Historic First Lutheran Church of Pasadena

Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!

Our Easter account this morning, from Matthew 28, while at a whopping 10 verses is the shortest of the four accounts of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, has four words that are repeated twice in those short 10 verses. Those four words are “The First Century Message to Twenty-First Century People.” Those four words are “Do not be afraid.” Those words were first spoken to the women by that mighty angel who had rolled away the stone and sat on it. Imagine seeing that early in the morning. No wonder the angel immediately said, “Do not be afraid.” Those same four words were repeated by Jesus Himself to the same women just a few minutes later: “Do not be afraid.”

My sisters and brothers in Christ, do not celebrate this Easter – yea, do not leave this church building today – without hearing our Risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, personally convey to you that same first century message: “Do not be afraid.”

Whether or not we like to admit it, we live in a fearful world and we are a fearful people.

I saw a FACEBOOK post this past week from a college friend of mine. It reported that someone had gained access to her bank account and had emptied it out. Talk about something of which to be afraid!

But, fear is all around us. We live in a fearful world and we are a fearful people.

Some of us are afraid to open our paycheck, afraid there might be a pink slip inside.

Some of us are afraid to receive a letter in the mail, knowing it might contain news that our unemployment benefits are expiring.

Some of us are afraid to balance our checkbook at month-end, preferring not to know how overdrawn we are this month.

Some of us are afraid to visit the doctor and allow him to perform standard, routine tests, avoiding a diagnosis we’d rather not hear.

Some of us are afraid to get out of bed in the morning, unable to bear the pain we know will follow that foot on the ground.

Some of us are afraid to read the newspaper or turn on the television, not wanting to hear about another senseless act of violence in our own neighborhood or community, not wanting to hear about yet another military casket arriving home from Iraq or Afghanistan or Egypt or Libya.

Some of us are afraid when our telephone rings in the middle of the night because that surely means someone we love is sick or dead.

Some of us are afraid of that final moment of our own lives, not knowing what death will be like, not knowing when death will come, not knowing what happens after death, not knowing where we will spend eternity.

Whether or not we like to admit it, we live in a fearful world and we are a fearful people.

We are twenty-first century people and to us Jesus Christ carries a first-century message just as surely as He did to His first followers on that first Easter morning: “Do not be afraid.”

What gives Jesus the right to say those words and how can we know those words are trustworthy and true? Well, just a few verses later, at the end of Matthew 28, just before Jesus re-ascended back into Heaven, the very last words He ever spoke on earth were “I am with you always, to the very end of the age” [Matthew 28:20].

When you stop to think about it, most of our fear emanates from being alone, from having to deal with something – or many things – we’re just not sure we can handle.

That’s exactly what King David wrote about in his wildly famous 23rd Psalm: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou [my Good Shepherd] art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me” [Psalm 23:4].

When the women first left the tomb that Easter morning after encountering the angel, after hearing the angel say, “Do not be afraid,” Matthew tells us the women hurried from the tomb, “afraid yet filled with joy.” They were afraid because they were alone. All that changed when Jesus Himself came up alongside them and said “Do not be afraid.” As they fell before Him, as they worshiped at His feet, they realized that not even death could hold Jesus, not even death could separate Him from them, not even death – theirs or His – could cancel His words, “Do not be afraid ... I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

That, my sisters and brothers in Christ, is the first-century message for twenty-first century people: “Do not be afraid ... I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

He is here with you. Death could not maintain its grip on Jesus. He is alive!

He is here with you – in the people who surround you.

He is here with you – in His living and active Word.

He is here with you – in His waters of Holy Baptism, cleansing you from every sin and assuring you that you are His.

He is here with you – in His Body and in His Blood, entering our body and flowing through our bloodstream.

You are not alone! He is here with you, to the very end of the age! Do not be afraid!

Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!

Pastor Christopher Schaar
Historic First Lutheran Church of Pasadena