[221 words]
“So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples” (Matthew 28:8).
In Luke 2, the angel told the shepherds, “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.” These shepherds “hurried off” and saw this “good news of great joy” and then ran to “spread the word” about the eternal God’s first birth. Ironically, the angel that announces the second birth of the “firstborn from the dead” tells a different group of unlikely messengers to not be afraid before giving the “good news of great joy” of Jesus’ resurrection. Were the shepherds still trembling like the women when they came and saw “the place where he lay”? Scripture doesn’t say, but like the shepherds, the women, filled with the fulfillment of the good news of great joy, “hurried away” to spread the word. One of Jesus’ ministries was to be the firstborn from the dead, so that through the obedience of His perfect, sinless life, we may die to sin by obeying the gospel and be resurrected with Him.
Do you hurry away from the empty tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, to spread the word?
Doug Kashorek
Plattsburgh church of Christ
Plattsburgh, NY