Graveyard Stories

The problem with that joke is that you can only do it once. There is nothing more fun for a camper than to scare the wits out of another camper. And there is nothing more frightening than a graveyard late at night when something that is supposed to be dead comes alive.

In Mark’s Gospel, the account of the resurrection tells of three women who go to a cemetery. It is very early. It is sunrise and the shadows are still long and dark. They get to the grave and it is empty. It is a terrifying moment, and there is nothing funny about it!

And there is an angel there proclaiming that Christ has risen from the dead. And the first thing the angel says is, "Don’t be afraid."

Which doesn’t do much good.

Because the women leave the cemetery. In fact, Mark’s Gospel says they ran from the cemetery. Afraid. Terrified.

Over in John’s Gospel it describes the events of that early Sunday morning. But it goes beyond what Mark describes and begins to describe what happened late that Sunday evening.

It’s late. The shadows have lengthened and the evening has faded. The disciples have gathered. They have the doors locked. And they are afraid.

You and I look at the resurrection as a celebration of Easter. It’s old hat to us. But for the disciples, it was different. They watched Jesus die. They buried him. Now they hear that he has gotten up and walked out of the grave. And that is a frightening thing.

So there they are, late at night, all gathered

together. The doors are locked. Who knows what will happen next? The disciples don’t know.

Then Jesus appears right there in the room with them. He shows them his hands. He is not a ghost. He is a man. He is a living breathing man. He shows his hands, with scars still in them.

The first thing he tells them is "Peace be with you."

And suddenly the disciples are filled not with fear, but with joy.

Fear is a natural first reaction to the resurrection, because there is nothing more terrifying than a cemetery when things that ought to be dead come alive, but Jesus says no to fear, and gives peace instead.

Fear is a natural first reaction to the resurrection, because suddenly everything Jesus said is true. And that might be frightening to some.

Fear is a natural first reaction to the resurrection, because more than anything else, when we meet Jesus as the Risen Lord, we come face to face with God. A person who comes face to face with God, cannot help but become aware of his or her own shortcomings in the presence of God’s perfection, and

that is a frightening thing.

But Jesus says no to all that fear. Instead he says, peace.

It seems that some people in Christianity have never heard the first message Jesus spoke after the Easter event, "Peace." They are stuck in the fear mode of dealing with religion.

I remember reading a bumper sticker sometime ago. If you read it quickly the message seemed to say, "Read the Bible, it will scare the hell out of you." But on closer examination, it read, "Read the Bible, it will

scare you out of hell."

For many, fear is the primary motivation of our religious experience.