One of my favorite stories from childhood is Michael Ende’s The Neverending Story. In the book and 1984 film, the Childlike Empress calls to Bastian from inside the book he’s reading. She beckons him to come to Fantasia and save their world. Bastian literally enters the story, and then later we, the readers, find we’re also being addressed by the Empress when she says to the book’s hero Atreyu:
Just as he [Bastian] is sharing all your adventures, others [us] are sharing his. . . . They were with him when he took the book with the Auryn symbol on the cover, in which he’s reading his own story right now.
Many stories include moments of author intrusion or times when characters break the fourth wall to speak to readers, but few stories invite readers to step into the story as characters themselves. Yet this is exactly the invitation we receive in the resurrection narrative of Matthew 28:1–20.
Inbreaking of a New World
Matthew opens his resurrection account at dawn (28:1), and it’s not only a new day that is dawning but also the new creation. God the Father’s future declaration, “Behold, I am making all things new!” (Rev. 21:5) has already begun in the resurrection of Jesus.
After witnessing a great earthquake and the angel of the Lord descending with an appearance like lightning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were told, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said” (28:5–6). The women were full of fear and great joy. Then suddenly the risen Jesus stood before them, and they fell at his feet in worship (v. 9). According to the Gospels and Revelation, when you see the risen Jesus, you fall on your face (Matt. 28:9; Rev. 1:17).
Jesus’s resurrection appearances are strange, wonderful, and frightening because we’re in uncharted territory in these stories. Everything is new!
Jesus’s resurrection appearances are strange, wonderful, and frightening. We’re in uncharted territory in these stories.
Jesus later appears to the Eleven on a mountain in Galilee and utters words that have transformed the world. He begins with the thunderous proclamation: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Christ has all the power. He is the royal Son (Ps. 2), the Son of Man (Dan. 7), and Immanuel (Isa. 7).
Jesus is Lord of the world, so his disciples must go into all the world to bring the nations under his sway. Jesus’s last word is an exceedingly great and precious promise. God with us, “Immanuel” (Matt. 1:23), has become Jesus with us (28:20). We’re commanded here to step into the story and join this adventure.
He Goes with Us
In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Lucy found a book lying on a reading desk in the middle of the room. It was the Magic Book, the Magician’s book, and as she touched it, her fingers tingled as if it was full of electricity. Spellbound, Lucy read page after page and found, as C. S. Lewis tells it, that “she was living in the story as if it were real.”
When we dive into each of the Narnian adventures, we, like Lucy, feel ourselves stepping into the narrative. The story and its characters come alive. At the end of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Lewis even manages to bring Narnia out of fantasy and into our reality when Aslan tells Edmund that he is also in our world: “This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there.”
That’s Jesus’s promise at the end of Matthew 28: “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (v. 20). It’s like turning to the last page of The Lord of the Rings and finding Gandalf is not only real but still alive somewhere. You can put the book down and meet with him.
How much more wonderful is it to meet our Savior! In the final chapter of the Old Testament, Malachi tells us to look for Elijah who is coming (Mal. 4:5–6). In the last chapter of the New Testament, John cries out, “Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22:20). At the end of Matthew, Jesus says, “Behold! I am with you now.” He is not only coming, but he’s with us for the whole of every single day of our lives.
The risen Christ is our intimate, ever-gracious, divine Lord who daily gives us his intercession, forgiveness of sins, wisdom for discipling, extraordinary courage, and the invincible power to accomplish his mission.
Do You See Him?
Luke invites his readers to see the risen Christ through studying the Scriptures (Luke 24:27, 44–45) and partaking in the Lord’s Supper (Luke 24:30–31). In John, Jesus pronounces a blessing on those who do not see Jesus and yet still believe in him (John 20:29). But with his promise, Matthew uniquely invites us to look upon Jesus-with-us immediately—here and now—with the eyes of our hearts.
Back at the Magician’s desk, Lucy continued to read enchanted words from the Magic Book and Aslan appeared. Lucy was awe-struck.
“I have been here all the time,” said Aslan, “but you have just made me visible.”
“Aslan!” said Lucy almost a little reproachfully. “Don’t make fun of me. As if anything I could do would make you visible!”
“It did,” said Aslan. “Do you think I wouldn’t obey my own rules?”
Jesus, too, will obey his own rules. Take up Matthew’s Gospel and turn the divine pages to the left or right. You will find he has already promised, “Seek, and you will find” (7:7), “Come to me . . . and I will give you rest” (11:28), and “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them” (18:20). The risen Christ steps off the pages of the Bible and gives us the breathtaking promise of his presence. He is with you right now, even while you read the final words of this sentence. Do you see him?
The Gospel Coalition