Do not be afraid!
Some 2008 Easter thoughts
Fearful! That’s how Jesus’ followers Easter Sunday began. In a closed, locked upper room out of fear of the Jewish religious authorities. Are they after us now? Do they want to crucify us, too?
By that evening everything had changed. They were no longer afraid. Why? One by one they had experienced a resurrected Jesus. And that experience changed their lives—forever.
The women in today’s Gospel lesson had their lives changed that first Easter Sunday. They went to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ dead body. Yet Him they did not find. Instead, after being frightened by the great earthquake, the angel told them, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you see Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, as He said” (Matt. 28:5-6).
A change began. Did you see that they departed from the tomb “…with fear and joy…?” And on the way they met Jesus Himself! “Greetings,” He said. And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshipped Him.
Jesus told them, “Do not be afraid…” Can you imagine how that news began to change their lives?
Mary of Magdala’s experience was just a dramatic if not more so. She remained behind, perhaps not even going with the other women but, remained at the tomb, grieving. In her mind it was worse than His even being dead.
Jesus’ body was gone—stolen!
How fear must have overtaken her. Her encounter with the two angels must have frightened her. Perhaps it shook her up so much that she didn’t recognize the “Gardener” who came up behind her. All she wanted was to retrieve Jesus’ body.
And right at that point she received the most amazing news—the best gift—of her life. The “Gardener” simply said, “Mary.” It must have been some special way He said it for
She turned and said to Him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!”
Right then her fear left her. Jesus was no longer dead. He was alive. She grabbed hold of Him with all her might and wasn’t going to let go!
Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brothers and say to them, I am ascending to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God.” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that He had said these things to her.
Two disciples were on their way back to Emmaus from Jerusalem that same day. It was about a seven mile walk. Saddened because of Jesus’ death and burial they didn’t notice it was Jesus who began to walk along with them. Something began to change within them as He spoke with them along the way, using the scriptures, about how “… beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself “ (Luke 24:27).
The experience touched these two Emmaus disciples. “They said to each other, Did not our hearts burn within us while He talked to us on the road, while He opened to us the Scriptures?” (Luke 24:32).
With fear gone, they returned to Jerusalem to tell the other disciples the good news. There they learned that Jesus had appeared to Peter, too.
Yet Jesus wasn’t done yet. For that same night, “… the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ “
He showed them His hands and His side. Peter was there. Surely Mary of Magdala was there. By then the two disciples from Emmaus must have returned. Together, all the believers—expect Thomas, who was absent at the time—experienced a resurrected Jesus.
Jesus is alive! There is no longer any reason to fear! Later on, empowered by the Holy Spirit, we see that these followers of Jesus became fearless. Even when threatened with death they would not—they said could not—stop talking about the good news they experienced and knew to be true! That’s why Peter and John told the same religious leaders who had condemned Jesus to death when they were arrested and imprisoned.
“Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:19-20).
Fearless. What changed? You can tell me it was their special experience of the Holy Spirit. Yet that’s not what they said. What they were speaking about was not that outpouring, but the very experience of Jesus being alive again. That experience changed their lives, for time and eternity. They would never be the same again.
I’m always amazed that around Easter different articles or programs are produced that seek to raise questions about the historicity of Jesus and His resurrection from the dead. “Where’s the proof?” we’re asked. “Where’s the proof that He is risen?”
If you want proof simply look at the changed lived. Fearful people became bold proclaimers of the good news that Jesus is alive. They are willing to stand against the same persons who condemned Jesus to death to proclaim the news that “He is risen,” even under threat of death itself. They are willing to risk their lives—to even give up their lives—for this news.
Do you need further proof than that? Just look to lives that were changed, for time and eternity. Then simply ask the Holy Spirit to work that same change in your heart. He will take the fear away and replace it with a joyful confidence that trusts in Him alone, for eternity.
Regards, in Christ,
PJKreft
