Preview: Be Not Afraid...even though you should be...

Matthew 28:5-10
But the angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, 'He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.' This is my message for you." So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them and said, "Greetings!" And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me."

Theme:    Be Not Afraid.... 

Main Points:

• The women go to the tomb to look for the body of Jesus but don't find it. 
• An Angel shows them that he is risen and reassures them to "be not afraid". 
• They tell the disciples. 
• Jesus returns to give them instructions.
• Christ reminds them to "be not afraid" and go and spread the word. 

Observations:  To be not afraid, when it makes sense to be...

We think of a great many things when we think of Easter:  bunnies, chicks, eggs, pastel everything, etc... We rarely think of being afraid.  But when he was resurrected it seemed like Jesus and the angels spent a great deal of time telling folks to "be not afraid".  Why? Well there actually was a lot to be afraid of.  The officials had just gotten Jesus killed once, maybe they would try to kill the disciples.  Jesus was no longer in his tomb, and what did that mean.  What was it that Jesus was sending them to do, and what would happen as a result?  How would Jesus react to his disciples who had not behaved very bravely during his trial and execution?  All of these things were valid fears.  

But Jesus wants us to be "not afraid".  What does that even mean?  

Most of us spend our lives in some level of "afraidness".  We are afraid of relationships: having them, not having them, losing them, not getting them... We are afraid of failure: at work, at school, at home, with our spouse, with our children, with our friends.  And most of all we are afraid of those things that we cannot foresee...the unknown: how is my health, when will I die, the economy, wars, politics, etc.  

How does the resurrected Jesus expect us to "be not afraid" when there are so many perfectly logical things and unknown things to be terrified of? 

The answer is actually in the question.  We are afraid of unknown outcomes, but they are only unknown to us.  Christ has seen everything, even death itself.  He knows the outcome of every possibility and has personally experienced the worst that the world has to offer.  He knows what will become of us, and most importantly he promises to guide us through all of the scary unknown outcomes, lend strength to our weakness, forgive us our faults when our spirit fails us and we sin, and raise us up when eventually even our bodies fail us and we die. Jesus calls us to be not afraid, because he is the solution to all of our fears.  

So, Happy Easter and...be not afraid. 

Questions:

1. What is your greatest fear (and I don't mean phobias here)?
2. What is the worst that can happen?
3. If the worst happens how would Christ heal it?  Do you believe that Jesus could/would? 
4. What then should we be afraid of?