With Fear and Great Joy

Rebecca Sheridan
Sunday, April 9, 2023
Matthew 28:1-10

    Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!  In our gospel for this morning, we hear that the women leave the tomb quickly “with fear and great joy” to tell Jesus’ disciples that he is not there, he has been raised from the dead.  How is it possible, I wonder, to have fear and great joy at the same time?  Lutheran Christians are “both-and” people, famous for paradoxes like saint-sinner, law-gospel that contend that two opposite things can be true at the same time. Today, we hold this Easter paradox that the good news of Christ’s resurrection comes with both fear and great joy!
    At the appearance of the angel of the Lord at the empty tomb there is a flash of lightning and an earthquake. The guards fall to the ground in fear, perhaps understandably, but there is no joy for these men.  Without Easter joy, they are paralyzed by their fear – they become like dead men, Matthew tells us.  Certainly, there is plenty of fear around us to keep us from moving forward in faith if we don’t have the hope and joy of Easter.  Natural disasters like earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, and hurricanes destroy communities and nag us with the possibility of impending climate disaster.  Mass shootings like at the Christian school in Nashville can make us feel as if no place is unsafe, even a church.  Regardless of our politics, an NBC news poll early in 2023 found that 71% of Americans feel our country is headed on the wrong track, and I quote, “We have never before seen this level of sustained pessimism in the 30-year-plus history of the poll.”  We worry about what kind of future we are leaving our children and grandchildren.  There is plenty to be afraid of, and it can be easy to let fear paralyze us from living out Christ’s resurrection hope and new life.
    The women coming to the tomb show us a different way forward through fear to find joy and hope in Christ’s resurrection.  They still ARE afraid, but they also have great joy because in following Jesus these last few years they have heard him say that he would suffer, die, and be raised on the third day.  They have faith that what Jesus said would happen in fact has happened, even before they see the risen Christ for themselves.  Now, along with Mary Magdalene, Mary, and the first disciples, is our opportunity to figure out what Christ’s resurrection means for us and our lives today, so that we might live with confidence in the reality that new life comes out of death. The Easter response of the first disciples encourage us that we, too, can find joy and hope even in the midst of our fears, because Christ is risen!  Christ is risen indeed, Alleluia!
    Here’s the thing, I am actually sure that all of us have experienced both fear and great joy like the Marys at the empty tomb at some point in our lives.  I went skydiving for my friend’s 30th birthday with fear and great joy, and I would do it again!  With fear and great joy, I married my life partner, Rich, definitely not knowing all that this marriage commitment would entail.  With fear and great joy, I gave birth to two wonderful children, despite the daily challenges of being a mom.  Certainly with a lot of fear AND great joy, I responded to God’s call to ordained ministry and to serving as a pastor of the Church.  With fear and great joy, I moved from my home state of Nebraska to this strange place called Syosset, on Long Island, to find a new faith community and home here.  
I hope some of these examples remind you of your own faith journey; times where you have felt Christ’s presence and the Holy Spirit guiding you as you stepped out on faith to be a parent or spouse, to take a new job, to do something adventurous, to do the right thing when it was hard with fear and great joy.  We celebrate this Easter and every Sunday that while we still have things to fear, we are not alone – the Son of God is not dead but has been raised!  Jesus is risen and we will rise with him.  Our fear will fade away but our Easter joy will endure.
    Former Bishop of the Metropolitan New York Synod Stephen Bouman is fond of saying, “the only death to be afraid of is already behind you in baptism.”  Our Colossians reading for today especially emphasizes this fact – at our baptisms we have died to sin and been raised to live a new life in Christ.  Death is behind us; eternal life is ahead of us, thanks be to God.  It is because we have been baptized in Christ that we have already died and been raised with him, which means that even when we come to face the death of our loved ones or our own death, we might even in that case say we have fear but also great joy.  In the face of fear, we proclaim this Easter and always, “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again!” Because he lives, we shall live also!  That, my friends, keeps us going and gives us great joy.  Christ is risen, he is risen indeed!  Alleluia!  Thanks be to God!  Amen.