“The Risen Christ Goes Before Us”

Matthew 28:1-10

Pastor Deb Troester, STHPC, April 5, 2026

The Easter Bunny, Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, and an honest politician all spot a $100 bill on the sidewalk. Who picks it up first? No one – they don’t exist!

I’ve been through several earthquakes – most of them when we lived in Puerto Rico, which, like California, is located near several active faults. Of course they were nothing like the Loma Prieta Earthquake in 1989, that many of you remember, but they shook me up, nonetheless. The one that startled me the most came with a sudden loud noise “boom!” and a jolt – like a wrecking ball had hit the building. I was in Joe’s office in the Geology Department at the University of Puerto Rico and all I could think of was that the large bookshelves above his desk, filled with heavy books, were going to fall on me as I dove under it. Another time, I was napping on the couch in the living room, and an earthquake gently shook me awake, like one of those massage beds that were popular back in the 60’s. Holiday Inn always had them, and we kids would beg our parents to put in a quarter,

then we would all pile on the bed as it shook for a couple of minutes  - a precursor to the massage chairs in shopping malls today, I suppose.

But one thing about earthquakes – they get your attention. For the few moments they last, you can think of nothing else. The earthquake that happened that first Easter morning must have been a doozy, for it was strong enough to roll away the stone from the entrance to the tomb.

According to Matthew, who was not a geo-physicist, an angel caused the earthquake. But the exact cause of the earthquake is not as important as the message that the angel brought to the terrified women who had come to the tomb early that morning. Of course, the angel’s message is also for us, or we would not be repeating it still almost 2000 years later. In fact, everything in the passage is telling us to perk up our ears and listen – from the attention-getting earthquake, to the lightening-like appearance of the angel, to the fact that everything in this passage is repeated twice – seems designed to shout out with capital letters “PAY ATTENTION! THIS IS IMPORTANT!”

I used to teach middle school, high school, and some introductory college courses. One of the techniques teachers use is repetition. If you want students to remember something, repeat it. An alert student knows that if the teacher repeats something, it will probably be on the test. Here in Matthew, the first time the angel announces the message. The second time, the Risen Christ himself speaks. Three phrases are repeated, in more or less the same words: “Don’t be afraid,” “Go and tell,” and “Jesus is going before you – you will see him.”

The phrase “Don’t be afraid” appears over 80 times in the Bible. I’ve talked about this before, but it’s worth repeating. In the Gospels, the phrase, “Don’t be afraid,” frames the whole of Jesus’ life, beginning when the angel Gabriel announces to the Virgin Mary, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.” The angel reassures Joseph, “Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife.” An angel proclaims to the shepherds, “Do not be afraid, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people.” When Jesus calls the first disciples, who were fishermen, he tells them, “Do not be afraid;

from now on you will be catching people.” Jesus assures his followers, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father… So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows” (Matt. 10:29,31) and “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32). The phrase “Do not be afraid” appears some twenty times in the four Gospels alone. And here, at the climax of history, the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, we find these words once more, as the angel tells the women who have come to the empty tomb, “Do not be afraid.”

Why is this phrase repeated so often in the Bible? The sudden appearance of an angel – or someone you thought was dead – would, of course, be frightening. But there is a deeper reason. Fear robs us of faith. When we are focused on what we fear, it is impossible to focus on God. Those words, “Don’t be afraid,” point us to the God who has overcome all our fears – even the last and deepest one – the fear of death.

The Psalmist wrote, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for Thou art with me.” The presence of God is a powerful antidote to fear. When we are afraid, the angel’s words, “Do not fear…Jesus is risen, as he said” can bring us comfort and courage. If Christ can even overcome death, he can overcome whatever other fears we may have. We just need to remember that He is with us.

The second phrase we find repeated in Matthew 28 is “go and tell.” The angel urges the women, “Go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead.” This news is too good not to share! Go and tell is the same command Christ gives to his disciples, and to all Christians in his last words in Matthew’s Gospel: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Go and tell.

Interestingly, when we are tempted to be afraid, having something positive to do helps.

Instead of just standing there, allowing their fear and uncertainty to overwhelm them, the women at the empty tomb are given a task to perform – go tell the others what they have seen and heard – Jesus is alive! And as they are going, they see Jesus. Isn’t that the way it is? When we act on what we know to do, even if the way isn’t totally clear, suddenly Jesus is there with us in our confusion and doubt – encouraging us to go ahead and “Do the next right thing,” Even if we can only see one step at a time. Again, Jesus repeats the angel’s message:  “Do not be afraid; go and tell…”

It’s worth taking a moment to note that the world’s first evangelists were women. Matthew names Mary Magdalene and the other Mary. Mark is more specific, mentioning Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome. Regardless of their names, all four gospels agree that the first witnesses of the Resurrection, and the first to tell the Good News, were women. Some have even cited this as a reason to believe that Jesus rose from the dead because if a first century Jewish person were inventing a story,

he would never choose women to be the witnesses of such an important event. Rather a person of that day and time who set out to make up a believable story would choose a respected, highly placed man, whose word would not be doubted – someone like Joseph of Arimathea, for example. Women were not even allowed to testify in court in those days, yet God chose them to be the first witnesses of the most important event of history – Christ’s resurrection.

The women not only witness the angel, the stone rolled away, and the empty tomb, but they have a personal encounter with the risen Christ himself – they are the first ones to see Him after he rose. He greets them, and gives them much the same instructions: “Don’t be afraid; go and tell my brothers and sisters…” but he adds, tell them “to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

If we read Matthew’s Gospel carefully, this is the third time this message is repeated. Immediately after the Last Supper, as Jesus tells his disciples that they will all fall away from him, he adds, “But after I am raised up, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.”

The angel at the empty tomb announces to the women, “He is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.” And finally Jesus says to them that they will see him in Galilee.

Why is that significant? I think for us now, 2000 years later, the point is that wherever we may go, Jesus is already there, ahead of us. He does not abandon us or leave us to our own fate. Like every good leader, Christ goes ahead of his people. He does not expect them to suffer anything he has not suffered. Even in death, Christ has been there before us. Because he has been through the Resurrection, we also will be resurrected. We do not need to be afraid. We will see Christ. He is going ahead of us, “to prepare a place for us…so that where he is, there we may be also.”

Because of the witness of our ancestors in the faith – Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James, and Salome – we can know that Jesus died and rose again. He is alive! Death and suffering do not have the last word.

The resurrection gives us hope – to keep believing, to keep on following the Christ who goes before us, the Christ we shall one day see face to face. Amen.

Sermon @Deborah Troester, 2026