Surprise! – Easter Devotional
I need help to do this well. Don’t worry, I won’t ask you to do something you can’t do. Now, anyone who has ever been surprised about something in life please raise your hand.
Has almost everyone here been surprised at one time or another? Surprises can be both good & bad. They can be something we’ve been waiting for & didn’t expect to happen or they can be something we hoped never would happen but did; good or bad.
I got a great surprise about 4 years ago. It was a surprise in a text message from my daughter. She didn’t give me any warning that it was coming. She didn’t say anything in the message, just sent a picture. When I saw it, I studied it for a few minutes to be sure of what I was looking at. It wasn’t something I expected her to send me. Want to know what the picture was? It was a picture of a sonogram she had that showed her daughter in the womb! When I was certain that’s what it was, I replied to congratulate her. It was a surprise that really shook me & a few other people in the family. A great surprise. Today my granddaughter is a sweet little girl who’s a bundle of joy & excitement.
That was a big surprise but 2000 years ago a couple of ladies got a surprise that would shake the world. In Matthew 28 we read about where 2 Marys, Mary Magdalene & Mary the mother of James & Joseph, got a huge surprise. At the dawn of the first day of the week, they went to the tomb where Jesus lay. They were returning to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body for burial. When they arrived, the earth rocked with an earthquake & an angel of the Lord descended from Heaven. What would you think if you saw an angel coming down from Heaven? Surprise!!
I’m sure the ladies were shocked & didn’t know what to think at first. The surprise was so great that the guards who were at the tomb trembled & became like dead men! The angel knew what the women came there to do & he didn’t want them to be afraid. He said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.” (Matthew 28:5-6)
How could the tomb be empty? Pontius Pilate told the guards to “make it as secure as you can.” (Matthew 27:65)
What do you think these ladies were thinking? This was probably the biggest surprise of their life. The Bible tells us the angel instructed them what to do next. Verse 7 says, “go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him.” He wanted the women to go share the news that Christ did what he said He was going to do! As always Jesus kept His word.
When they went to the tomb, they thought they would have the sad job of anointing Jesus’ body for burial. But praise God they were in for something much more exciting & joyful. The tomb was EMPTY!!
After the angel told the women what to do the Bible says, “8 So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.” (Matthew 28:8-10)
Here we have Matthew's story of the empty tomb. And it is very fitting that these two women should be the first to receive the news of the Risen Lord & to encounter him. These two Marys had been there at the Cross; they had been there when he was laid in the tomb; & now they were receiving love's reward, they were the very first to know the joy of the Resurrection!
As we read this story of the first two people in the world to know of the blessing of the empty tomb and the Risen Christ, three instructions are apparent.
First, they are urged to believe. The event is so staggering that it might seem beyond belief; too good to be true. The angel reminds them of the promise of Jesus, and confronts them with the empty tomb; his every word is a summons to believe. It is still a fact that many feel that the promises of Christ are too good to be true. That hesitation can be dispelled only by having faith in Christ & taking Him as his word.
Then they are urged to share. When they have discovered the fact of the Risen Christ, their first duty is to proclaim it & to share it with others. "Go, tell!" is the first command that comes to the one who has discovered the wonder of Jesus Christ. That was also one of the last things Jesus told His followers to do. In what has come to be known as The Great Commission Jesus told His disciples, “ 19go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19)
Finally, they are urged to rejoice. Anyone who has a relationship with the Risen Lord shall live forever in the joy of his presence from which nothing can ever separate him. That is a cause to pray & rejoice without creasing!
No doubt the women were shocked & overwhelmed by their Lord’s presence. They knew with certainty that the empty tomb was not a mirage; it was not the result of grave robbers. What they witnessed was not the product of an overactive wishful imagination. Jesus is alive! They fell at His feet to worship Him. He now stands before them. Upon seeing the angel and hearing his words, they had been filled with joy and terror. The only appropriate emotion left is "humble worship." The women fall instinctively at His feet and pour out their sincere adoration. They hold Him by the feet perhaps to ensure their fragile emotions and quaking hearts that what they are experiencing is real.
For those who believed what Jesus said, who thought He would die on the cross & then rise again on the third day, hope played a big part in strengthening them to endure the sadness & grief that followed Jesus’ death. As the day of resurrection was approaching imagine the joy bubbling up within them over what they knew was going to happen.
We have that same hope & joy today, even in the darkest moments of life. No matter what you have walked through, no matter who you are, God remains the same & He keeps His promises. He is entirely faithful & always good. He does not abandon us. He is always at our side. Psalm 23 tells us that even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, He is close beside us & we don’t have to be afraid. His rod & His staff comfort & protect us. When we trust in the Lord & know that He is who He says He is this hope & joy is possible regardless of what we are going through.
We join centuries of Christians in marking Easter as the day that changed everything. We celebrate the amazing truth that although Jesus was dead, He’s now alive forevermore. Jesus Christ rose victorious over death! He is Risen! Christ’s resurrection gloriously demonstrates that God’s sovereign love has the last word. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
The resurrection is God's way of announcing that our life does not have to be a one-way journey to the graveyard. God is saying we don't have to be stuck in our past. And we don't have to worry about what's ahead, because we know by faith in Christ that God is holding our future in His sovereign hands. The apostle Paul tells us in the Book of Romans that nothing can take us from the love of God. Paul writes, “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Did you hear that? Paul said, “…nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God” There is absolutely nothing in creation that can break us away from the love of God! Nothing! Hallelujah!
Because of God’s love for us & Jesus’ victory over the grave, we are forever a part of the family of God. Let us rejoice over that.
Easter Prayer:
Father God, Thank You for the miracle of life—abundant life here, and eternal life with You in Heaven. Help us dear Lord celebrate that life every day as we seek You and follow Your plan for life. Lord Jesus, we rejoice & rejoice continually in Your glorious & triumphant victory over death. For Your victory is our victory. Help us live by it, in it, & for it dear Lord. As Christ showed at the first Easter death is just a brief passage into life that is more blessed & more abundant. A life in your presence daily. I am grateful for these blessings today & forevermore. We rejoice in Your holy name Father. For it’s in the name of the Risen Christ we pray. Amen.
