O God, may the
finger of your Spirit stir through the clutter of my words to point to a new
understanding. Amen.
In
the morning after the Sabbath, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, went to the
tomb. In other gospels, there is talk about the women bringing burial spices to
prepare the body. But Matthew knows better. He knows that Jesus’ body had
already been anointed, meaning he didn’t need further anointing for his burial.
So, in Matthew’s gospel, it simply says that the women were going to see the
tomb. To me, it’s like any other time someone would go visit the grave of
someone they love who had died.
The
women, the two Mary’s, went to see the tomb. When they got to the tomb there
was a great earthquake, and an angel came and rolled back the stone that
covered the entrance to the tomb. The guards were afraid, and it seems that the
women were too because the first thing that the angel said was, “do not be
afraid.” The angel then told them that Jesus was not there, but rather that he
was alive. The women are told to go and tell all that they have learned. As
they go on their way, they encountered Jesus and he also says to them, “do not
be afraid.”
“Do
not be afraid.” Easy for Jesus to say! Can you imagine what these women were
going through?! They came to the tomb because they loved Jesus, and they came
filled with grief and sadness, filled with a sense of loss both for their
friend that was gone and also for all that he represented to them. Can you
imagine the despair these women would have been feeling? If you have ever
grieved the loss of someone you loved, then you know that grief, sadness, and
despair would have been the least that these women were feeling.
And
to discover that Jesus is not in the tomb?! So now on top of all that sadness,
grief, and despair, they’re feeling fear, too! Fear for what has happened to
his body. Fear of the strange being that is there in front of them. Fear to
really believe, to let hope back into their hearts, that maybe Jesus really was
alive.
So
often, throughout the bible, we come across these words of assurance, “Do not
be afraid.” Typically, these words are said by an angel, it’s kind of their
calling card. It is how you know you are being visited by an angel. Luke’s
account of Jesus’ birth and Matthew’s account of Jesus’ resurrection contain
these words of reassurance which seem to wrap the entire gospel narrative in
those words, “Do not be afraid.” These are among the first words uttered by
Gabriel to Mary when he tells her she will bear a son named Jesus. Then, an
angel uses these same words to reassure Mary Magdalene and the other Mary when
they find the tomb of Jesus empty and the earth shaking.
Fear
is a powerful emotion and can affect people in different ways. For some, fear
is empowering because it gives the person the adrenaline they need to move
forward, to try something new, to go on an adventure, etc. For others, fear can
be paralyzing, debilitating, and can make you run away. I’m sure you’ve heard
of fight, flight, or freeze. The fight response is your body's way of facing
any perceived threat aggressively. Flight means your body urges you to run from
danger. Freeze is your body's inability to move or act against a threat. A new
one I learned is fawn, which is your body's stress response to try to please
someone to avoid conflict. For me, fear plays terrible tricks on my mind. It
locks me into place, makes me freeze up, and often takes away opportunities. If
I am full of fear, I am more likely to run away than to go and tell.
As
a child, when you are gripped with fear, there is often someone who can help –
parent, grandparent, sibling – someone to say the words, “do not be afraid.” And
as a child, it is easy to believe those words of reassurance, to take great
comfort from them. Fear is bigger for adults, more complex, and those words of
reassurance are harder to come by. As adults, we live with enormous
responsibilities and complex realities. If we hear the words, “do not be
afraid,” we are often suspicious of the sincerity behind those words. Think
about a time someone told you, “Do not be afraid. There is nothing to worry
about.” When someone says to us, “do not be afraid,” the words often feel like
empty platitudes. Something like, “there, there.”
And
yet, here are these angels, to Mary at the beginning of Jesus’ story and to
Mary Magdalene at the tomb, coming to say just that – “do not be afraid.” These
are not words of assurance that nothing will go wrong but, rather, assurance
that whatever may happen to us, God has the power to strengthen us and uphold
us; that no matter our fears, God will never leave us to face them alone; that
nothing is stronger than God’s love and God will always get the last word.
The
angel tells the people, “Do not be afraid.” This command concerning fear is
on-going. We should never be afraid anymore! Jesus has won! Do not allow fear
to keep you from sharing what you have seen here. Do not let fear keep you from
hoping, and from what it means that the tomb is empty, and from what you know
now to be true, even if you are having hard time understanding it.
The
women are invited by the angel to come and see that Jesus is not here in the
tomb, and then they are told go and tell. Because “come and see” must always be
followed by “go and tell.” It's a part of the good news! We are to go and tell
the ways that God has shocked us into bewilderment, caused us to hope in our
hearts that there can be new life. We are called to tell where we see God's
love and grace at play in our world and how God's peace has attended us in
times of sadness and grief.
The
Gospel that began with a man afraid to marry his disgraced betrothed and a
fearful king who tries to kill potential rivals ends with overwhelming joy.
Jesus’ command to the women becomes a command to all of us:
Stop
being afraid!
God
has defeated death.
Rejoice,
and share the good news!
Amen.
