“And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you.”
Can you imagine how these exact words must have been impressed on the minds of these women? They could never forget them. Remember, they had come to the tomb on that early Easter morning, certainly not expecting what they found. They were preoccupied with one thing, and that was to anoint Jesus’ body with the spices they had bought.
Moreover, there was the matter of the stone. They had seen that placed over the mouth of the tomb and they were asking themselves the question, “Who shall move the stone?” Perhaps they even knew that the soldiers were there. Maybe they were asking whether the soldiers would move it to permit them to complete their task.
Furthermore, they came to the tomb in the early morning, and we know as we compare the story with the other gospels that they hesitated, looking at the tomb but afraid to go close. They noticed that the stone was gone; they could see that as the dawn was coming up. They noticed that something had happened, because the stone had been moved.
So Mary starts off to tell Peter and John, whom I believe were the only disciples in Jerusalem that weekend. And then as the sun comes up a bit higher and the shadows disappear slightly, the women go forward and see the angel. Now when they see the angel, they are afraid. We know that because the first word of the angel is to calm their fear.
“Fear not,” he says, “I know why you are here. I know you are seeking Jesus who was crucified.” And then having calmed their fear the angel makes this great announcement. “He is not here. He has risen as He said.” And I can imagine that at that point their senses were instantly alert and they heard vividly everything the angel said from that point on. And what the angel said is summarized in four great imperatives. And I believe that we will understand Easter and respond to the resurrection of Jesus Christ properly when we enter into each of those four statements: come to the tomb, see the place where the Lord lay, go quickly, and tell His disciples.
First of all, they were told to come. There are so many things that might have kept the women from coming. There was the place itself, a graveyard, early in the morning. But a graveyard early in the morning is not the most attractive place to be. So they might have failed to come for that reason. They might have said, “No, let’s go home, we’ll come back later when we have some people with us and when the sun is higher or when we’ve had a chance to think about these things.”
