Do Not Be Afraid

A favorite post resurrection story has always been the one in which the resurrected Jesus shows up unexpectedly midst a gathering of the disciples.  It was the evening of Resurrection Morning and about their meeting the Word says, "...and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews."  (John 20:19)  Given what had happened that day, it would seem that they would be fearless.  While Peter and John were witnesses to the empty tomb, Mary Magdalene had reported seeing the living Jesus in the garden around the tomb. 

 

Perhaps, it was simply too much to comprehend.  Each one had heard Jesus speak of the fact that He would die and be raised from the dead, but no one took this word seriously, or literally.  Dead men do not rise from the dead.  Not a one of them had ever seen it happen!   How strange that they would still be gripped by such fear when Jesus was out there somewhere walking in resurrected form!  E. Stanley Jones, a giant of a missionary from the last century, first introduced me to the theme of the disciples gathered behind locked doors because of their fear. 

One of the things the gospel records in many places is Jesus telling people like you and me not to be afraid.  Yet, we still allow our fear to take hold of our lives.  Fear is the opposite of faith.  Faith in the midst of what is unknown, unmanageable, and un-seeable takes us to a different place than responding to such things with fear.  There is nothing out there in the troubling darkness, or in the confusing chaos that is beyond the control of God.  And, the promise of the Word is that nothing has the power to separate us from His love, or His presence.  There is no need to lock the doors of our life out of fear since Jesus is out there, within us, and likely to make Himself known at any moment.