Don’t be Afraid
A Sermon Based on Matthew 28:1-10
Rev. Deborah Troester, April 9, 2023, STHPC
In the Vatican stands a famous statue: La Pieta. The Virgin Mary cradles the crucified body of Christ in her lap. Carved in white marble, Michelangelo created this masterpiece over five centuries ago, but its beauty and pathos still touch all who see it. La Pieta has a universal appeal: in Mary’s tearful gaze we see the anguish of all mothers who have ever beheld the death of their child. She tenderly cradles Jesus’ form, much as she would have held him as an infant in the stable of Bethlehem, except that now, a grown man, his tortured form overflows her lap and sprawls out upon the ground – her loving embrace can no longer contain him, or comfort him; she can no longer wipe away his tears. In La Pieta we see symbolically the feminine side of a loving God, tenderly embracing a torn and bleeding world, weeping for the suffering of her children. Just as Mary cried over the death of her son on the cross, God weeps for the deaths of children gunned down in their schools, killed while on the way to pick up their report cards in Cameroon, innocents dying in Ukraine, gang violence in Haiti, hunger and humanitarian disaster in Somalia, Syria, South Sudan, and too many places to name.
How can we believe in a loving God, with all the suffering in this world? Surely if God is all-powerful He would put an end to it. What is God’s response in the face of evil, oppression, injustice, and untimely death? Yet, God answered all of these accusations nearly 2000 years ago on a Judean hillside early one morning when the earth shook and the stone rolled back to reveal an empty tomb.
All the powers of earth and hell had conspired against Jesus Christ: born into a poor family, the member of an oppressed race, the victim of an unjust trial, condemned to die a death by torture—for that is what crucifixion was intended to be. Religious authorities conspired with civil authorities to execute him on the charges of blasphemy and sedition. After all, his followers claimed he was a king – a threat not taken lightly by the Roman empire. Like so many before and after him, Jesus was condemned to die in the name of religion. The irony of God’s Son being put to death in God’s name is inescapable.
But things did not go as the authorities had planned: something incredible happened. God intervened in history and raised Christ from the dead. In Jesus’ resurrection, God passed judgment on the evil powers of this world – that they should not have the final say. In the resurrection God declared the victory of life over death and the triumph of good over evil for all time. In the resurrection God vindicated the sinless life of Christ and validated his identity as God’s Son, our Messiah and Savior and gave this weary, bloodstained world hope that violence, evil, and even death itself will one day lose their hold on humanity.
But what does Jesus’ resurrection mean in our everyday lives? What difference does it make? There is a multiplicity of answers we could give: hope, forgiveness, justice, peace and much more that we could discuss for the rest of the day. But I want to focus on one little phrase, spoken both by the angel and by the Risen Christ, words that we need to hear today: “Don’t be afraid.”
This phrase is mentioned over 80 times in the Bible, beginning with Abraham, a childless old man, to whom God says, “Do not be afraid,…If you can count the stars of heaven, so shall your descendents be.” To Hagar and her son Ishmael, dying of thirst in the desert, God says, “Don’t be afraid,” and suddenly she saw a well they could drink from. When God’s people were slaves in Egypt, Moses told them, “Don’t be afraid. God will deliver you.” Whenever enemies threatened God’s people, again and again the prophets reminded them: God has not abandoned us. God is still there to help us. Don’t be afraid.”
In the Gospels, this phrase frames the whole of Jesus’ life. When Gabriel appears to the Virgin Mary at the Annunciation, he tells her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.” An angel appears to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.” The angel announced Jesus’ birth to the shepherds, with the words, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy to all people.” And here, at the climax of history, the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, we find these words once more, as the angel tells the women who have come to the empty tomb, “Do not be afraid.”
It was with heavy hearts that Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph approached the tomb that first Easter morning. Jesus, their teacher and friend, was dead. After his execution, Jesus’ friends and disciples were grief-stricken, numb with loss and fear. They had thought he was the Messiah, but it was not to be. Shocked to the core by his arrest, mock trial, the crowd calling for his crucifixion, they had watched in horror and despair as it all unfolded.
They were doing what women had done for centuries, and still do: preparing the body of a loved one for its final rest. Because the Jewish Sabbath began at sundown Friday and lasted till sundown Saturday, this was the first chance they had had to properly anoint the body with spices for burial, as was their tradition. The women came to see what they could do to restore a bit of dignity to the body of their beloved friend.
As they approached the tomb, an earthquake struck with enough force to dislodge the gigantic stone that covered the entrance to the sepulchre – or maybe it was the angel that moved the stone? They were not sure.
The angel appeared suddenly, dressed in a brilliant white robe, saying, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he is risen.”
Let’s pause a moment: why shouldn’t they be afraid? A powerful earthquake, a strange being of light speaking almost incomprehensible words, something about Jesus not being in the grave…most people would be terrified. The angel calms them and tells them why they don’t need to fear: “Jesus has been raised from the dead…He is going ahead of you…You will see him.”
All of us are afraid of something – spiders, snakes, heights and pretty much everyone fears death. It is only natural to fear the unknown, and death is the great unknown. But now, we know: Jesus has conquered death. He died and rose again, and because he lives, we too shall live eternally with him. At the center of our Christian faith is this message: Jesus is alive! Death and suffering do not have the last word. Christ’s resurrection gives us hope – to keep believing, to keep on following him. Of course, we have a million questions. How can we explain what happened that first Easter? I am not sure we can.
If there were a scientific explanation, faith would not be required. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “Christ did not come into this world so that we might understand him, but that we might cling to him in order to be caught up in the immense event of resurrection.”
The angel doesn’t explain to the women how the resurrection took place. Rather he sends them to tell the rest of the disciples about it – to share the good news that Jesus is alive. He added, “Tell his disciples that Jesus is going ahead of you to Galilee.” This is the second reason we don’t need to be afraid: Jesus is going ahead of us as well. There is no where we can go where He is not. Jesus repeats this message in Matthew 28: “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world.” No matter where we go, or what we are going through. Jesus is not only with us – he has actually been there before us, preparing the way. As mission co-workers, Joe and I have both experienced fearing the unknown in ways both big and small. The first time Joe went to Haiti, he was worried about what he would eat. At that time we were living in Puerto Rico, and enjoyed eating the traditional beans and rice. When Joe sat down to eat in Port-au-Prince, what do you think they served?
Beans and rice, with chicken! Another time, his hosts apologized profusely as they brought out more beans and rice, saying that they had wanted to serve fish as well, but all they could catch that day was lobster, so that would have to do.
This is a little example, but no matter where we went – even some places where there was some actual real danger, we found that God was already there, and had already prepared the way for us – usually in the form of kind people, people whose language we didn’t always speak, but who helped us, nonetheless. Wherever you go in life – a new school, a new job, a difficult situation, give it to God and trust that Jesus goes before you. Don’t be afraid.
The angel also tells the women, “You will see him.” For the disciples, it meant that they would see the risen Christ face to face, but it also means that we too shall someday see him face to face. And that gives us tremendous hope. This is the message of the Gospel: “You will see Him.” We, too, shall be with Christ in eternity, and if we look hard enough, we will find him here, walking among us day by day.
Didn’t he say, “As you have done it unto one of the least of these, you have done it unto me?” In this life, Jesus appears in unexpected forms. You have probably all heard the story of the pastor who dressed as an unhoused person and tried to enter his own church on a Sunday morning, only to be rebuffed and sent away. Is Jesus right in front of us, disguised as someone we would rather not talk to?
If we want to try to understand of the resurrection, nature is not a bad place to look. Martin Luther, the great reformer, encourages us, saying, “Our Lord has written the promise of resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime.” If we look hard enough, we can see God’s power and love everywhere, in every bird and flower. Someone has said that a living faith is less about being certain and more about keeping your eyes open.
As the women left the tomb, the Risen Christ met them, saying, “Greetings! Do not be afraid.” They knelt before him and worshiped him. The Greek word for “Greetings!” Χαίρετε, means literally “rejoice and be glad!” Joy can dispell fear. If we focus on Christ, our fears will melt away, or at least we will be strengthened enough to face them.
Joy is a great antidote to fear, and so is love – the love of Christ, and our love for Him. In his sermon on the Resurrection, Martin Luther notes that the women went to the tomb despite a number of obstacles – the darkness of early dawn, the impossibility of moving the stone, fear of the guards Pilate had put there, but they went because of “the great love they bore to the Lord, which had sunk so deeply into their hearts that for his sake they would have risked a thousand lives.” As 1 John 4:18 says, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.” God grant that we, too, may someday worship together at the feet of Jesus. Until then, remember: He is risen! He is going before us, and someday, we, too shall see him! Until that day, let us rejoice in God’s love, which banishes all fear. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
References:
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich, as quoted by Matt Fitzgerald, “Thunderous Yes: Preaching to the Easter Crowds,” Christian Century, April 10, 2014.
Martin Luther, “Of Christ's Resurrection - Mark 16:1-8,” https://www.monergism.com/christs-resurrection-mark-161-8-martin-luther
© Deborah Troester, 2023