Fear is a funny thing. - Matthew 28:1-10

Fear is a funny thing.  Not always “Ha! Ha!” funny, but sometimes “Ha! Ha!” funny.  I was looking through a list of fears the other day because, well I’m weird, and I came across a list of funny phobias.  Did you know some people have a fear of bananas?  It’s called bananaphobia?  Apparently, this is a real thing.  I watched a couple TikTok videos of people freaking out and even gagging at the sight of a banana.  But apparently bananas aren’t the only frightening food.  Some people suffer from arachibutyrophobia.  Arachibutyrophobia is the fear of getting peanut butter stuck to the roof of your mouth.  But food isn’t the only thing people are afraid of.  Michelle, I hope you don’t mind me sharing this with people, but my wife suffers from a mild case of chonophobia.  Chonophobia is the fear of snow.  My wife’s chonophobia is why we have spent 22 out of 24 years of ministry south of the Mason-Dixon line.  O.K. that’s not true, it’s just what we tell our family when they ask if we are ever going to move back up north.  My favorite fear (and yes as I hear those words coming out of my mouth, I realize it makes me sound like a monster but) my favorite fear is anatidaephobia.  Anatidaephobia is the fear that somewhere… somehow… a duck is watching you.  Out of all the phobias on the list, anatidaephobia is the one that quacked me up the most. 

Sometimes fear is “Ha! Ha!” funny, especially if you aren’t the one who is afraid.  But in the moment fear doesn’t feel very funny.  It sure didn’t feel very funny to the women who made their way to the tomb early Easter morning.  Saint Matthew tells us, “After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.”  And as they went, these poor women were filled with fear.  Not a “Ha! Ha!” funny kind of fear, but the kind of fear that comes from watching someone you love tortured to death. 

Three days earlier, these women had stood near the cross on which Jesus was crucified. They had watched in horror as their Teacher, their Lord, the One they had hoped was their Savior from sin, suffered and died. No doubt the sight and sound of the sinless Son of God being pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities haunted them.  His anguished cry, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”[1] no doubt still echoed in their ears.  They had also watched in stunned disbelief as Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus took His lifeless corpse down from the cross and laid it in a nearby tomb.  The women watched as Joseph and Nicodemus quickly wrapped Jesus’ body in linen.  Nicodemus had brought some spices and aloe, but there was not enough time to give Jesus a proper burial.  The sun was setting and with it the Sabbath day; a day upon which such labors were strictly forbidden, would begin.  As the sun set the women resolved to return home and prepare the necessary spices and perfumes so that when the Sabbath was over, they could return and give Jesus a proper burial.   

Scripture is mostly silent as to the events that occurred on the Sabbath that followed the crucifixion.  The city of Jerusalem was still filled with Passover Pilgrims.  Though the streets would be notably less crowded due to the Sabbath rest, it is easy to imagine sounds of festive laughter coming from homes where families gathered.  However, there was no laughter coming from the home where the followers of Jesus gathered.  The gospel writers tell us they gathered behind locked doors because they were afraid.  They were afraid because of how quickly the crowd went from “Hosanna to the Son of David”[2] to “crucify him”[3]. They were afraid because of how coldly the Sanhedrin condemned Him. They were afraid because of how brutally the Soldiers executed Him.  They were afraid because if they could do that to the one who had the power to feed the hungry, heal the sick, and raise the dead, what would they do to them?  The followers of Jesus feared for their very lives, but that was not all they were afraid of.  Jesus had promised them forgiveness of sins.  Jesus had promised they would one day be able to stand before the Heavenly Father.  Jesus had promised that they would dwell in the house of the LORD forever.  But Jesus was dead …and they feared, so were all His promises.  What would happen to their souls without Jesus?

Life without Jesus is far from a “Ha! Ha!” funny kind of fear.  Without Jesus I’m afraid there isn’t much purpose or significance to life.  We just spend some time with some people doing some things but then life just comes to a meaningless end.  And, as the writer to the Hebrews reminds us, without Jesus that meaningless end brings a “fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.”[4]  Life without Jesus… is frightening.  A person, like the followers of Jesus who huddled together behind locked doors, can try to hide away from that fear, put on a brave face and pretend they don’t have that fear, or distract themselves from that fear but in the quiet hours of the night, in the tragedies of life, and in the face of death, that fear is there.  Life without Jesus is far from a “Ha! Ha!” funny kind of fear. 

But for you, I still maintain, fear is a funny thing.  It certainly was a funny thing for the women who made their way to the tomb early Easter morning.  When the women arrived at the tomb, they saw that the Roman soldiers, who had been stationed to guard the entrance of the tomb, had fainted.  They saw an angel, whose “3 appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow”, sitting on the stone that had sealed the tomb where Jesus’ dead body had been laid. They saw “the place where he lay”, but what they did not see was Jesus.  Then “5 The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead”

Do not be afraid.  Jesus has risen from the dead, just as He said He would.  Just as He said in places like Matthew 16:21 when Jesus explained to His disciples that “he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” And again, in Matthew 17:22-23 when Jesus said to the disciples gathered in Galilee, 22 “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. 23 They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life.” And again again in Matthew 20:18-19 when, just as they were about to enter Jerusalem, Jesus told His disciples, 18 “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death 19 and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!” Jesus repeatedly promised His followers that He would rise from the dead and then on Easter morning Jesus did exactly what He promised He would do.  There was absolutely no reason for the women to be afraid.  Now that Jesus had risen from the dead, fear of persecution at the hands of men was an irrational phobia. There was nothing the crowds or Sanhedrin or soldiers could do to them that Jesus couldn’t easily undo.  Now that Jesus had risen from the dead, fear of condemnation was an irrational phobia.  All the promises Jesus had made to them about sins being forgiven, standing before the Heavenly Father, and dwelling in the house of the LORD would be kept as certainly as His promise that on the third day He would rise from the dead had been kept.

Having been reassured by the angel that they had nothing to fear now that Jesus had risen from the dead just as He said, Matthew tells us, 8 “the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy”. There was still some fear that remained.  This is the way it is for the followers of Jesus, as the weakness of our flesh does battle with the promises of God.  Yet the promises of God are greater than the weakness of our flesh.  More than they feared the women were filled with joy.  So, they ran off to tell others what the angel had told them.  Along the way they encountered the resurrected Jesus who also told them, “Do not be afraid!”  To hear these words spoken by a messenger gave the women comfort.  To hear these words from God Himself filled these women with confidence.  Go and tell others, Jesus instructed, now that I have risen from the dead there is nothing for you to fear.

I can’t help but wonder if the women who fearfully made their way to the tomb early Easter morning occasionally look back on that morning and think what a funny thing fear is, at least for the follower of Jesus.  Fear, for the follower of Jesus, is a “Ha! Ha!” funny kind of fear.  That is what the women told the disciples, who told disciples, who told disciples, who eventually told me, so that I could tell you: Do not be afraid, followers of Jesus. There is nothing man can do to you that cannot easily be undone by Jesus. There is no condemnation you need fear, because His promises to forgive your sins, make you able to stand before the Heavenly Father, and bring you into the house of the LORD will be kept just as certainly as His promise to rise from the dead has been kept. My fellow followers of Jesus, It would be more rational for you to fear that somewhere, somehow, a duck is watching you than it is for you to fear persecution or condemnation. For you, such fears are a funny thing. For you are not living life without Jesus. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Hallelujah! Amen.

[1] Matthew 27:46

[2] Matthew 21:9

[3] Matthew 27:22

[4] Hebrews 10:27