The most common emotion reported...
Illustration
The most common emotion reported on the first Easter was fear: "The guards shook and became like dead men," says Matthew. Luke reports, "The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground." The Gospel of Mark concludes, "(the women) said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid." Fear is mentioned eight times in the Resurrection accounts. Many of us might well be afraid if we suddenly and unexpectedly came upon someone back from the dead.
A pastor was out driving on a spring day. He passed a man walking along the road, then did a double-take. The man he passed looked exactly like someone whose funeral he had conducted a week earlier! For a moment, the pastor thought it was the dead man. Chills ran up and down his spine and he nearly drove the car off the road!
Whipping his car around at the next intersection, he drove back slowly to be absolutely sure it wasn't the man in question. It wasn't, just someone who looked a lot like him. The pastor breathed a sigh of relief, then laughed at himself. Fear could be a normal first reaction to someone come back from the grave. It's only the good news that it is Jesus, our Savior, who is risen from the dead that turns that understandable fear into joy!
A pastor was out driving on a spring day. He passed a man walking along the road, then did a double-take. The man he passed looked exactly like someone whose funeral he had conducted a week earlier! For a moment, the pastor thought it was the dead man. Chills ran up and down his spine and he nearly drove the car off the road!
Whipping his car around at the next intersection, he drove back slowly to be absolutely sure it wasn't the man in question. It wasn't, just someone who looked a lot like him. The pastor breathed a sigh of relief, then laughed at himself. Fear could be a normal first reaction to someone come back from the grave. It's only the good news that it is Jesus, our Savior, who is risen from the dead that turns that understandable fear into joy!
