Matt.28:1, Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. 2 And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. 3 And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. 4 The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. 5 The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. 6 He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying. 7 Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you.”
8 And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to report it to His disciples. 9 And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him. 10 Then Jesus *said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and take word to My brethren to leave for Galilee, and there they will see Me.”
Fear is all about control. When we feel like we are in control of things we don’t have fear; but when things seem to be out of our control fear grips us. There are two kinds of fear; unholy fear, and the fear of the Lord. In the four Gospel accounts of the Resurrection the word fear is used six different times. In the Matthew account there is a perfect example of unholy fear. When the soldiers that were guarding the tomb saw the risen Christ they were afraid, and their fear paralyzed and incapacitated them, and I’m sure as the day went on they were also filled with confusion and anger. What was happening was totally out of their control, and was unexpected; therefore they weren’t sure what was going on or what was going to happen. In contrast, when the women came to the tomb on Easter morning they too were afraid, but the angel, and later Jesus, told them to not be afraid. In verse eight of Matthew 28, having been told to not be afraid, it says they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy. Having discovered the reality of the Resurrection, and being told to no longer be afraid, they still had fear, but their fear was mixed with great joy. The account in the Gospel of Mark says that they left the tomb gripped with trembling, astonishment, and wonder. You see when they were told to not be afraid their fear didn’t go away, instead it was transformed into the fear of the Lord. Holy fear, that is the fear of the Lord, also has a sense of things being out of control, but instead of bringing terror, it carries feelings of joy, marvel, astonishment, and wonder, because the one who is in control is infinitely good, and has even conquered death, and therefore in His hands wonderful and astonishing things will surely be accomplished. Life is full of mystery, and for the Christian life is still full of mystery; but the difference is that Christians have encountered a resurrected Savior and therefore all mysteries are in the hands of this wonderworker who even caused something wonderful to spring forth out of death. If He, who is in control, can transform death into something glorious, then surely He can be trusted with all of our “out of control” situations. Not, only can He be trusted, we should go forward with joy, astonishment, and wonder.