Matthew 28:1-7: in context

At dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary come to the tomb. There is a great earthquake; an angel descends, rolls back the stone, and sits on it, his appearance like lightning. The guards shake with fear and become like dead men. But the angel says to the women, do not be afraid; you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, just as he said. Come, see the place where he lay; then go quickly and tell his disciples.

The words the angel speaks are the heart of the Christian faith: he is not here, for he has risen, just as he said. Jesus, who had been crucified, dead, and buried, is risen; the tomb is empty; death did not hold him. This is the event on which everything turns, the ground of all Christian hope, without which, Paul says, our faith is in vain. Christ is risen, and because he is, death is defeated, sin is atoned for, and the hope of resurrection is opened to all who are his. And notice the small phrase the angel adds: just as he said. Jesus had told his disciples he would be killed and on the third day rise; they had not understood or believed it. And here it is, exactly as he had said. The resurrection is not only the ground of our hope but the vindication of Christ's word: what he said would happen, happened. He said he would rise, and he rose. This gives us confidence in all his other words. The one who said he would rise, and did, can be trusted in everything else he promised: that he goes to prepare a place for us, that he will come again, that those who believe in him will live even though they die. His word proved true in the greatest matter, his rising from the dead; and so we can trust it in all the rest. He is risen, just as he said. The reliability of Christ's word is written across the empty tomb. And the angel's word does not end in wonder but in commission: go quickly and tell. The good news of the resurrection is not to be kept but carried; the women who first heard it were sent at once to tell others. So the resurrection is both the ground of our hope and a message to be shared: he is risen, as he said, and we are sent to tell it.

Do I rest my hope on the risen Christ, and trust his word in all things because he proved it true in the greatest matter, rising just as he said, and do I hold the good news of his resurrection as something to be carried and told, as the women were sent at once to tell the others?