Mark 16:7 - "Jesus is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see Him there, just as He told you before He died." (The Living Bible)

The tomb that had been provided by Joseph of Arimathea had been "forsaken," abandoned by Jesus of Nazareth That fact caused the poet Alice Meynell to observe:

"No planet knows that this earth of ours...

Bears, as its chief treasure, one forsaken grave...1

The angel said to the women, "(He is not here!"(Mark 16:6). The message continued, "He is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see Him there, just as He told you before He died" (Mark 16:7). Our Savior is the one who "goes ahead of us."

We often hesitate to be first. I remember, as a boy, being on a Boy Scout camp out. We usually camped down by the beautiful Black River that meanders its way through central South Carolina to the sea. Early in the morning when the air was crisp and it was cool, we would begin to stir. There would be a great discussion almost immediately as to who was going to go first into the water, for we always went swimming. The questions would arise:

"I wonder how cold the water is?"

"Isn't it too early to go swimming?"

The prospect of going first, of going ahead often causes us to hesitate and procrastinate. We hold back waiting for someone else to take the chance or the plunge. Our Savior is the One who is always going ahead of us.

I have always liked the fact that the women were the first to know of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. They were there at the crucifixion, when the disciples had fled the city. They watched as Joseph of Arimathea took the body down from the cross, as he had requested of Pilate (Mark 15:44-47).

Early Sunday morning, three women at sunrise, Mary Magdalene, Salome, and Mary, the mother of Jesus, made their way to the tomb with spices they had purchased to do some final things (Mark 16:1).

They worried about the huge stone that had closed the entrance to the tomb and they wondered about the Roman guard that had been set there to keep it safe and to keep it closed. When they got there, they were shocked that the stone had been rolled away and there was no guard (Mark 16:3-4).

It was then that they learned that Jesus was not there, that He had come back to life (Mark 16:6). Their reaction was what yours would be: they were astonished and frightened and ran from the tomb, too frightened to talk to anyone (Mark 16:8).