If the LORD Has Been Faithful To Bring the First Fruits…

In the middle of the crucifixion story, Matthew stops to explain something that happens three days later. It’s an out of place story that’s only made more bizarre by the fact that it’s about a bunch of dead people coming out of the grave and walking around Jerusalem. But Jesus’ Jewish followers would have understood exactly what Matthew was trying to say. I’ll prove it to you in less than 10 minutes.

And tombs were opened, and the bodies of many saints who had died were raised. (They came out of the tombs after his resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.)

Matthew 27:52-53 NET

Most of us understand that the crucifixion is a supernatural fulfillment of the Feast of Passover. Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. But Matthew is writing his Gospel for a Jewish audience. And in the middle of the story, he inserts another Feast into the Passion narrative that most of us completely miss. This Feast is the HOPE of the Believer.

The Marking of the Grain

Over the centuries before Jesus came, an elaborate set of rituals and traditions had been established during the Feasts. One of these traditions surrounded the third of the celebrations that take place during the week of Passover – the Feast of First Fruits. While the Feast, itself, isn’t celebrated until the Sunday after Passover, the preparations for this feast begin on Passover, itself.

As the final Passover lambs were being sacrificed, a contingent of priests made their way to the barley fields on the Mount of Olives. They looked to see if this barely was ripened. Next, these priests would bind together several sheaves of barley, but not harvest it. That would take place after Sabbath. This barley was reserved as the grain that would produce the First Fruits offering in the Temple.

The Presentation of the First Fruits

At the close of the weekly Sabbath, these priests would return to the sheaves they had marked on Passover, and conduct a ritual before all of Jerusalem. As two witnesses confirmed the setting of the sun and the close of the Sabbath (remember – the Biblical day starts at sundown), the priests would cut the marked sheaves and harvest the grain. This barely would be taken to the Temple and ground into flour. That flour was baked into two loaves of bread. And at sunrise on the first day of the week, the High Priest (who would have been hidden in the Temple since the start of Passover) appeared before the people. He waved the First Fruits loaves over the people and shouted: “If the LORD has been faithful to bring the First Fruits of the harvest, He will be faithful to bring the rest of the harvest!”

The Hope of the Believer

And this is the ceremony that Matthew is alluding to in our verses today. The Mount of Olives has been one of the most revered cemeteries in Israel for thousands of years. Jesus died at the exact moment that the priests were preparing to mark the sheaves that would be harvested for the First Fruits. When He died, the graves in that cemetery were ripped open by an earthquake. When the priests returned at the start of the first day of the week to harvest those sheaves, Jesus was being resurrected, and along with him, the dead in those graves were coming to life in front of all of Jerusalem. And as the High Priest waved the First Fruits loaves over Jerusalem, our Eternal High Priest presented these resurrected saints before the Father declaring YHWH’s faithfulness.

Christ – the First Fruits

The Apostle Paul said it this way: But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also came through a man. For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; then when Christ comes, those who belong to him. Just as the High Priest shouted 2000 years ago, our High Priest shouts over us today. “If YHWH has been faithful to bring the First Fruits of the Resurrection, He will be faithful to resurrect those who belong to Him!”

In Jesus final words to His disciples before going to the cross, He talks a lot about the importance of the Holy Spirit. In a couple of verses, he uses a Greek word that is most often translated “Counselor” or “Advocate.” This word is terribly difficult to define. We’ll look at that word tomorrow.