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and the regaining of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (4:18-19).  He then added, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled even as you heard it being read” (4:21).  Naturally, that sounds somewhat similar to the answer given by Jesus in answer to John’s quite reasonable question.  Of course, in those words, Jesus was reading from the sixty-first chapter of Isaiah---reading the words that were possibly expected to be found in the mouth of God of Israel’s Messiah---and applying those words to Himself. 

We can presume that John, with a messiah-expectant mindset (especially in light of the new exodus movement that he was leading---an exodus is accompanied by a deliverer/redeemer), would have understood the implications of this statement reported by Matthew just as well as did the people that heard Jesus that day in Nazareth (as reported by Luke).  On that day in Nazareth, after Jesus added a few more words of explanation, and when those words that indicated the direction of His messianic program did not necessarily appeal to His group of hearers, “the people in the synagogue were filled with rage” (4:28b).  It is with that in mind that we can return to what Jesus said to John, and perhaps better understand why it is that Jesus, after providing His subtle answer in confirmation of the substance of John’s inquiry, adds “Blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me” (11:6).