21 April 2025 - do not be afraid

Today's Readings
(Audio)

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went away quickly from the tomb,
fearful yet overjoyed,
and ran to announce the news to his disciples.

The two Mary's went away from the encounter with the angels, who told them that Jesus had been raised, feeling both fear and joy. But why, we may wonder, did they feel fear? This isn't part of the typical tone of an Easter Sunday service. At this distance in history we seem to have move past the fear. This is largely appropriate. Still, we may wonder why the women felt these mixed emotions rather than unadulterated joy. To be sure, the angel they had seen were had an imposing presence, to the degree that the "guards were shaken with fear of him and became like dead men". So maybe that was some of it. But they didn't feel that fear enough to find it paralyzing. They believed the angel, and were filled with joy at his message. Yet even after leaving him they couldn't shake the feeling of fear. Ought not the return of Jesus inspired only joy and confidence? Ah, but how was this risen Jesus different from the one whom they had known? They must have experienced a new level of awe at the fact that he had even overcome death itself. Their last memories of Jesus alive were of the trauma he endured? Had he now returned for vengeance? And what could stop him if he had?

And behold, Jesus met them on their way and greeted them.
They approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage.

Even their initial encounter with the risen Jesus himself was timid and fearful at first, not knowing, it seemed, what to expect. They now had a greater sense of the glory that Jesus had always possessed, though previously it been more hidden, and glimpsed only infrequently. The level of awe to which they were moved was actually appropriate. But they did not know how this would affect their relationship. They had known him as a friend. Could he now no longer be their brother, but only their Lord? Could they be together as they had before, or did his exultation preclude it?

Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid.
Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee,
and there they will see me.”

What happened in their encounter with Jesus? Their belief in the resurrection gained solidity as they spoke with him and even embraced him. The fear they felt, the possibility that the had hallucinated the angel's message, the possibility that Jesus was utterly different now that he had returned from death, all of it was banished by the words of Jesus. The one they encountered was the one whom they had known before. Their relationship with him was not diminished or restricted by his newly revealed glory. In fact it was enhanced. The fact was, not the betrayal of his friends, nor death itself, could have the final word in that relationship. Even the men who had betrayed him he still addressed as "brothers". Much more did he still regard these women who stood with him during his time of trial as his sisters.

We tend to misread the sort of relationship Jesus desires to have with us. At times we keep him at a distance, because he is too exulted to approach. At times, we treat him too casually, as just one of the guys, without regard to the dignity befitting his divinity. We need to encounter the risen Lord to learn to hold in dynamic tension both his humanity and his divinity. Only this encounter can transform our fear to the true, supernatural joy that is his gift.

“You are to say,
‘His disciples came by night and stole him while we were asleep.’
And if this gets to the ears of the governor,
we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.”

Even the enemies of the resurrection could not deny the fact of the empty tomb. And even their excuses exposed the fact that they could not account for it. It was clearly impossible for them to say what happened while they slept. All they could truly prove was that the grave was empty. But it was indeed true that someone had robbed the grave. But it was not the disciples. It was God himself.

But God raised him up, releasing him from the throes of death,
because it was impossible for him to be held by it.

Elevation Worship - Resurrecting