The Verbs of Easter | Trinity Sermons

Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Trinity

Sermons and Happy Easter. This Easter Sunday

we are looking at four simple words. Come, see,

go, and tell. These are four words that the angels

say to the women who come to the tomb early in

the morning as an invitation for them to come

and see where Christ was laid and then to go

and tell that Christ has risen. But this isn't

just an invitation to those women, it's also

an invitation to us. Let's listen in as Rob unpacks

more of these words for us. This morning, our

reading is from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter

Matthew 28:1–10

28, verses 1 to 10. After the Sabbath, at dawn

on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene

and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

There was a violent earthquake for an angel of

the Lord came down from heaven and going to the

tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His

appearance was like lightning and his clothes

were as white as snow. The guards were so afraid

of him that they shook and became like dead men.

The angel said to the woman, do not be afraid.

For I know that you are looking for Jesus who

was crucified. He is not here. He has risen just

as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.

Then go quickly and tell his disciples, he has

risen from the dead and he is going ahead of

you into Galilee. There you will see him. Now

I have told you. So the woman hurried away from

the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran

to tell the disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them.

Greetings, he said. They came to him, clasped

his feet and worshipped him. Then Jesus said

to them, Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers

to go to Galilee. There they will see me. The

word of the Lord. I want to start by telling

you that back in 1631, a Bible was printed in

England that became famous for all the wrong

reasons. You see, the printer made a typo. One

little word was left out in the Ten Commandments,

where it said, thou shalt not commit adultery.

They left out the word not, and it said, thou

shalt commit adultery. And it was just one word,

but of course it changed the meaning of the whole.

There was quite an uproar. The printers who printed

the Bible were fined a huge amount of money.

King Charles I, he decided that every single

copy of his Bible needed to be burned. And yet,

and yet a few copies have remained. And they've

stuck around to this very day. And it's as if

they're there to remind us that when it comes

to your faith, You better watch your words. You

better watch your words, and especially you should

watch the verbs. By the way, they ended up calling

this Bible the Wicked Bible. It's called the

Wicked Bible. You can look it up. You've got

to watch your verbs. I don't know if any of you

have ever learned a new language, but often one

of the things that your instructor will tell

you at the very beginning is you've got to pay

special attention to the verbs, right? Because

the verbs are where the action is. The verbs

are where it all happens. And the verbs tell

you kind of what to do and what not to do. They

tell you how to live or how not to live. And

if you get the verbs wrong in the sentence, you

might not just misunderstand the sentence. You

might misunderstand everything that's trying

to be communicated to you. Well, lately here

at Trinity, we have been learning that faith

in Jesus has a lot more to do with... the verbs

than it does the nouns or the adjectives, right?

Jesus actually says, come and follow me. That's

a very active word. And the Bible says elsewhere,

it says, faith without works is dead. Another

way you could put this is you could say, right,

the nouns of faith without the works of faith,

without the verbs of faith, is dead faith. I

think the word Christian is a pretty, it's an

okay noun. I think Christian is a bad adjective

but christianity and following jesus is all about

the verbs it is all about this life that you

live now right in the middle of the easter story

we come across a sentence that contains four

verbs and it's not a typo right the printer did

not make an error here the angel sees the women

and says to them come and see And then go and

tell. And I want to suggest to you this morning

that if you understand these four verbs, then

you understand the whole Easter message. Or if

you understand these four words, then you understand

the whole of the Christian life. But as we'll

also see in a few minutes, just like that old

printing press, sometimes we omit one. or two

of these words from our own life. Some people,

for example, refuse to come to Jesus. Other people

say, oh, I've already seen all there is to see.

I don't need to see anything more. Other people,

they say they don't want to go. We don't want

to go out into that big, bad, scary world. And

still others, they will never, never tell anyone

anything about Jesus. But if we leave these words

out, then just like the wicked Bible, it kind

of changes everything. So let's walk through

what I'm calling the verbs of Easter this morning.

And as we do, I just want you to think, where

are you in the midst of these words, right? Where

is God calling you to act like a verb? Is it

come, see, go, or tell? I've even given you some

little teaching notes if you want to follow along

and keep track of where I'm going. Let's start

with the first verb, come. When the women arrive

at the tomb, they're met by this angel. I love

the angel is like sitting on the stone, like

so chill. The stone is rolled away. The tomb

is empty. The angel is sitting there. And the

angel says to the women, come. And I want you

to notice right away that the Easter story begins

not with a demand, but with an invitation, right?

The Easter sermon does not begin with the angel

saying, hey, I want you to believe this immediately.

Or I want you to understand what's happened right

now. Or I want you to do this right away. No,

the angel just says, come. And there are... Been

many an Easter sermon preached over the years

where the focus has been, you know, you need

to make a decision about Jesus. Or you need to

go out into the whole world and tell everyone

about Jesus. And actually there is a place for

those sermons. But that's not where the Easter

story starts. And for good reason. Because...

For many of us, we're like those women. We're

coming to Easter this morning, not full of faith

and not full of confidence, but we're coming

full of questions. Some of us are confused. Maybe

we're grieving. Maybe we're afraid like they

were. And for people like that, God's first word

is come. What a wonderful first word. Come, come.

And there are, I think, a lot of people, maybe

some even in this room, who would say, I'm not

ready to believe all this. No, no, no. I've got

way too many questions. I don't know enough yet

to believe this. But that is okay. Because the

first word of Easter is not believe. It's not

repent. It's not change. It's just come. Jesus

invites all of those who are doubtful to come.

You know, if you're curious about the faith or

critical about the faith or you're just not convinced

about the faith, that is okay. Even after Jesus

rose from the dead and his disciples saw him

alive, we read that some, yeah, they still doubted

him, but Jesus still invited them to come. Jesus

invites those who are fearful to come. Maybe

you are like those women. For some reason, you're

fearful in this moment. I think some people are

fearful of God. They're certain that God is going

to punish them. They're certain that God is out

to get them. But that word, come. It dispels

all that fear. In fact, the angel says to the

one, no, no, no, you don't need to be afraid.

Just come. Jesus never scared anyone away. Even

children came to Jesus. They weren't afraid of

him. And Jesus invites all those who are weary

to come. He says, come to me and I will give

you rest. If you're running on empty, if you're

worn out, you don't need more pressure right

now. You don't need one more thing to add to

your to -do list. Just rest. And if that's you

today, if you're weighed down by the burdens

and cares of life, Jesus is first of all just

calling you to come. Now, Jesus... invites the

doubtful. He invites the fearful. He invites

the weary. And I just want to make sure I say

this, that the invitation he makes to us, though,

is not shallow. It's not like he's false advertising

here. Jesus does say, look, if any, you're all

welcome to come. If anyone does come, it means

denying your life and taking up your cross and

following me. It's not an easy invitation, but

it is an open invitation for everyone. So before

we go anywhere else this morning, before believing,

before understanding, before obeying the first

verb of Easter is come. Come with your questions.

Come with your problems. Come with your struggles.

Come with your fears. Come as you are. Don't

stay at a distance. Don't stay at a distance

because secondly, note the second verb of Easter

is come and see. The angel says, come and see

the place where he lay. In other words, God is

not asking for blind faith. He's asking for personal

investigation. The angel doesn't sit on that

rock and say, oh, guys, don't ask so many questions.

He doesn't say, oh, trust me, he's risen. Don't

go in there. Just take my word for it, you know.

No, he says, come and see. Don't take my word

for it. Look for yourself. I actually believe

that a lot of people today haven't really rejected

Christianity. They've just never really looked

into it. They're not like, well, I studied the

resurrection, I've read the Bible, and I've just

decided it wasn't true. It's more like, yeah,

you know, I just never really looked into it.

Oh, I always wanted to get around to studying

a little more, but, you know, I never really

thought about it. And that is not new. That's

not new. In fact, even at that very first Easter,

there were lots of people who heard about the

resurrection, but they never went to look into

it. There were the guards, there were the religious

leaders, even Pontius Pilate, they all heard

the rumors. He's risen, and they just kind of

moved on. Many people, therefore, have no personal

experience with God. Now, they know something

about God, but it's all word of mouth. It's all

word of mouth. But this second verb is about

personal faith. It's about seeing, right? It's

not second -hand faith. It's first -hand faith.

Like the women, the invitation of Easter is not

just for you to believe something because someone

else told you. No, it's to see for yourself.

And that means, seeing means not relying on others'

words to you. Right? Or seeing it through someone

else's experience. There was an old South African

preacher by the name of David Duplessis. And

he once said, God has no grandchildren. Right?

In other words, you don't inherit your faith

from your parents. Right? You can inherit traditions.

You can inherit habits or customs and all that

stuff. But you don't inherit a relationship with

God. You maybe had parents who were wonderful

Christians and your grandparents had very deep

faith. And that is such a gift. But it's not

the same as seeing for yourself. At some point,

faith has to become personal. And not just, oh,

my parents believed. Or my church talks about

this. Or the pastor preached about that. But

I have seen for myself. And secondly, therefore,

seeing means being willing to examine the evidence.

Some people think that when you come to church,

you need to leave your brain at the door. But

Christianity has never asked for that. It actually

invites investigation. Look at what the angel

says. The angel says, see. this place where he

lay. He's actually inviting them to see something

physical, to see a real spot, a real place. The

tomb is evidence. And there is throughout history,

therefore, Christians have never been afraid

of talking about the evidence of faith. Because

resurrection isn't just like this spiritual idea.

It's a historical claim. It can be examined.

It always could be. So take... A closer look?

Why not? Why not go and read the Gospels for

yourself? Why not do some research? Why not take

Alpha? Why not dig into it a little bit more?

Because if Christianity is true, then it can

handle all your questions. And if Christianity

is not true, you should probably know that as

well. Okay? But thirdly, seeing means, and this

is just maybe for some of us, it means not just

looking, but it means looking again. I hear people

say it all the time. You know, I've already made

up my mind about this stuff. I've heard it before.

You know, I went to church when I was little.

In fact, I was hurt by the church or I had a

bad experience or, you know, when I was in university,

there was a lecturer who came in and he proved

that all this is not true. And so we think, oh,

now I already know. But what if you don't? Right?

And what if what you rejected That faith you

rejected wasn't actually Jesus. What if it was

like a misunderstanding? What if it was like

a caricature of the faith? What if it was a version

of the faith that you were never supposed to

believe in the first place? Sometimes the most

important step a person can take is not believing

for the first time, but it's actually looking

at it again with fresh eyes. When Philip, one

of Jesus' friends, first met Jesus, he told...

his friend Nathanael. He said, hey, Nathanael,

we found the one. We have found Jesus of Nazareth.

And Nathanael's answer was kind of skeptical.

He said, well, can anything good come out of

that town? And I love Philip's answer. He doesn't

argue. He doesn't debate. He simply says, come

and see. No, you don't have to take my word for

it. Come. Listen for yourself and make up your

own mind. And that's how it often works, right?

People come, maybe, because of an invitation,

but they stay because they've seen for themselves.

So don't just come. Come and see. No, but the

angel doesn't stop there. There's another verb.

The angel says, go. And this is so important

because resurrection people don't stay at the

tomb. They are sent into the world. The women,

they don't set up. outside that tomb. The tomb

was never turned into a shrine or a pilgrimage

point. No, no. They could have said, oh, let's

just stay here. Let's always just come back here

and be here and reflect on this moment. No. The

tomb actually had very little significance in

early Christianity because from the very beginning,

they were told to go. And this is the pattern

of the Christian life. The Christian life, you

come, you see, and you go. It's this constant

rhythm of coming and going and coming and going

and coming and going. But if we're honest, especially

for church people, we prefer just to come and

stay, right? We want to come and enjoy worship.

We want to come. and enjoy the community we want

to come and enjoy the camp we want to come and

enjoy the coffee or we want to come and enjoy

all the programs we want to keep our faith kind

of inside these four walls kind of contained

in here and safe in here but jesus won't let

you do that you're not allowed to stay i love

in john's version of the resurrection story the

women mary especially tries to hold on to Jesus,

just to hold on to that moment. Oh, Jesus, you

know, I never want to leave this garden. I never

want to leave this site. And I don't want to

decry that. We all need those intimate moments

holding on to Jesus. But Jesus says, don't hold

on to me. You got to go, right? I don't want

to, I'm not here to pull you out of the world.

I'm here to send you into the world. That is

where. The Christian life is lived. It's lived

on Main Street. It's lived in the marketplace.

It's lived in the classroom. It's lived in your

workplace. It's lived in your home. It's not

lived in this church. I always get a little suspicious

when people spend too much time in church. Something

funny happens to people when they're in church

too much. It's like they're almost using church

to avoid the world. Or even worse, they're using

Jesus to avoid the world. No, no, no. If you

come and if you see, then you have to... Go.

And just a few verses later, like literally just

a few verses later, Jesus gives his parting words.

He says, go into all the world and make disciples

of all nations. Go in all the world. You might

say, oh, my gosh, does that mean that I have

to go overseas or I have to go physically around

the globe? And, you know, obviously some people

do do that. But no, for most of us, your world

is already defined. Right? It's the people you

already interact with every day. That's your

world. So take the grace of your life into your

home. Take the integrity of your life into your

workplace. Take the character of your life into

your school. Take the love of your life into

your friendships and relationships. Take the

light of your life into your neighborhood. All

of these parts of your world need to be permeated

by your life, your changed life. So Jesus says,

go, go, go. And remember, you never go alone.

Jesus says, I am going to go with you. So go.

Don't go with pressure. Don't go as, I've got

all the answers. Don't go with a sense of superiority.

We just go as someone who has encountered Jesus.

And we go with Jesus. But that brings us to this

last verb. The angel does not say just go. He

says go and tell. Now, let's be honest. This

is the verb that most of us wish were omitted

from the Bible. What? Tell? You mean I actually

got to open my mouth and talk to people about

this? I mean, gosh, I don't want to do that.

What do I say? What if I say the wrong things?

What if I don't know the answers to their questions?

Or, you know, what if I just don't know enough?

And then what if they start to resent me because

I'm talking about my faith? Or what if they start

to avoid me? And because of all those things,

many of us... We just stop right here. Sure,

we will come and we will see. And we may even

go and kind of just be that presence in the world.

But no, we will never tell. But see, just see

this. The angel doesn't say, go and become a

professional preacher. No, most of us are not

called to be a preacher. But all of us are called

to be. a witness. Let me ask you a question.

What does a witness do? In a courtroom, the witness's

job is not to win the argument. That's the lawyer's

job, right? The witness is not the lawyer. The

witness simply sits there and says, this is what

I saw. This is what I heard. This is what happened

to me. The witness is actually only allowed to

tell what they've experienced from direct experience,

right? It's like in those courtroom dramas. Maybe

you've seen one on TV. Every once in a while,

the attorney will stand up and say, objection.

The witness is drawing conclusions. And that's

right. Witnesses are not supposed to draw conclusions.

They're not allowed to do that. They're simply

supposed to state and tell what they know from

personal experience. So if Jesus has done anything

in your life, you've got something to say about

it. I mean, the story may be dramatic, but it

may be quiet. It may be that that story is still

unfolding for you. It doesn't matter. You have

something to say. And you don't have to say it

from a stage or a platform. You can say it over

coffee. You can say it on a walk with a friend.

You can say it, maybe one of the best ways to

say it is just by inviting a friend to church.

That's a great way to bear witness to others.

After she saw Jesus, Mary Magdalene, what'd she

do? She went and told the disciples and said,

I have seen the Lord. period. And she told them

that he had said these things to her. She doesn't

have a theological argument here. This is just

testimony. Mary came, she saw, and then she went,

and now she tells. Guys, what story do you have

to tell, right? What have you seen? What have

you heard? What have you experienced? What have

you witnessed? And just remember, you're not

the message. Jesus is. You're the messenger.

So let's go back to that old printing press in

1631. One word left out and everything changes.

And the truth is we can do the same thing. We

can easily skip one of these words, one of these

verbs, and it changes everything. I just want

to say we're not in the same place though. For

some of us today, it's just about coming, right?

Maybe Up until now, you've actually avoided places

like this and you've kept your distance from

faith. It's been scary to even think about going

to church. But this Easter, you've come. And

we are really glad that you've come. For others,

you've come, but you've never really seen, right?

And if you're honest... You did make your mind

up about this stuff long ago, and your mind is

still pretty closed. You've never really investigated

this for yourself. Maybe this Easter, God is

calling you to see for yourself this time. I

mean, faith was never meant to be secondhand.

Others have come and seen, but you won't go.

Your faith stays here where it's safe. But maybe

this Easter you need to go. And I'm not talking

about going somewhere far away. Just go into

the life you're already living. Remember, people,

resurrection people, don't stay at the tomb.

They go out into the world. And maybe there are

some here today. Yeah, you've come. You've been

coming for a long time. You've seen. And you've

even gone, but you still won't tell. You're trying

to follow Jesus, but when it... comes to speaking

about it, you hesitate. You just don't want to

stand out, and so you stay silent. Maybe this

Easter, God is saying to you, it's time to tell.

Tell what you've experienced. Tell what Jesus

has done in your life. You don't need to know

everything to tell something. These are the verbs

of Easter. Come, see, go, tell. And we can't

leave any out, because when we do, We don't just

miss a word, but we miss the life Jesus is calling

us into. Thanks be to God. Amen. Thanks for tuning

in to this week's episode of Trinity Sermons.

This sermon was recorded at Trinity Church Streetsville

in Mississauga, Ontario on April 5th, 2026.