Come, See

Well I know I cannot see you but I wanted to ask you all a question: Have any of you come from families that really celebrate Easter hardcore?

And my extended family tends to celebrate Easter a little different.

I mean it is a big party.

I came from a family that celebrates Easter like crazy.

We would have a huge Easter egg hunt

Our Extended family parties would have a piñata

they would also have these Chinese fortune cookies.

I did not realize that those two things were actually not that normal until I was an adult.

But it seemed like our family celebrated Easter pretty hard.

And I am sure if some of you were here you would be able to tell me ways that your family celebrates Easter.

I am sure that you grew up doing a huge Easter Egg hunt

Probably most of us got Easter Baskets

I would assume that I could find a picture of you all sitting on the Easter bunnies lap.

Theres a picture of me as a kid (it was a creepy Easter bunny)

There is me as an adult

Bu we love to celebrate Easter, and really the reason why we love Easter is because the event that we celebrate (which is the resurrection of Christ) changes everything.

and really today we are going to be talking about how this event changes everything for us.

So we are going to be in

And this passage is the very first Easter and we will see how Christ ressurecting changes things for them,

but like I said we will be able to see how this event changes everything for us even today (roughly) 2000 years down the road.

So once again we are in and it says:

(ESV)

The Resurrection

28 Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. 5 But the angel 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. 7 Then 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. See, I have told you.” 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.”

So this passage starts with two women named Mary walking to the tomb on Easter morning where they believe Jesus is laying.

It is early in the morning (probably still a-little dark outside)

They are probably exhausted because of all the emotions they have felt the past few days.

They have devoted their lives to a man that was supposed to be their Messiah and now He is dead

They are probably a little fearful of people hurting them or persecuting because they followed Jesus

and to top it all off they are heading to a tomb (a grave site).

If you have ever been part of a funeral for a loved one you can probably feel a small part of the emotion they are feeling.

Where it doesn’t feel real and you almost have just this darkness surrounding you.

And really in this story they are heading to a place where it is impossible for there to be life.

There is no hope left.

And the first point I want us to get this morning is that the first Easter actually starts out dark.

And maybe this Easter I notice this more in this passage because this Easter seems a little different.

We are all not together

For a lot of us this might be the first Easter you have not gathered with others in your life.

And it is sad

But the first Easter started out worse.

And truthfully some of us are in places that feel dark this morning.

We are in a tough situation

We have this anxiety in our life

We are missing a loved one

We have some sort of thing that has been holding us back from where God is calling us.

And it probably feels like we are heading to this place of no hope.

T

It feels like we are walking to the tomb.

But in this passage their is something that starts to change,

Because it says they are at the tomb and a huge earthquake happens

and it actually says that an angel comes down and rolls away this stone that was blocking the tomb.

And this must of been scary because it says that these fierce Roman guards that were guarding the tomb became like dead men,

Basically they passed out.

And it tells us that this angel actually looks at these women which are apparently a lot more brave then the Roman soldiers and say do not be afraid.

And then in verse 6 this angel tells these women the thing that changes everything He says

Matthew 28:6 ESV

6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.

Jesus is Risen

And this changed everything because you see thek fill with joy.

Because sometimes we feel like we our heading to a place of not hope, but because our savior lives it changes everything for us.

Because Jesus did not just sacrifice himself but He overcame death

and because of that we are not stuck in our sin, but Through Jesus we are able to experience His resurrecting power that does not just cover our sin, but it changes our hearts.

We ha

A lot of times we view God as a bandaid God.

He covers the wound and thats it,

But the issue is we will get infected

And thats an issue because if you fall and scrape your knee on rocks and get rocks in the cut and just cover it up it will probably get infected

But praise God He does so much more than that because He cleans out the infection and and heals our hearts

We are no longer bound by our sin but He has made us clean

and we still might walk through the situation we are going through,

but we have a savior who will walk through the family issue we are going through

He will walk with us in the middle of the depression or anxiety.

And Jesus give us hope in the middle of us walking to the tomb

and look at this last point because they see this and the angel tells them to share the news

and then Jesus meets them and Jesus once again tells them to share the news.

And the last point I want us to get is that Jesus does not just want us to see the resurrection and thats it.

But He wants us to go on a journey with Him.

And this is a journey where we get to participate in telling the world that this hopelessness that you feel, this heart ache you are experiencing, this separation can be changed because of what Jesus can do in you.

and we know this because of what Jesus has done in us.

You know think of it like this way. I do not know if you have ever been driving down the highway and you see those signs that say “if you see something, say something”

And obviously I know what they are talking about, but can I just say that sign is pretty accurate for the church.

Because when we see something, we say something.

When God moves we cannot help but tell others.

I do not know about you guys but I have seen something and I want to share that.

And God desires us to do this with our community and our world.

And really this happens in two ways, by sharing with other Christians and sharing with strangers who may not be

If you look at the New Testament Church they were in community sharing with Each-other what God did in their lives and sharing with strangers

And can I just say God desire this to be done in our lives and if you are not part of a community of faith and you get involved it will be the most life giving things you do for yourself and your family.

Will there be people that will drive you crazy? Yes

Will there be people you butt head with? Probably

But will it change your life and bring new joy, community and friendships to your life? Yes!

So I wanted to end today with just two words that are found in verse 6 that I believe sum up the message for today.

And that is “Come, See”

Today I do not know where you are, but you do.

Maybe this morning you find yourself walking to the tomb, or things are going well, but you have n ever accepted Christ or have strayed away and you need to accept Him again.

I want this to be a challenge to come and see what Jesus can do to your life.

Come and see how He can transform your life.

And if thats you would you just message our Facebook page and or Arika or myself and say you would like to either accept or recommit your life to Christ. We would love to pray for you.

And on a deeper level God does not want you to stop there, but He wants you to be involved regularly in a body of believers. and this morning God might be saying “Come and see” how this can change your life.

And if that is you can you message a someone who will hold you accountable with that. Because we want someone who will push us and if you don’t know who to talk to message us.

But God wants us to not live a life heading to the tomb where there is no hope but a life where we are heading deeper in our walk with Him, because He is Risen!

And Because He is Risen it changes us.

Praise God!