“Go, tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is risen.”

The attached is Rev. Avedis Boynerian’s Easter 2026 message at the Armenian Church of the Martyrs, Worcester, MA. Rev. Avedis Boynerian shares his message with me ahead.  Vaհe H Apelian

 

“Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So, she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) Then the disciples went back to where they were staying. 

Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”). Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ” Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her. On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord” (John 20:1–18).

It’s Sunday, the first day of the week, everything still feels lost.

The cross is behind them.

Hope seems buried.

And Mary stands outside the tomb… weeping.

This is Mary Magdalene—a woman whose life had already been transformed once by Jesus…

And now, it feels like she’s lost Him again.

But what she doesn’t realize is this:

Jesus is about to transform her life again, and then, send her out with a message that will change the world.

         Highlights:

1.   Jesus meets Mary in her brokenness. Mary is crying outside the tomb. She doesn’t recognize Jesus at first. Through her tears, she assumes He is just the gardener. Until one moment changes everything. “Jesus said to her, ‘Mary.’”One word. Her name. And suddenly she sees. This is how Jesus works. He meets us in our grief, in our sorrow, In our confusion, in our disappointment, and He calls us personally. Not as a crowd, not as a group. He calls her by her name.

The risen Christ 

still calls names, 

still changes lives, and 

still sends His people. 

Today, He is calling you and is calling me.

Transformation begins when Jesus becomes personal to us.

 

2. Jesus transforms Mary. Mary came to the tomb as: a mourner, a follower who thought it was over, as someone standing in despair But after that moment with Jesus, she becomes a believer in the resurrection, a witness, a woman filled with purpose. The same woman who came weeping, is now standing in front of the risen Christ.

That’s what Jesus does.

He doesn’t just comfort us—

He changes - transforms who we are.

From broken → restored

From lost → found

From hopeless → filled with hope

 

3. Jesus sends Mary. Jesus says something surprising, “Go to my brothers and say to them…” Mary is not told to stay. She is told to go and tell.The first person to witness the resurrection becomes the first person sent to proclaim it. Think about that for a moment. In a culture where women’s testimony was often dismissed, Jesus chooses Mary. He does not choose based on status. He chooses based on transformation.Your past does not disqualify you. Your encounter with Jesus qualifies you.

Mary’s message was simple, she said, “I have seen the Lord.” That is still our mission today. We are not called to have all the answers. We are called to bear witness to the risen Jesus, who has the power to change us and the power to transform us…

To what Jesus has done

To the fact that He is alive

To how He has changed her

 

We don’t need a platform. We just need a testimony a personal testimony. Mary came to the tomb, broken, weeping, searching

She left, transformed, commissioned, Proclaiming. The same Jesus who called her name, is still calling today. He meets us in our pain. He transforms our lives. And then He sends us out, if we are available and willing. 

 

Let me ask you:

Have you truly encountered the risen Jesus?

Has He changed and transformed your life?

Are you available and willing to go and tell others?

 

Please, hear me: 

First, Jesus transforms us and 

Second, leads us to witness that He is risen and alive, that is telling us to “go and tell.”

The message of Easter is not meant to stay with us.

First: “(We) come and see”

Then: “Go and tell”

The lyrics of the song say, “Go, tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is risen.”

Let us truly believe in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead and share it.