Are We Too Afraid?

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on Easter Sunday, the 4th of April, 2021, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  This morning's service also included Holy Communion with our Lord.  This was an abbreviated service due to constraints put in place from the COVID-19 pandemic.  Our YouTube streaming channel is:

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDIz4WuP8igQstkEOq1AMTg.  Look for the video of our recorded services on our Vimeo channel:  http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

This morning, at our Sunrise Service, we looked at how a few of the women who had followed Jesus from Galilee had prepared some aromatic spices and fragrant oils that they would use to anoint the body of Jesus, now laid in the tomb.  We learned that they wanted to do this because they really and truly did not believe what Jesus had said about rising from the grave.  But they were prevented from actually anointing the body because of the start of the Sabbath and the halting of any labor.  So they waited, until the sunrise of this morning, Sunday morning, the third day after Jesus had died on the cross.

The Apostle Mark tells us what happened when they went to the tomb with their spices and oils and their task at hand.  Please listen and follow along as I read verses 1 through 16 from chapter 16 of Mark’s Gospel account, from the New King James Version of our Holy Bible…

1 Now when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, that they might come and anoint Him. 2 Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. 3 And they said among themselves, “Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?” 4 But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away—for it was very large. 5 And entering the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a long white robe sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed.

6 But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. 7 But go, tell His disciples — and Peter—that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as He said to you.”

8 So they went out quickly and fled from the tomb, for they trembled and were amazed. And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

9 Now when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons. 10 She went and told those who had been with Him, as they mourned and wept. 11 And when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe.

12 After that, He appeared in another form to two of them as they walked and went into the country. 13 And they went and told it to the rest, but they did not believe them either.

14 Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. 15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned."

--Mark 16:1-16 (NKJV)

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for offering us forgiveness of our sins through the sacrifice of Your Son Jesus.  And thank You for not allowing death to keep its grasp on Jesus!  You raised Him from the grave.  Jesus conquered death, and in doing so promised that we, too, can share in that victory!  We, too, will be resurrected from the grave and given eternal life with You in heaven.  And all we have to do is believe in Jesus and accept Him as our Lord and Master.  Please, Father, help us understand the full impact of all You and Jesus have done.  Help us fully trust in You and not be afraid to share the joy of our salvation with others.  And Father, please keep us safe from Satan and his evil schemes and from those who do his bidding.  Please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and purpose in our love and worship, and healthy and safe through these trying times.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit and better understand the message You have for us this day.  Take away all our fear and show us how to better serve You and Jesus in our daily walk.  This we pray in the blessed name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

Robert Louis Stevenson once said, “Keep your fears to yourself; share your courage with others.”

During World War II, a military governor met with General George Patton in Sicily.  When he praised Patton highly for his courage and bravery, the general replied, “Sir, I am not a brave man…  The truth is, I am an utter craven coward.  I have never been within the sound of gunshot or in sight of battle in my whole life that I wasn't so scared that I had sweat in the palms of my hands.”  Years later, when Patton's autobiography was published, it contained this significant statement by the general: “I learned very early in my life never to take counsel of my fears.”

I’d say that Patton took Stevenson’s words to heart.  You would never imagine the great general to have known fear.  And yet he thought of himself as a coward, utterly scared at the sight or sound of battle.

Have you ever known anyone that you feel very well fit the description of brave and courageous?  Cassandra Star and Callahan immediately come to my mind.  But don’t you suppose that all these brave people are really just keeping their fears to themselves while sharing their courage with us?

Under the right circumstances, any of us will be afraid.  Little strikes fear in most people’s hearts than facing what they perceive as certain and imminent death.  Even us Christian folks who know that death to this life simply means stepping into the next everlasting life in heaven, even we sometimes fear death.  The trick is not to be afraid, but to hide the fear, to keep the fear to ourselves and share courage with others.  Or for us Christians, to share the Good News of forgiveness and salvation through Christ Jesus.

So these women believers go to the tomb to anoint the body of their Master Jesus, but instead of finding the body they find an angel sitting in the otherwise empty tomb.  And by “empty” I mean body-less; containing no body.

Forgive me here, but you know, it’s kind of funny…  They went to all this trouble preparing the anointing balm and heading to the grave so early in the morning, and yet gave no thought at all as to how they would get the huge boulder rolled away from the tomb entrance.  They knew it was there, they knew it was heavy, but it was only as they approached the grave that they wondered who would move it for them.  Sometimes we just don’t think things through all the way.

At any rate, they get to the tomb and find this angel instead of Jesus’ body, and they are scared speechless.  Mark says they were “alarmed”, but you can be assured that the sight of the missing boulder and the young man all in white where Jesus should have been scared them silly.

So the angel assured them and told them not to be afraid, or “alarmed” as Mark put it. He informed them that Jesus had risen from the dead, just as He said He would, and was going back to Galilee ahead of them.  They were told to go and relay all this information to the disciples, but what did they do?  According to Mark’s telling, they got out of there, quickly, trembling in fear, and said nothing to anyone.

Why?  Because they were afraid.  Even though the angel told them not to be, they were afraid.  They were afraid, and they said nothing.

This morning I mentioned that there was a lot of fear going around among the disciples, fear for their lives, and for good reason.  If someone like Jesus, who had done nothing to deserve it, could be arrested, tried, and executed, then what chance would they have?  Many of them hid behind closed and locked doors, dreading to hear a knock.  Maybe all this played on the fears of the women.  But fear shouldn’t have hardened their hearts, or the hearts of the disciples.

Sometime later, Jesus Himself appeared to Mary Magdalene, so she could see and believe.  This time she did go and tell the disciples.  Only trouble is, they wouldn’t believe her.  Jesus appeared to two others, probably the two going to Emmaus.  They tried to tell the disciples, too, but again were not believed.

Fear?  Stubbornness?  Lack of faith?

Finally, Jesus appeared to Peter and the rest and admonished them for their unbelief and hardness of heart.  And then He point-blank told them what to do.  “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.”  He really didn’t give them a choice to be afraid or not, to be timid or shy or not.  Just go do it.  Keep your fears to yourself and go share the Gospel.

Fear can literally paralyze us.  It can keep us from doing something we want to do, something we know we should do.  It can even keep us from believing what we know we should believe.  And likewise, disbelief can give way to fear.

Listen to a little incident that occurred while Jesus still walked among us, during His ministry around the Sea of Galilee.  Mark recorded this for us in the 5th chapter of his Gospel account, verses 21 through 24 and verses 35 and 36…

21 Now when Jesus had crossed over again by boat to the other side, a great multitude gathered to Him; and He was by the sea. 22 And behold, one of the rulers of the synagogue came, Jairus by name. And when he saw Him, he fell at His feet 23 and begged Him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter lies at the point of death. Come and lay Your hands on her, that she may be healed, and she will live.” 24 So Jesus went with him, and a great multitude followed Him and thronged Him.

35 While He was still speaking, some came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house who said, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?”

36 As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, He said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not be afraid; only believe.”

--Mark 5:21-24, 35-36 (NKJV)

Do not be afraid - only believe.  Don’t be afraid that your daughter is dead.  Just believe that I can bring her back to life.  And of course, that is exactly what Jesus did.

We must not let fear keep us from believing in Jesus and in what He can do.  He has given us the job of going into all the world preaching the Gospel.  Are we just too afraid to go out and do it?  Do we have any reason to fear that He won’t be with us as we do so?

Sure, some people may laugh at us, or ridicule us, or hurt us.  Some may even take our mortal life from us.  But as long as we believe, they cannot take our eternal life.  That is a gift from God, our reward for believing.

But for most of us, the worst that can happened is that we might get embarrassed or teased.  We may not get the words just right, we may think we’re doing more harm than good.  But if what we say and do is filled with love, if we are sharing the love of Jesus, then we have nothing to fear.  God’s Holy Spirit does all the hard lifting for us.  We just have to open the door a little for Him.

So let’s keep our fear to ourselves and go share the Gospel with the world.  Don’t be afraid; just believe.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord, the one true Son of God, our Savior and our Redeemer.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Father God, You put a great plan in place to save mankind from the sin of our disobedience, but the completion of this plan came at a horrible cost.  Your only begotten Son, Jesus, had to die so that the blood of the one true Spotless Lamb could atone for our sin.  Only by His blood could we be washed clean and forgiven.  Thank You, Father, for sending Your Son to offer us salvation.  Father, please help us be worthy of His great sacrifice.  Help us keep our faith and belief strong and active.  Help us be more obedient to You and to Jesus and do as He commands us: to love others, and to be a witness to them.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You from our hearts through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more faithful and true, putting all our trust in You and Jesus, and seeking Your help as we do so…

Lord Jesus, You gave up Your mortal life for us after living so little of it.  You took the punishment for our sin.  You allowed Yourself to be humiliated, ridiculed, beaten, and nailed to a cross, and You suffered it all for us.  And then You carried all our sin to the grave and left it there!  We are forgiven, we who believe in You and accept You as Lord!  We are forgiven and seen as pure in God’s eyes because of the sacrifice You made on our behalf.  You conquered death and by God’s mercy we too will share in that victory!  Thank You, Jesus, for giving it all to us.  We are so undeserving of Your love.  Please, Lord, help us be better servants.  Help us do as You command.  Help us in our mission to be Your witnesses to those who do not know You.  Help us share with them all that You said and did.  Encourage us and strengthen us to show Your love to a world that is so starved for true love.  And Jesus, please help us keep our focus on the needs of others rather than on anything this life might offer us.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.