“Come, see; and go, tell.”

So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word.
Matthew 28:8

The first to arrive at the empty tomb on Easter morning were women who came to finish the burial procedures, hastily begun a few days earlier.  When they got there, we know that Jesus had already risen.  They didn’t!  God dispatched an angel to declare the good news.  His message was simple: “He is not here; He is risen, as He said.”

The angel then charged the women with four imperatives: “Come, see; go, tell.”  Come see that He is risen and go tell others that He is risen.  The next verse reveals not only their obedient response, but something of the heart with which they obeyed.  They went quickly—no time to waste with a message this great.  They went in fear—reverent wonderment—at such good news.  They knew it was true, but resurrections don’t happen every day, you know!  They went with great joy—they, of course, were happy that the Jesus they knew to be dead was now alive.  We only know Him as the One who died and then rose; but is that any less cause for rejoicing?

Let us, like those women, obey the Easter angel’s message to “Come, see; and go, tell.”  And let us do so like them, with urgency, reverence, and with great joy!