Sermon Tone Analysis

Easter's Two Greatest Words 

Matthew 28:1-6

*/I.

Intro/*: In a nutshell: The angel's message to the women who first came to the tomb embody the full meaning of Easter for all of us–Come and See.

A. Bee Story

A little boy and his father were driving down a country road on a beautiful spring afternoon.

Suddenly out of nowhere a bumblebee flew in the car window.

Now, I don't know about you, but a bee in the car is something that I've experienced.

And it's a little scary.

But what made this incident really terrifying was that the little boy was deathly allergic to bee stings.

So, when he saw the bee, he became petrified.

But his father, thinking quickly, reached out, grabbed the bee, squeezed it in his hand, and then released it.

The bee then started to fly around inside the car again, as soon as he let it go.

So the panic started all over again for the little boy.

Well, his father saw the panic on his boy's face.

So, he pulled the car off to the side of the road.

Then he reached out his hand, but this time it was to show the boy something.

There still stuck in his skin was the stinger of the bee.

"Do you see this?" he said.

"You don't need to be afraid anymore.

I've taken the sting for you."

*/B.

Transition/*

Well, friends, that's the message of Easter in one simple statement.

You and I don't need to be afraid of death anymore.

Jesus Christ already faced it for us.

And He won.

He took the sting out of death, and all He asks us to do is to respond to that action in two ways... to "Come and See"!

I get those words from what the angel said to the women who came to that tomb on that first Easter Sunday.

If you have your Bibles, turn in them to the last chapter of

Matthew 28:1-6 \\ 1 After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

\\ 2 There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.

\\ 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow.

\\ 4 The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

\\ 5 The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.

\\ 6 He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.

Come and see the place where he lay.

Each of those two words–*/come/* and */see/*–is an imperative in the Greek language, which is the language that the New Testament was originally written in.

This means that each of these words carries with it the weight of a command.

...*/Come/*; and */See/*.

Let me explain, this morning, why I call them Easter's two greatest words.

*/II.

An Invitation to Come/*

Let's first look at the importance of this command, the command to "*/come"./*

Now, the reason this word is so important is because there is so much in our lives that hinder us from coming to the reality of Easter.

It was true for the women who met this angel, and it's true for us, as well.

A. What hindered the women?

When you think about it, it was no easy thing for the women to obey the angel in the early morning hours, and come to the tomb.

*1*.

First of all it was in a graveyard!

It was a place that was inhabited by dead bodies.

It was a "spooky" place.

It was not the kind of place you wanted to be in during the dark hours just before dawn.

It was a frightening place.

Women in those days were not trained in martial arts.

They didn't have mace.

They didn't have whistles to blow incase they got into trouble.

They didn't even have cell phones to call for help.

2. Second, there were the authorities.

These women came to anoint a body that lay in a grave that was sealed with the seal of the most powerful nation on earth–the nation of Rome.

It was sealed on orders of the official representative of the most powerful man on the face of the earth–Caesar.

That seal prohibited anyone from entering that tomb.

And if that wasn't enough, it was guarded by the best soldiers Rome had ever trained–the men of the Praetorian guard.

Men who were proficient in killing with spears, swords, knives and their bare hands.

These men had orders to kill first and ask questions later, of anyone who even looked like they were going to try to enter the tomb without permission.

So, it meant that if these women were going to obey the angel, they'd have to get over their fears, get past the guards, put themselves in danger of losing their lives, and disobey the most powerful nation on the face of the earth, and the most powerful man who was living at the time.

*3.*

Third, there was the stone.

You see, to add to all those things that I've mentioned so far, we must add, the stone!

This was a boulder that weighed almost four tons, and had to be rolled up an incline in order to expose the entrance to the cave and access to the body of Jesus.

\\ Who was going to move that rock?

\\ –The women?

–not unless they were the female heavy-weight powerlifitng champions of Jerusalem.

\\ –The soldiers?

–let's see, "kill first, ask questions later."

I don't think so.

\\ –The disciples?

–well, maybe, but come to think of it, they had all run and hid in various closets and corners in Jerusalem.

So, you couldn't count on their help.

Yet the angel said... "*Come**!*"

And the women didn't hesitate.

They left and forgot the things that hindered, and they just kept coming to the tomb, and obeyed the angel's invitation.

B. Same invitation to us

Don't miss this important word–this imperative invitation to come to the tomb.

Because it is one of the central truths that will make Easter's reality, your reality.

It is the same invitation that Jesus gave on many occasions during His ministry.

The women recognized it as the authentic voice of God inviting them, and they obeyed it.

Have you ever shown the courage these women showed on that first Easter morning?

Or have you given in to the things that hinder you?

1. Illustration of Alexander the Great

The army of Alexander the Great was advancing to attack Persia.

At one critical point, it appeared that his troops were going to be defeated.

Alexander couldn't figure out what had happen to his troops, who were at one time the finest fighting men in all the world.

So, he mounted his horse and rode through the camp and surveyed his troops.

He soon saw the problem.

He discovered that every man had so much treasure and plunder from their previous campaigns that everyone of them had become literally weighted down, and were spending their time focusing on what they had, rather than the goal of future battles.

Without a focus on the future, and with the sheer weight of their riches, they were being hindered from being effective soldiers in combat.

Alexander immediately commanded that all the spoils, and riches, and plunder from the past battles be thrown into a heap in the middle of the camp.

And there he burned it all.

His men complained bitterly, but they soon came to see the wisdom of their commander's order.

A historian later wrote, "It was as if wings had been given to them –they walked lightly again.

And victory was assured."