It must have been a very sad road that the women took this Sunday morning (v1). Their world and hopes for the future had fallen apart when they saw how Jesus died. But now their lives would again be in turmoil as they are about to experience another strange twist (v2-3).

This glorious angel brings paralysing fear to the Roman guards (v4), but then brings words of comfort to the women (v5-7). The woman are encouraged to look where Jesus had been laid in order to have evidence of His resurrection. Then they are to go and tell others about his resurrection.

The mixture of fear and joy that the women had (v8) should be a common thing among God’s people. The believer will have many things in life to cause them to fear, but above all we need to have a fear of God. At the same time the joy of knowing the resurrected Christ should encourage us.

Jesus then meets with the women and He also seeks to reassure them (v9-10). The Lord is very aware of our weaknesses and He knows exactly how to reassure us. The crucial thing is to be seeking Jesus in His word regularly.

From both the words of the angel (v7) and of Jesus (v10), there is an urgency to share what we know of the resurrected Christ. This leads to the great commission (v18-20). The challenge for all believers and for the church is to be active making the message of the resurrected Christ known. We need to do this with the mixture of fear and joy that these women had.