Matthew 28:1-10

1 Early on Sunday morning, as the new day was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went out to visit the tomb.

2 Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it. 3 His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. 4 The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint.

5 Then the angel spoke to the women. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying. 7 And now, go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and he is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there. Remember what I have told you.”

8 The women ran quickly from the tomb. They were very frightened but also filled with great joy, and they rushed to give the disciples the angel’s message. 9 And as they went, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they ran to him, grasped his feet, and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t be afraid! Go tell my brothers to leave for Galilee, and they will see me there.”

Comments

“Don’t be afraid,” the angel tells the women. We tend to think that unbelief is the opposite of faith, but often fear is the opposite of faith. Fear is believing more in your situation, more in the power of the enemy, than in the power of God to deliver you and defeat the enemy. The cure for fear and the establisher of faith is resurrection. Jesus does what he said he would do and returns from the dead. He appears personally to the women (and later the men) because faith in Jesus is not blind faith. This is a God only too happy to demonstrate his reality, hie life, his power, his victory over death. Don’t be afraid today. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead can transform your life as well.

The New Living Translation (NLT)Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale HousePublishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.