I have tried everything. Really, I have worked so hard at it. My sincere desire is to be successful, but I don’t do well at it. Memory is not my forte. Folklore tells me my memory will improve the older I get…well at least for things in the past, not necessarily for the things in the current stream of life.
Important events tend to stick in our memory bank: birthdays, the day you proposed, the kids’ first words, an accident, the first root canal…
The words that first announced the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead would stick in the minds of Mary Magdalene and the other Mary for the rest of their lives.
The women would not have been in no frame of mind to remember the words had they not been so important.
1. They were not expecting the resurrection…for they had come to anoint the dead body of Jesus.
2. They were worried about the guards.
3. They were worried about the large stone that blocked their entrance to the last moments they could be with Him.
4. They were preoccupied with grief.
Shock greeted them when they got to the tomb. No dead body, no guards, no huge stone…but an angel was there to meet them with incredible words, words they would not forget. “Do not be afraid, for I know 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. Then go quickly and tell His disciples…He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see Him” (
Their senses and memories were sharpened to an extraordinary pitch. The words—come, go and tell—were etched forever in their minds.
Word One: Come (v. 6)
Come and love Jesus. A needle will move toward a magnet when a magnet is placed near the needle. We think we have to run to Jesus and that in our running to Him we do all the action. The secret is the Lord has run toward us already. Today, each of us has the opportunity to come to Jesus because of God’s unselfish act of sending Jesus into our world. Christ is waiting for us with His arms wide open in demonstration of love.
Come and discover Jesus. There is so much to learn about Jesus. We can learn the facts surrounding His life. The Bible is full of the stories, parables, sermons and life of Jesus. As seekers, we should take the time and get acquainted with the facts, then discover the message. The message…the heart of the gospel…the heart of Jesus brings us into a new life as He truly becomes our Savior.
Word Two: Go (v. 7a)
After the women discovered Jesus wasn’t in the tomb any longer, the angel informed them that their job was to go. The word go in this section of Scripture is a verb, an action word. What the angel was trying to communicate to these ladies was, “Don’t just stand here in awe; leave here and do something about what you have discovered! This is urgent business.”
They had someplace to go—to the disciples first. The disciples will have someplace to go once they hear the word go and that will be to the world! We have someplace to go in 2011: the world—the whole world. With our technology, we have abilities that were unthinkable 2,000 years ago; but it’s still imperative that we tell our neighbors about Jesus.
Billy Graham said, “The evangelistic harvest is always urgent. The destiny of men and of nations always is being decided. Every generation is strategic. We are not responsible for the past generation, and we cannot bear the full responsibility for the next one; but we do have our generation. God will hold us responsible for how well we fulfill our responsibilities to this age and take advantage of our opportunities.”
Word Three: Tell (vv. 7-8)
The women not only were to go; they were to tell what they had seen. The angel commissioned them to recount to the disciples all that they had seen, heard and experienced at the tomb. It would be a life-changing—a world-changing encounter. They were not to be silent! This was the time to gossip the gospel to whoever would listen.
An unknown author once said, “Spirit-filled Christians never will be like the rivers which flow into the Arctic Ocean—frozen at the mouth.” We must spread the good news that Jesus is alive!
“We stood not by the empty tomb,
Where late the sacred body lay,
Nor sat within the Upper Room,
Nor met with Thee in open way.
But we believe what the angel said
‘Why seek the living among the dead?'”