“The angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay’ ” (Matthew 28:5-6).
The two women came to the tomb that Sunday morning because they loved Jesus. One of them was Mary Magdalene. She had good reason to love Him because of what He had done for her. “When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons” (Mark 16:9). She found it difficult to let go of the One who had delivered her from her misery. The other Mary, according to some scholars, may have been Jesus’ aunt.
These two had followed Jesus to the Cross, risking their own safety. Now they followed Him to the tomb. They came to see Jesus’ body, not a risen Lord. It is obvious that they had limited understanding. He had said He would rise again but none of His followers expected that to happen. These women had given up hope but they still loved Him. That first resurrection morning not a single person in the world expected to see Jesus alive again.
The sentence that shook the world then and still rocks our world is the simple statement of the angel. “He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.” The book of Acts details the fact that the disciples came out of hiding and changed the world because they knew Jesus was alive. Saul the persecutor became Paul the world’s greatest missionary because he discovered that Jesus is alive. We, as believers, can face anything that comes our way because we know that Jesus is alive. He defeated sin when He died on the Cross and defeated death when He rose again. Nothing can keep Him from bringing victory to every one of us.
There are many things about Jesus we don’t understand. He is more awesome than we can fully comprehend. But we know this—Jesus defeated death and that’s all we need to know in order to trust Him with our lives.
