The Resurrection of Our Lord, April 4th
Year of Our + Lord 2021
Our Redeemer and Our Savior’s Lutheran Churches
Custer and Hill City, South Dakota
Overcoming Our Fear - Mark 16:1-8
Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed, Alleluia!
The strife is over, the battle is won! Jesus is risen, so we too shall arise! Because He shares His victory with us! Nothing can defeat us, for we are more than conquerors in Him who has loved us through death, and unto new life! Alleluia!
So why we still afraid? Why do fear and doubt and hesitation so often fill our hearts and minds, close our mouths and bind our hands and feet?
There’s been plenty of fear this past year. Some of it very legitimate, some of it unfounded, some of it overblown and manipulative. I doubt that any of us have proved immune.
I remember clearly the first time I drove out of our basement garage during the Covid19 lockdown that Shelee and I experienced in Spain, (a lockdown that was bonkers, btw). I had no legal reason to leave our house in Cartagena for weeks, except to walk one block to put our household trash in the receptacle. I didn’t like it. But I wasn’t fearful. I didn’t think the general panic that gripped the world was affecting me. Then, when finally I did have a reason and a need to leave the house in our car, well, as I started the car and shifted into drive, a strange sensation came over me. I don’t want to call it fear, but... Let’s just say I had to overcome my emotions and tell myself to get a grip.
What’s scared you in the past 12 months? Maybe night after night of riots in so many American cities... Or maybe rioters forcing their way into the capitol building... Or maybe you’re scared right now? Maybe your fears arise closer to home. Is your retirement income lasting like you hoped it would? Is your job as secure as you wished it was? Do you have a disease that frightens you? Or maybe a loved one is sick? Is there tension and strife with your closest family and friends? Everyday struggles and worries can morph into fear. Truth is, fears are all around, some understandable, some overblown. Fear that comes from the world, and fear that rises in our own hearts.
The women running away from the empty tomb of Jesus had what most of us would consider good reason to be afraid. Mary, Mary and Salome had seen their Lord crucified. They saw Him give up His Spirit and then slump, dead on the cross. They had seen Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus wrap His lifeless corpse in cloth and spices and place it tearfully in a new tomb, just near Golgotha. But early in the morning on the first day of the week, when they went to honor their beloved Jesus by properly preparing His body for the grave, the body was gone. Even more, a young man, dressed in white, a messenger from heaven, told them that Jesus was no longer dead, that He was risen, alive again, and would meet His disciples in Galilee. Mary, Mary and Salome had good reason to be astonished, and afraid, so afraid that they couldn’t speak. A holy fear, but fear that left them speechless, nonetheless.
So why didn’t they stay frightened and silent? How did the news of Jesus’ Resurrection spread, from Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria and to the ends of the earth, even to the Black Hills of South Dakota, 20 centuries later?
Mary, Mary and Salome left fear behind, because Jesus came to them. That’s the only way the biography of Jesus won’t frighten you, only if the Lord Himself comes to you, speaking peace: “Fear not. Fear not, it is I, death could not hold me, and it will not hold you, because I have risen to share my new life with you. Fear not, and go and tell my brothers, those frightened 11, hiding in a locked room. Go and tell them that I am coming to them as well.”
The biography of Jesus, the story of His life and death, is frightening because of what it reveals about God. The Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, who created us and provides for us, was serious when He declared that He hates sin. Deadly serious. When Mary’s Son cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”, the unbearable weight of God’s moral expectations are most fully revealed.
Now, it is true that many people, far too many people, do not believe that Jesus’ biography is true. Maybe they are too wise and sophisticated to accept a 2,000 year old story, first written on sheep skins. Maybe they prefer to believe a different religion’s story. Or maybe they have never heard. Whatever the case, it is the Church’s task to share the story of Jesus as broadly and as clearly as we can.
Because while far too many people disbelieve or ignore it today, one day soon everyone will come to understand that it’s true. And then they will fear, as they gaze upon the One who was pierced, coming on the clouds, to usher in the new heavens and the new earth. Then they will see and believe and fear the truth of God’s anger against sin, and sinners, revealed in the Cross of Jesus. But if their enlightenment doesn’t come before they see Jesus coming on the clouds in glory, it will then be too late to be followed by peace and joy. The time for faith and salvation is today. So we work to share this story now.
But it’s challenging, because Jesus’ return in glory, and His death, and even His resurrection are terribly fearful things. They are frightening, unless Jesus comes to you today, to take away your fear, by taking away all your sins. Jesus came to Mary, Mary and Salome, and to the Eleven, to convert their confusion and fear into faith and joy. Only the loving voice of the Risen Savior can drive out all fear. So, Jesus comes to you today to say, “Peace to you, it is I, Jesus. Do not fear my Father’s anger against your sin, for it is no more. I have taken it all, for you. You are forgiven. You have perfect peace with God, in Me.”
So why do we still fear so much?
Precisely because we are still sinners. We should not fear, for Jesus has won the victory for us, just as He said He would. We should understand this, because Jesus has told us. But, our understanding, our confidence, our joy are not yet perfect. We still struggle against doubt, and sin, and fear. Every day. We should not, but we do. Our faith is not perfected, not yet, and so fear still plagues us.
Don’t beat yourself up about your fears, even though they are caused by your sin. Neither should you just accept your fear, nor should you accept anything else imperfect in your life. God wants you to have the fullness of joy that comes from holiness. Don’t accept your fears, nor beat yourself up about them. Instead, confess them. Pray to the Holy Spirit that He strengthen your faith and take away your fear.
And I can even tell you how He will do that: He will use the biography of Jesus.
The world will tell you to conquer your fear by trying harder, by digging deep in your heart and staying positive and disciplining yourself to be brave. That won’t work. You can’t drive out fear, nor the imperfections and sins that cause it.
The Holy Spirit will not point you to yourself. Instead, He will take you deeper into the biography of Jesus, into His story, recorded in the Word. The biography of Jesus, that is to say, the Word of God, is the Spirit’s tool for revealing and delivering the peace of God to you. He uses the Word of Jesus to calm your fear and relieve your guilt and shame. For Jesus alone, in His Life, Death, and Resurrection, has faced all our fears, and the evil that causes them. And He has won that battle, once and for all.
This why Jesus Himself is the Peace of God which passes all understanding. Listen to Him. Know His love. Rejoice, for He has claimed you in the water of Holy Baptism, where His Cross and His Resurrection became yours. Taste and see that He is good. Christ Jesus will keep you safe, through all the fears of this life, unto life everlasting, life in glory and perfect joy.
Christ is Risen. He is Risen indeed, Alleluia.
Fear not, Jesus is your Savior, today, and forever and ever, Amen.
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