If you read too fast through Matthew’s account of the Easter story you may miss one of the strangest and most mystifying details. “51 And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. 52 The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, 53 and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.” (Matt. 27:51-53).
If that passage leaves you scratching your head, then you’re not alone. Matthew is the only Gospel writer who mentions this event and it feels like it gets lost in the flurry of activity that took place between Jesus’ cross and the resurrection. But what does it all mean?
Admittedly, we wished that Matthew would have given us more information, but from what we can tell the word “saints” implies they were disciples of Jesus prior to Calvary. Obviously, they died before Jesus’ own suffering and death. As Jesus hung on the cross supernatural signs screamed that something significant was happening – the sky darkened, an earthquake shifted fault lines around Jerusalem, the 4-inch-thick veil in the temple was rent from top to bottom and the stones covering the graves of these saints crumbled. Powerfully, gloriously, triumphantly, Jesus conquered the grave and soon after the Marys, Peter and John discovered the empty tomb these saints were raised back to life and visited people in the city.
My, my, can you imagine the havoc, joy and bewilderment these reunions created? So many questions emerge – Who did these risen saints appear to? Did they receive glorified bodies like Jesus or were they raised in the manner of Lazarus, destined to die again? Why did God perform this miracle? I’m not sure there’s any conclusive way to answer these vexing questions, but perhaps we have some clues in the Old Testament Feast of Firstfruits.
Tucked away in Leviticus 23 are the seven festivals of Israel. We know that Jesus literally fulfilled Passover, Unleavened Bread and Firstfruits on the calendar day they fell. His crucifixion fulfilled Passover (1 Cor. 5:7), His burial fulfilled unleavened bread (John 12:24) and His resurrection fulfilled Firstfruits (1 Cor. 15:23). According to Leviticus 23, Firstfruits was a spring celebration that anticipated the barley harvest. Every year before the spring harvest the people were instructed to take sheaf of barley, cut it, and have the High Priest wave it before the Lord, offering God the first and best of the harvest in recognition of His ownership of the land. Firstfruits marked the beginning of the barley harvest and it anticipated the full harvest of wheat to come later in the fall.
The New Testament writers saw the rich symbolism of this feast pointing to Jesus as the “firstborn of the dead” (Col. 1:18; Rev. 1:5). Just as the Jews looked forward to the rest of the harvest coming in, when Jesus rose from the dead He was the Firstfruits of a future resurrection harvest. His resurrection is the first installment and guarantee of more to follow.
This agricultural connection also helps explain the curious event in Matt. 27:52-53. The harvest season in Israel consisted of three parts: First fruits, general harvest and gleanings. These phases of harvest also correspond to phases of resurrections in God’s prophetic timeline. These who were raised with Christ were part of the “Firstfruits” resurrection. The church which will be raised at the Rapture constitutes the general harvest (1 Thess. 4:13-18). While the resurrection of the Tribulation martyrs, two witnesses (Rev. 11) and OT saints (Dan. 12:2) makes up the gleanings.[1]
But there’s more. According to Jewish tradition there are three steps involved in First fruits: marking, gathering and presenting. The Temple priests would select workers to go into the barley fields outside Jerusalem to find the first mature barley. The workers would mark the barley and bind it in a sheaf, usually with a red chord to make it easy to spot. Then on the day of Firstfruits, this chosen barley was cut and brought to the brought to the High Priest to be presented by waving it before the Lord at the altar (Lev. 23:10-11). It’s interesting that about the time the Caiaphas, the High Priest, was trying Jesus, the servants of the Temple were in the barley field judging which would be harvested for Firstfruits. Moreover, on the day the Romans were binding up Jesus for crucifixion, the Temple servants were binding up the barley sheaf for the Firstfruits.
According to scholar
Michael Norton, Firstfruits also helps shed light on another Easter mystery.
When Mary Magdalene recognized the risen Jesus He says something puzzling to
her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to
my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to
my God and your God.’” (John 20:17). Why couldn’t Mary touch Jesus? Norton
explains his revelation:
“I discovered the reason when I read
what historian Flavius Josephus, a member of the Temple priesthood, wrote in The
Antiquities of the Jews about the barley. He explained that the Jews could
not touch the barley for harvest before the Feast of Firstfruits. Once the
barley sheaf was presented to God by the priest, the barley crop could be
harvested for use. Since Jesus was the Firstfruits, He had to go to the Father
before anyone could touch Him. We see that after He had been to the Father and
back, Thomas could touch him as John 20:27 states.”[2]
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