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 There’s the doubt that Thomas and some others had.
There’s the wonder that Peter had after he saw the
empty tomb.
Of course, there was joy & excitement that surrounded
the resurrection.
But the one that strikes me is how much fear there is
in the resurrection accounts.
- Luke says the disciples were "startled & frightened."
- In Matthew's account both Jesus and the angel told the women “Do
not be afraid."
- In Mark it says “Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and
fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were
afraid.”
Normally at Easter we don’t think of fear. We think of joy,
excitement, confidence, and hope. Could it be that the resurrection
is NOT necessarily good news?
Yes, there is good reason to fear Easter, because if Jesus is raised
from the dead, life is far more unpredictable than we
thought.
 The driving force of modern life has been science. We humans can
control things and predict things—because of the laws of nature. But
do you see how the resurrection smashes all that? Dead men don't
rise from the tomb! That's an irrefutable law of nature.
But if Jesus rose from dead, that blows that all apart, and if that
law of nature is broken, anything can happen. Life is not so
predictable after all.
There’s another reason to fear Easter, and that is that this
life is diminished in importance.
If Jesus is raised from the dead, and that's a sign of what's going
to happen to the rest of us, then this life is not all there is.
That means that the things that we think are so important now (in
this life) really aren't that important:
- Our careers that we work so hard to build.
- Our retirement.
- Our possessions.
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They’re just not that important because there’s something beyond the
grave.
But perhaps the main reason to fear Easter is, if the resurrection
is true, that means that Jesus was right.
The resurrection confirms that all those shocking things Jesus said
were true. When God raised Jesus, that was God’s stamp of approval.
That’s scary, because what Jesus taught is the opposite of what
we're told every day.
Jesus taught that real life and happiness does not consist in
self-seeking, but in self-giving.
Real life does not consist in clinging to life, but in giving it up.
Jesus said
“If you are going to follow me,
you have to deny yourself.” We don't want to deny
ourselves. We want to fulfill ourselves....and live our own lives.
Self-denial is terrifying.
Like the women who ran in fear, there are real reasons to fear
Easter. Jesus resurrection makes life unpredictable. His
resurrection challenges our values system, and it forces us to
accept that Jesus was right.
Ironically, that’s also the good news!
Unpredictability means God is at work in this world; and who doesn’t
think our values need challenging?
And if Jesus is right, then what he said about eternity is true. We
have an eternal hope!
God’s not dead, and that can be scary. But it’s also the best new
possible.
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