I am reading to you from the Gospel of Matthew. By the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, listen for God’s Good News –
But the angel said to the women, [Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, who together had gone] to see the tomb, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.” (Matthew 28:5-7)
Standing outside the tomb on knees weakened with fright and bewilderment, they entertained the very presence of comfort and assurance. God had sent messengers to declare heaven’s purposes and to make ready hearts and minds for even-grander revelations yet to come. Let us, then, bless the Lord for his angels, bearers of Good News and guardians of the Father’s precious children!
The heavenly host did plenty of heavy lifting during Jesus’s time on earth: Angels announced his coming; they praised the glory of his birth. Angels lifted up Jesus when his weary human flesh proved too much to bear – not the least of which when he hung heavy in agony on the Cross. Angels proclaimed his rising; they dispatched women to share that good news.
And those same angels remain hard at work in kindness for you and me. Not always are they golden knights in shining armor; very rarely are they the glowing, winged human forms of renaissance painting and statuary. More so they appear and move among us in the obscurity of stealthy humility, raining down God’s grace gently yet powerfully upon the lives of the least and the lost, the pale and the downtrodden.
However welcome, such over-the-top attention rather feels above and beyond what people who so consistently stumble and fall might reasonably expect from angels, let alone from the Lord God Almighty. And rightly so! But the Lord nevertheless loves us still – warts and all: passionately, unconditionally, and eternally.
And the vision of his angels will never cease to strengthen the human spirit, never stop opening human eyes to the glory of God, never abandon bearing the human burdens of a broken and fearful world – even unto our hours of death and dying, surely unto our moments of healing and resurrection. Let’s just call them “angels unaware,” as Scripture is wont to describe.
Please join me in prayer –
Thank you, O Prince of Peace – for the many unseen powers of goodness that surround and keep us safe; for all the ways in which your Word comes to us with gentle force; for continual direction into holy ways and right paths, even when we do not know where you are leading.
Frankly we are always more ready to speak than to listen; more easily concerned with fears and doubts than resting in quiet confidence that surpasses understanding.
Lord, have mercy. Draw us nearer to the Cross and the Empty Tomb in reminder that, whenever it seems like nothing is left, indeed there is so much more to come.
Send your Holy Spirit to open our hearts and minds to messages delivered in strange and unexpected ways by angels all around.
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
Let us bless the Lord. Thanks be to God.
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I’m again reading to you from the Gospels. Through the pen of John, listen for the Word of the Lord –
Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in.
Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’s head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. (John 20:3-9)
The apostles “kept it real,” following perfectly their distinctive personalities, even in this time and space of awe and wonder: Peter, always rushing into action; the “beloved disciple” – probably John, the one whom Jesus once named a “Son of Thunder” – now more quiet, hesitant, and reverent. Yet, though differently abled and wired in temperament, the Holy Spirit calls both men as witnesses to truth.
As wise men from the east once stooped before birth’s miracle of new life, John bends low to peek shyly into the miracle of emptiness – the love of Jesus opening his eyes to the glory of God, the Spirit inspiring them all – the wise and the confused – to make known to all ages the good news of resurrection.
Peter, of course, bursts in straight away – like everyone that morning, mistaking the tomb and its disarray of graveclothes as something that it wasn’t, not fully comprehending what it was. Confusion remained the order of the day: Only yesterday God’s promises seemed broken, and the close company of brothers disbursed. Now the Lord’s broken body apparently forwarded to places unknown.
What neither understood – first Peter, then John – was the dawn of a new, still-more-glorious fellowship that would enfold believers of all time and place in the eternal life of God in Christ Jesus. By the Spirit, that same assurance wraps warmly around you – and even me! – as surely as it embraced those who ran to seek him in the garden that morning so long ago.
So, let our feet be swift in seeking out Jesus. From the height of self, let us bow low in the humility of hospitality. For though our characters are unique, the love of God extends the same invitation to all – in service of the common good and the reconciliation of all Creation.
Once again, please join me in prayer –
Hear our thanks and praise, O Creator – for the presence of other disciples with whom we love and serve; for the blessed diversity you instill among your people and the varied gifts and talents we each employ in your service. You call to your side all sizes and shapes of your humanity because all are welcome, all are precious, all are needed.
And yes, you well know that each of us bears our own cross, our own particular failings, our own growing edges of self that make our loving service imperfect.
Help us find the strength that lies buried in our weakness, so that we may discover fresh avenues of discipleship and new paths of following you.
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
Let us bless the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Pastor Grant M. VanderVelden shared this message on the Third Sunday of Easter, April 19, 2026, at First Presbyterian Church in Waukon, Iowa, USA. Commentary and reflection by Raymond Chapman inform the message. The artwork, Do Not Be Afraid, is by Paul Medina, ArtAndTheology.org.