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Lecture 1: Matthew 28 and the Resurrection: Thomistic Exegesis

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That's right. Now, does Thomas divide chapter 28 into two or into three parts? Okay. And in the first epistles of St. John, the one that was used in the much admired, by me anyway, premium to Dave Erbil in Vatican II, if you look at the very beginning of John's first epistle, what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen, right? With the eyes of us, what we have beheld, and he mentions the third sense, and the hands of us have what? Touched, okay, about the word of life. And the life was made manifest, right? And we have seen, and we bear witness, and we announce to you the eternal life, right? Which was with the Father, and it manifested to us. And then verse 3 comes back to two of those senses, what we have seen and what we have heard, right? We announce to you, right? What does Thomas use as the basis of the division of chapter 28? First they heard, and they saw. Interesting. And perhaps there is significance in the fact that what they have heard comes from what they have seen, because you have to believe, right? And belief is from hearing, before you can see that. The vision is to be more than for me. And that distinction, and even that order, of hearing and seeing, which he makes as the basis of the division of the whole chapter. It appears again in the first part of the first part, right? Where the woman hear from the angel first about these things. Later on, they see Christ, right? Even with the angel alone, you first hear from the angel, and then he shows them the empty tomb, right? So you have that same order. So interesting. But in that first part, Thomas includes not only what they heard from the woman, right? But, a little bit of stretch there, but they heard from the guardian, right? Because although they are paid eventually to deny what they see, they first come and announce what has taken place. And of course, they're, tends to be sealed, so the film is even the way they give testimony to the resurrection, right? Talk about when they get there. Okay? So the first part, what they heard, is divided into the, what they heard from the woman, and then in kind of maybe a roundabout way, what they heard from the, the guardians, right? The, the soldiers who they heard from the guardian, right? So in this first part, the first part, he partied with the woman, he talks about who the women were, right? And then the, uh, the parents of the angel, right? And then the message which the angel gives him, and so on. So, but late, huh? On the Sabbath, at the dawning, where it's the first day of the Sabbath, huh? Thomas has a long discussion there about what does this mean, right? Because it seems to start with the evening, you might say, or Saturday, right? And go through the early dawn, or, like, Sunday, right? And, and the other accounts, you know, you get an account of them going in the morning, right? Well, one church father says they went at night, and they went in the morning, right? Another one says, well, they started to prepare it in the evening, right? And Augustus says something like that, that you're naming the heart, the hope from the heart, right? But what's most interesting about that is that it's a little bit like what you have in Genesis, in the evening and the morning was the first day, and Thomas notes that there's some light at this nighttime, which fits the fact that Christ is going to rise. But also, the transition, going from night to day, you know, the opposite of what we did when we sinned, that God and Eve, what we do when we sinned, we go from night, or from day, to what? Night, you know? And so, the spiritual sense there, the mystical sense, is that we're going from sin to grace, and, and he quotes, what is it, Ephesians chapter 5, verse 8, You were once darkness, but now you are light and glory. So that signifies that. But also he points out that the things that were somewhat obscure in the Old Testament, but which in fact referred to Christ now, they are now made, like, clear, at least in the resurrection, and he often referred to Christ when he spoke to the two disciples of Emma's son, and went through the Holy Scripture, and taken all the passages that he referred to. So this is the illumination night that's coming as a result of the resurrection, and understanding the sacred scripture, not the Old Testament in particular, the dark, the transmission of that. It's like in the evening, I think it is. Yeah, I think it's the Sabbath version. This one comes to the end of the Sabbath, but late on the Sabbath, right? And who came? Well, there was Mary Magdalene, right? And the other Mary, who was very good last year, and Thomas sees a lot of significance in fact. that's a woman here, and that you have two women both with the same name, right? And with the name, what? Mary Magdalene, okay? Now, the significance running through the fact that the announcement is first made to women, and then they bring the news to the apostles, is that it's part of the, what? Restoration of man, human kinds, they say nowadays, right? But just as our downfall began with the woman, right? Again, with the men, that's right, so to speak. But now, the recuperation, you might say, begins with the woman, right? And then it concedes to the manna. The same order, right? But now for the good, rather than the bad. So, just as in general Christ redeems man by becoming a man, right? So, when you're dealing human beings, you represent woman, and that's them, began with them, just as they began with Altaf. That's very significant. The fact that they both have the same name, the two women can represent the Church of the Jews and the Church of the Gentiles, and they've now become one. He even sees significance and a likeness between what they're doing and the great Mary, because just as, like, Jesus came first from the womb of the great Mary, right? And passed through the walls, right? So likewise, the grave, in a sense, or the tomb is like another, like, the womb is going to pass through it. And of course, when the angel rolls the stone back, he's not in there, right? So he doesn't arise by having the stone, you know, pulled back so he can get out. But he passes through, just as he does get out of the houses, and the stone's pulled back to show he's not there. I remember seeing years ago one of these passion plays, an imitational rammer draw or something like that, and they've got a huge thing there that's pushed out by the place that comes out, right? But how could it represent really his coming through? So it gives you kind of, as a child, the wrong impression, right? And you had to push the stone away so you could get out of it, right? And now he passes through, and then the angel rolls back the stone, so you can see that he's no longer there either, but the tomb. So he came to view the grave with their, what, devotion to Christ, right? I couldn't see him, at least they could see the grave. And now we've come to the appearance of the angel, right? In the description. The first is coming down. And behold, there occurred a great flood. Now, what's the significance of this earthquake? Thomas gives a couple of reasons in the sense of the letter, right? One is to simply wake people up, right? For an important moment. And the other is that God always joins something divine with the human, right? It's with the human, the death of Christ, right? Being the tomb and so on. He had to join this earthquake that he did at the death on the cross, right? He had an earthquake and had a science showing his divinity, right? While his dying on the cross showed that he was human enough. But then what else does he see here in that spiritual sense of the earthquake? It signifies the shaking of our hearts, right? Yeah, but actually more in contrast this earthquake with the earthquake and the Christ died, right? And that earthquake, in some sense, signifies our being, what, free from our sins. And this earthquake has been brought to a kind of, uh, the earthquake. And this also has a spiritual sense of the final coming of Christ now. To be preceded by big pigs and things of the sort. And, uh, if the angel can't come without an earthquake, uh, before it's the ordeal, and then Christ comes with signs with the elephant sign. So an angel of the Lord came down from, like, heaven, right? Okay. Now Thomas stops and says, Why was it appropriate that an angel be involved in this, huh? Because of the, it's a glorious message, a glorious whisper of resurrection. Okay. There's three reasons, actually, isn't it? And one is the, one by whom the resurrection takes place, which is by God himself, right? The resurrection takes place. And the angels, as indicated here, the angel of the Lord, right? They are, like, his messengers, right? So it's appropriate that the angel do this because he's tied up with, he's responsible for resurrection. But also the angels, as we see earlier in the book, in the Gospel, they minister to Christ, right? So the one who rises from the dead is the one to whom the angels have ministered before. So that's the second reason why it's appropriate that an angel be involved. And then the third reason is that you're joining, what, earthly things with heavenly things. Those are the few reasons Thomas Kidd's commentary here. But other times they talk about how the angels assume a human form, right? To show their, what, association of society with us, huh? As Christ said, you know, the guy said about the seven wives, I mean, seven husbands, we'll be like the angels, right? Okay. That's kind of a quiet mission to heaven. Now, what did he do, huh? Well, he came and he rolled back the stone from the door, right? And this stone can, I mean, since a letter there, the reason why he did this was so we could see that Christ had risen, right? Because Christ is not coming out this time, right? He's come through the stone, right? But we'd have to be able to see inside the tomb, so he goes back to the stone, right? The spiritual sense is maybe that the stone represents the, what, the law that he's given to us, and he's evolving this law, and he wants to see the law. His fulfillment of Christ, right? He came not to restore the law, but to fulfill it. And he sat upon the stone, right? Okay. And Thomas sees significance in the fact that the angel sits, huh? Well, what am I doing there? Yeah. And it's appropriate for the one who teaches to sit, huh? And my great teacher there, Charles DeConnick, he always sat and lectured. And even he gave a public lecture. I remember one time, he gave my home to Quebec, you know, which is a huge place, huh? I mean, there's thousands of people in there, right? And he's sitting down there doing this. And the first time I met the college on the lecture church in the United States, he'd sit down every time he lectured, huh? He said people are more relaxed when you sit down and say, you stand up, I don't know. But, I mean, I always think about him, because the angel here is the teacher, of what? The resurrection, right? And so as a teacher, he says. Of course, we see that with the cathedral, huh? The cathedral, that's his name, not what? The chair of the bishop, but the bishop, like, shares, signifies, and all other things. He's the teacher, right? Now, he has two other meanings that he sees in the ancient city, right? It signifies also, what? Power, authority, right? And that's shown in many texts about this. He said nothing to sit at the right hand with the father and so on. But even in our court system, say, doesn't the judge sit when he gives a sentence? I mean, the poor guy who's going to trial, he stands up, right? But the judge, I think, says, he proclaims these, what? It's judgment, yeah. So it's the authority there. But then the other sentence he sees in the ancient city is that when you sit, you are at rest, right? And now with Christ, resurrection, and so on, this anticipates our final rest, eternal rest, right? As we say, right? I'm walking around, we're sitting. I'm a teacher at the church. There's always a teacher at the church. The man sitting becomes wise, and the man running around does things, right? The man standing upright. But that's why when he sees Christ and he stands upright, he's about to do something, right? But the man sitting becomes wise, and the next life will be contemplated with God, right? So it will be like when he's sitting, and coming wise, and being wise, and so on. So those are the three reasons he gives, right? But in regard to that second reason he gave, and that was the third reason he gave, this is in Christ's authority, right? Then he sees another meaning in the stone, right? And this now is the stone is the devil, right? He sits upon the devil, because he now has what? The devil is quashed, so to speak, right? Like Christ's death and resurrection is overcome, right? So, a lot of signification there for a man sitting. Plus when they speak to you, you know, the man thinking in a kind of a... Can I see you? Yeah, but he's sitting down, right? Okay? Okay? Now he gives the rest of his dispositions, Thomas says. His face was, what? An lightning, huh? And this signifies both the light of the angelic mind, huh? Which is a lightning, huh? He sees things so clearly, huh? Remember when Moses came down to the mountain, huh? They couldn't look at his face, because it shone so brightly. And then they had to put up a veil over his face. He was too right to look at him. Well, these are two of the angels. He sees God face to face. This represents that. It also represents something of that power and authority, right? Or by... to the wicked, huh? There's a certain fear there in the lightning. Imagine what he would see Christ then, right? He's like lightning. And his dress, or garments, were white, and stuff. Here it says snow, right? I think that's interpolated in the description of Christ of the... Yeah. It said snow there, but some of the text says... And this signifies what? The innocence of life. You take this as anticipating the last coming, huh? The lightning is a word to the wicked. Snow comforting, right? To the, uh, to those who are saved. And the last thing he talks about, before he gives the message to the angel, is effect, he says, upon the guards, right? And the ones guarding him were shaken from the fear of him, right? And he came as though he was dead. Thomas says it was appropriate because it was life itself. In the tomb, right? And we get the message of the angel. But Thomas stops in that first word in the Greek there, apocryphes, and answering, right? And Thomas says, well, they didn't say anything. Well, I mean, I'm scared too. But he's answering there, but, you know, there's a desire, yeah. That reminds me of, you know, Thomas is explaining the Psalms sometimes. Sometimes in the Psalms you have a prayer, right? And then God answers the prayer, right? Other times you have a desire expressed, and God answers the desire, right? And he answers the heart, again, not only the prayer, but also the intention of the person. Something like that here. And the angel said to the woman, first of all, do not fear, right? He's trying to calm them down. Thomas compares that to the angel with Zachary, I guess. Or even, you know, he appears to Mary for the Annunciation. I mean, I was in Europe here. I don't know exactly what it was since we knew this. But you see, you know, hundreds of Annunciations, right? Because one Annunciation's got the angel here, of course, and it's got Mary here. And it's got a little wall. It's got a servant girl here. And the servant girl has kind of dropped her, her implements, and she's kind of listening, you know? And I first saw her, I looked at her, and I said, it's just like she's listening in on what's going on in this other room. And then I got some book there, some descriptions of the things there. And that's what it is, right? She's dropped her, her soul ambassador, her implements of post-soul tasks, right? And she's trying to catch it. So that's the first time I've seen that in Annunciation. Have you ever seen that? This is just everywhere I've seen it. I mean, I've seen hundreds of ones that were found in Charlotte, and all these churches in Yacht, you know, Annunciations, right? This is the first one where a little bit of, I don't want to say poetic license, but a painter's license, right? They had this little servant girl in the next room there trying to catch it. Yeah. In the next room. But Thomas says, whether a good angel or a bad angel, and the devil appears there's going to be, what, fear, right? But the good angel will calm you, and you will compose, whether it's a bad one or not, right? He disturbs. So he commends, in a sense, what they came there for, right? But not their lack of belief so far. I know that you seek, right? Jesus, the one crucified, right? Well, he's not here, right? Notice now the order in the next words. Kind of proves it by the word of Christ, right? For he was raised, or he arose, as he said, right? Okay? And then come see the place where he lived, right? So you have a little bit of that. Hear what Christ said. Now come and see, right? Without being a larger cycle, you go from hearing the angel to actually see Christ and the woman, right? And then the whole chapter, right? The apostles, here, see. So it's kind of interesting that division, Thomas, because it makes you notice it's imputed in smaller and smaller parts of the chapter. So come see the place where he lived, right? And now the message, huh? And going quickly, right, tell his disciples that he was raised from the dead. Right, right? In the second part of the message. And behold, he goes before you into Galilee. There you will see him. Behold, I told you, right? Now Thomas will come on in this play into Galilee. He'll say a lot of things about that. One is, why is he going to go into Galilee to be seen? Why? Well, as far as the sense of the letter is concerned, it's because the one who has written the book, who was in the dead room, was accustomed to spend time with them especially in Galilee. He wants to go to familiar surroundings, right? Secondly, they're more secure within Galilee and Judea. They're strengthened by the chief priests and so on, right? So those are two reasons that I kind of have the sense of the letter. There's a spiritual sense he sees in that because from the Church Fathers, he interprets Galilee to be about transmigration, right? And he mentions three transmigrations, you might say, in the various texts. One is we have to go from, what, sin to grace in order to see Christ, right? It could also be a transmigration from this mortal life to the next immortal life that we see as he is. Yeah. It's a good birth to going over to the Gentiles. Yeah. He's going to do the proceedings for us, going to come to the Jews when we got Gentiles. Now, Thomas also raises a question because some of these texts, if all you had was mapping, you might think, well, they didn't see him until they went to Galilee, right? Thomas, they're following Eve and others, right? He mentioned, you know, he was seen how many times on the day he rose. Yeah. He was seen five times on the day he rose, right? And that would be in Jerusalem. And five ones, first he was seen by Mary Magdalene, right? And there's an account of that in the Gospel of St. John, right? But Luke mentions also, there's an account of this, but it was first seen by Mary Magdalene. It says that. And the second occurrence is one that Matthew will narrate there to the woman, where he places his feet to worship him himself. Now, perhaps the third in time, there's one that Thomas says, record an account of that, but it's mentioned in Luke, the disciples of Emma, come back to the apostles, and they say that he's been seen by Peter, right? And St. Paul, in the 15th chapter, I mean, there's 1 Corinthians, mentioned that he was seen by Peter, okay? That might have been the third time, but on the day, right? And the fourth one is with the disciples of Emma, and the fifth one, he refers to all the apostles with the exception of what? Now Thomas is not here.