He Is Not Here, He Has Risen

Start with the stone. Picture the heaviness of that first Sunday morning before dawn: two grieving women walking toward a sealed tomb, carrying love for a dead man and no expectation of anything but sorrow. Ask the congregation to name the heaviest 'stone' they carried into the room this morning: grief, fear, guilt, disappointment, a diagnosis, a broken relationship. Then announce the question the whole sermon answers: what happens when God rolls a stone away that no human hand could move? Read Matthew 28:1-10 aloud slowly, letting the angel's words land. Tell the people that Easter is not a nice spring tradition; it is the hinge of history, and a handful of words from an angel change everything: 'He is not here; He has risen.'

• The women came expecting death, not life (v.1); grief had set the agenda for their morning.
• God interrupts with an earthquake, an angel, and a stone rolled away—not to let Jesus out, but to let the witnesses in (vv.2-6).
• The first word of Easter is 'Do not be afraid' (v.5); the resurrection speaks directly to our fear.
• The proof is an invitation to look: 'Come, see the place where He lay' (v.6). The tomb is empty because the claim is true.

Illustration: Imagine waiting at an airport gate for someone the doctors said would never make the trip, bracing yourself for a phone call with bad news, and then seeing them walk off the plane on their own two feet. Your whole body would have to catch up with news too good to process. That is the women at the tomb: they came to tend a body and found an empty grave.

Application: Name the fear you walked in with and hold it up against the empty tomb. Easter does not pretend our fears aren't real; it answers them with a risen Savior who says to you, by name, 'Do not be afraid.'

• If the tomb is not empty, our faith is empty too—Paul says so plainly (1 Corinthians 15:17).
• But Christ has in fact been raised as 'the firstfruits' (1 Corinthians 15:20)—the first of a harvest, the promise that His people will rise too.
• The resurrection vindicates the cross: the sacrifice was accepted, sin is paid for, death is defeated.
• This is history anchored in witnesses, an empty tomb, and a living Jesus who met real people—not wishful thinking.

Illustration: Think of firstfruits like the first ripe tomato on the vine in early summer. One red tomato in June is not just a single piece of fruit—it is a promise that the whole garden is coming. Christ's resurrection is God's first ripe fruit, guaranteeing the full harvest of resurrection life for everyone who belongs to Him.

Application: Because Jesus rose, your sin can be fully forgiven and your grief is not the final word. Let the resurrection reorder what you fear most: if death itself has been beaten, no other threat gets to have the last say over a follower of Jesus.

• The women leave 'in fear and great joy' (v.8)—Easter joy is not shallow; it holds awe and wonder together.
• Then Jesus Himself meets them: they worship at His feet (v.9). The risen Lord is not merely explained; He is encountered.
• He repeats 'Do not be afraid' and commissions them: 'Go and tell' (v.10). The first preachers of the resurrection were these women.
• The news is too good to keep—resurrection people become sent people.

Illustration: When someone gets engaged, you don't have to coach them to share it. The ring comes out, the phone comes out, the story spills over to anyone who will listen, because joy that big cannot stay quiet. The empty tomb produces that kind of overflow: fear and joy together, and then feet that run to tell.

Application: Who in your life needs to hear 'He is risen' this week? You don't need a seminary degree—just tell what you have seen and known. Start with one person, one honest conversation, this week.

The angel said, 'Come, see the place where He lay,' and then, 'Go quickly and tell.' This morning Jesus offers you both. First, come: if you have never trusted the risen Christ, you can today—Scripture says, 'if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved' (Romans 10:9, BSB). Right where you sit, you can turn from sin and entrust yourself to the living Jesus. Second, if you already follow Him, let the stone you carried in be rolled away—surrender the fear, receive the joy, and go tell someone this week. Let's bow and respond: trust Him, worship Him, and go.