Surprise! – Easter Devotional

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.