LOOK, REMEMBER, & GO!

1-4 "After the Sabbath, as the first light of the new week dawned, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to keep vigil at the tomb. Suddenly the earth reeled and rocked under their feet as God's angel came down from heaven, came right up to where they were standing. He rolled back the stone and then sat on it. Shafts of lightning blazed from him. His garments shimmered snow-white. The guards at the tomb were scared to death. They were so frightened, they couldn't move.

5-6The angel spoke to the women: "There is nothing to fear here. I know you're looking for Jesus, the One they nailed to the cross. He is not here. He was raised, just as he said. Come and look at the place where he was placed.

7"Now, get on your way quickly and tell his disciples, 'He is risen from the dead. He is going on ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there.' That's the message."

8-10The women, deep in wonder and full of joy, lost no time in leaving the tomb. They ran to tell the disciples. Then Jesus met them, stopping them in their tracks. "Good morning!" he said. They fell to their knees, embraced his feet, and worshiped him. Jesus said, "You're holding on to me for dear life! Don't be frightened like that. Go tell my brothers that they are to go to Galilee, and that I'll meet them there." - Matthew 28: 1 - 10

Look. . .

The angels begin with an invitation to observe the obvious, “He is not here!” We walk in newness of life because the One who is life demonstrated at the Resurrection the defeat of death! Our Christian walk really begins with an observation that God has made the first move. Jesus is risen and our faith in His resurrection is the first part of our eye opening. At first we, like the women in this story look in the wrong place. In their case, they were looking in the place where dead people reside for a Lord who had risen! In our case, we look in all kinds of places where there is nothing but death, seeking in desperation for some sign of life. Thankfully, God’s grace calls out to us: “Don’t look there! There is only death! Look here. Look to me! I am Life!” God’s grace is calling. Are you looking in the right place?

Remember . . .

For many of us, the journey to faith in Christ comes after many seeds have been planted. Even those seeds are acts of grace that God has allowed. They are means by which God calls to us in our desperate and lost state.

Christian artist Larnelle Harris recorded a song years ago that says, “So, You [referring to God] were in it after all.” The song says, “All of the times I spent crying when something inside of me was dying; I didn’t know that you heard me each time I called.” God was already at work--remember? His ongoing grace brings us to a place of real encounter.

“Remember,” the angels are saying, “all the words that Jesus spoke were bringing you this point; to this ‘aha’ moment.” Remember . . . .

Go. . .

Thankfully the “aha” moment came. These women became the first evangelists, the first missionaries, the first preachers of the Resurrection. Verse 8 reminds us, “Then they remembered his words.” And after remembering and allowing this holy moment to arrive, they did what Jesus always seemed to be saying after the Resurrection when He appeared in person to His disciples: “Go!” In fact, Jesus’ resurrection still evokes this call today.

Reflect upon the words of Jesus in God’s Word. Allow the Holy Spirit to demonstrate to you through these ancient words that Jesus is just as alive and present today as He was then. And when you do, you will encounter life. This life invites and empowers us to go in His name. He is risen indeed!