“Do not be afraid.”
Why does the resurrected Jesus need to keep saying this to Mary Magdalene and the other Mary and all the disciples? Is fear the human response to resurrection?
Admittedly, to see a dead person walking and talking would give me the shivers for sure. Is this momentary fear that turns into courage? Or is it the human response to the reality that life as we once knew it has been turned on its head and something has happened that changes everything? Probably both.
This realization should help us understand why people resist Christianity. If they are seriously considering what we are saying, it is a leap of frightening proportions. They (and we) have no capacity for integrating this resurrection faith with everything else they believe.
It is like a crashed computer, a totaled automobile, a bankruptcy – the end of what we once had. Fear may be a good sign of serious discipleship. I suppose that is why the first words of Jesus to folk like us are, “Do not be afraid.”
What a life is to be had on the other side of fear.
