Rejoice and don't be afraid

So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word. And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, "Rejoice!" So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me." – Matthew 28.8-10

I love these scenes, but far too often I just read over them and don’t put myself there on the spot and try to visualise all that is going on.

The Bible says that they ‘went out quickly’ from the tomb with mixed emotions – fear and great joy. They headed back to town to tell the disciples what they had seen. As a side not, it is kind of a shame that the men had to hear the initial news second hand.

Then, what happens next?

‘Behold, Jesus met them!’

How awesome, truly awesome, is that? They thought they were going to treat Jesus’ body, they experience an earthquake and see a bright shining light, the angels tell them that Jesus is not there, the rush off to town and they meet the risen Christ.

‘Rejoice…don’t be afraid…go tell the brethren to meet me in Galilee.’

Rejoice and don’t be afraid are words we all could use today. No matter what is going on in our lives we can rejoice that Jesus is risen from the dead and we need not fear what is coming next.

Meeting Jesus ought to be as life changing for us as it was for those women that Easter morning.

Rejoice and don’t be afraid.