I imagine we all know the Easter story, don’t we?
The women went to the tomb, found that it was empty, discovered that Jesus had risen and was alive, and then – full of joy – ran off back to the disciples, to tell them about it.
That’s right, isn’t it? That’s what happened, yes? Not quite.
Let’s take a look at how Matthew describes what happened, in chapter 28 and verse 8:
8 So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy.
So although we’re used to thinking about those women at the grave being “filled with joy” to learn that Christ is alive, I don’t know how often we think about them being “afraid”, even after discovering that he’d risen.
What’s going on? Can we get a handle on that “afraid yet filled with joy” feeling?
Let me tell you a story about someone I know. This person is a writer, whose work has appeared in a variety of formats –TV scripts, audio plays, novels, all sorts of comic books.
We were at a convention a few years ago – at Picocon, I think – and we asked him if life was treating him well, if anything new was happening. “Yes,” he replied carefully. He said he wasn’t in a position to talk much about this new project, but eventually he went on to say “I’m going to be published soon in a format in which I’ve never appeared before.”
You could see that he had something of this “afraid yet filled with joy” feeling about him. Something big was afoot, but he really wasn’t able to talk about it very much, if at all.
And then, a little while later, we heard that he and his wife were going to become parents for the first time. Then we understood what was making him “afraid yet filled with joy”.
See, it doesn’t matter how much you’ve been told, how much you’ve read or studied, when a new baby arrives in your life there is no telling what’s going to change, or how. Suddenly, you’re a post-singularity family, and no prior preparation is adequate.
Here’s the thing: when the women at the graveside understood about the resurrection, when they realised that Christ had risen, that Christ is alive, it was suddenly evident that nothing they’d read or studied before would prepare them for the changes to come.
What the resurrection teaches us is that all our attempts to control God through religion are doomed. He’s no longer in the box that religion built for him. He’s out of the box, and he’s not going back in. And nothing we’ve read or studied can prepare us for what the newly-arrived Risen Christ can do. Be afraid, be very afraid – but be filled with joy too.
