Don't Be Afraid

04/05/08

Scripture:

I recall those words, “Don’t be afraid.”  They came as I was being ushered onto the largest wooden roller coaster West of the Mississippi in the early 1950’s.  My dad was treating my brother and I to a day at the Mid-south Fair in Memphis, Tennessee.  I had been to some of the local fairs that would come to Forrest City, Arkansas.  There were rides at those smaller fairs that I would never ride!  I was a country chicken!  Now here I am standing before the biggest ride I have ever seen in my short life!  Dad finally convinces me that there is nothing to fear.  As the roller coaster pulls away from the loading zone I began to relax, sit up tall, and actually enjoy the ride up the hill.  Then it happened.  At first rather slowly, then downhill and hair raising fast!  I screamed and cried!  The coaster then began another uphill climb.  Dad reassured me that the worst was past…nothing to fear!  By the time the ride was over I was beneath my dad’s legs all balled up on the floor of the coaster.  Don’t tell me there was no need to be afraid!  It would be years before I would ever ride one of those again!

This personal sense of urgency and intensity of fear cause me to appreciate the translation of these verses by Dr. Eugene Peterson in The Message.  As I read the verses please catch the following phrases. The guards at the tomb were scared to death.  They were so frightened, they couldn’t move.  The angel spoke to the women:  “There is nothing to fear here.” Then Jesus met them.  They fell to their knees, embraced his feet, and worshipped him.  Jesus said, “You’re holding on to me for dear life!  Don’t be frightened like that.

We will be coming to the table of Sacrament in a few minutes.  As we prepare for that journey let’s think about the frightening journey that the women made that morning following the Sabbath.  Their anxiety escalated into fear.  It was fear in two dimensions:

I.         Fear driven by circumstances.

II.       Worship driven by fear.

Sermon Multimedia:

• Don't Be Afraid

  You do not have the Flash plugin installed, or your browser does not support Javascript. Both are required to view this Flash movie.