“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. 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. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.” -Matthew 28:1–6
In Matthew’s account of the gospel, the women who came early to the tomb encountered an angel. Few things would be more spectacular than seeing an angel. But there is at least one thing more spectacular: going to the tomb where you had seen Jesus’ body laid only to discover it was not there anymore—only to discover he had risen from the dead, just as he had said he would. Jesus had kept his word, even in the event of death.
The women were invited to look upon the empty tomb themselves, and they did, and he was not there.The joy of Easter is the joy of knowing that Jesus is not dead, that he is really alive. The joy of Easter is knowing Jesus actually defeated death and that he indeed rose from the grave on the third day. The joy of Easter is knowing that if we can trust Jesus to keep his word, even in defeating death, how much more can we trust him to keep his word about everything else, including eternal life.