They fled our Bible says.  Fled, they ran for it!  This makes sense to me. 

In celebration of the empty tomb, most young children also associate this day with bunnies, chocolate, and eggs, and adults like to get dressed up and wear their best suits or dresses and come to church.  It’s a good day.  But, this kind of celebratory atmosphere was foreign to Mary Magdalene and Mary when encountering the truth of the resurrection. 

The NIV uses the words, “trembling and bewildered.”  The NRSV uses the words, “terror and amazement.”  There’s a sense that they are terrified, but they don’t quite know what to think, but they are also amazed.  The Gospel of Mark ends with, “They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.”  The Gospel of Mark, after a fast-paced action movie of Jesus’ life, ends with that. 

What were Mary and Mary to think?  “What? Peter will see him in Galilee?”  “But, Romans and Jews together, the gentiles and the chosen people, crucified him.  And, along with Peter, his disciples deserted Jesus too.  What is Jesus going to do to them?  If Jesus is anything like the other gods or like human beings when we feel wronged,

this might not be very good news.”

I like the Gospel of Mark, because I feel like I would have reacted like Mary Magdalene and Mary mother of James.  Fear.  Maybe it’s a fear knowing that I crucify Jesus all the time in my life.  Whenever we deny his kingship in our life, we crucify him.  Isn’t that true?  We keep him up there on the cross. 

Whenever our world fails to love each other like he loves us, we keep Jesus up there on the cross.  Isn’t that why God sent us his Son?

Isaiah 53:12 says this: He took on his own shoulders the sin of the many, he took up the cause of all the black sheep. 

“그는 많은 사람의 죄를 대신 짊어졌고, 죄 지은 사람들을 살리려고 중재에 나선 것이다.” (이사야 53:12) 

Maybe that’s why they, Mary and Mary, were so scared.  They feared the one who we crucified. 

But, here’s the good news.  The one we crucified did not get revenge.  He had every right.  But, instead, he invited us into a new way of life.  Rather than a closed fist, his hands were open and inviting.  His revenge was inviting us into a life of compassion, mercy, and love through forgiveness and an offer of friendship.  All past records of our sin were destroyed.  His revenge was communion. 

The resurrected Jesus who was crucified, who had every right to destroy Rome and the Jewish nation decided to eat some grilled fish by the sea of Galilee with his disciples, who deserted him when Jesus needed them most.

In John 21:12, Jesus, a man who some days ago was a bloody mess at the hands of humanity, said these words to the world: “Come and have breakfast.”

Do you see how crazy this is?  The Old Testament is full of teachings that instruct us to fear God.  When I was a youth and young adult in my early 20’s, I always rebelled against these kinds of Bible verses.  How can a loving God ask us to fear him?  That makes no sense. 

So, as a pastor early in my career, when I mainly ministered to children to middle school aged youth, I tried to soften these verses.  Yeah, our Bible says, “fear” but it’s more like a really strong respect.  So, “strongly respect God” was often what I taught.  But, I think I made a mistake. 

When our Bible says to fear him, I think that’s what it means.  If you strongly respect someone, you don’t get gripped with terror.  If you fear that authority, you do. 

And, yes, I could be the greatest religious holy person in the world.  But if God appeared right now, I would react with terror & trembling because of my sin.  And if anyone in here think they wouldn’t, you need to check your heart and count the sins you committed; or thought about just this week or your failure to care, indifference to the well-being of others, that injured man on the road that you passed by.  

Fear in front of God is how we should react if we’re being honest.  God is God.  You and I should be afraid of him.

There’s a reason Moses reacted with terror near the burning bush. 

But, the hope of resurrection is that the only being we should fear as human beings, the only being worthy of being afraid of is on our side.  My gosh, we crucified his son!  Yet, He wants to have breakfast with us.

You know what this means?  Nothing else is to be feared, and fear has become a good thing in your life.  Fear of the Lord means that you have God on your side.  There is nothing else to fear. 

A rapper who is Christian said this in a song.

I think these lyrics express this message well:

They try to shut us down, and it ain't gon' slide

  (그들은 우리를 멈추려 했지만 그렇게 되지는 않지)

Only thing I fear is God and he on my side

  (내가 두려워하는 단 한 가지는 하나님, 그분은 내 편이시지)

That's the confidence of God, 'cause he got me

  (그게 바로 하나님의 확신이야, 그분이 나를 붙잡으셨지)

That's why I really feel like You can't stop me

  (그게 바로 너희들이 나를 멈출 수 없다고 내가 확실히 느끼는 이유지)

Again, the hope of resurrection is that the only being we should fear as human beings, the only being worthy of being afraid of is on our side. 

The United States loves claiming to be a Christian nation, but we’re not.  We’re a ‘me’ nation.  What if our country was actually a God-fearing nation in light of the refugee crisis, for example?  Instead of throwing bombs or sending professional soldiers “to help”, we’d take in as many refugee families as we could.  We wouldn’t be gripped with racial fear or economic fear.  We would not fear the stranger.  What can they do to us?  Destroy our body? 

Our Bible says: “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28). 

“몸은 죽여도 영혼은 능히 죽이지 못하는 자들을 두려워하지 말고 오직 몸과 영혼을 능히 지옥에 멸하실 수 있는 이를 두려워하라” (마 10:28)

Instead of reacting with fear, we would say we have enough.  Let’s share what we have with people who need a safe and inviting place to thrive.  But, fears that aren’t worth our life always win in our human world.  If we weren’t so scared to lose this life, because we know we’ve been given everything we need in Jesus for all eternity, I wonder what kind of place we would live in. 

What if we checked to see if everyone (outside our family) had enough in their bowls for dinner before making sure we could eat?  What if we really feared God?  That’s a question that I ask myself all the time about the way I live as well.

I’ll close with this:

Parents, I beg of you, I’m sorry if I’m stereotyping you.  But don’t fear that your children won’t get into a good college for goodness sake.  I said “fear.”  You could be killing them. 

I know a lot of unhappy, burned out and empty pharmacist, doctors, and lawyers who have no idea why they are doing what they are doing.  And so they keep on searching to fill that hole in their heart -> getting drunk, sex, drugs, consumerism, excessive partying, etc.  Some people even have kids to fill that hole in their heart. 

Did you know Asian-American female teens are at a higher risk of suicide and mental health issues than other groups?  Something is wrong with the way we raise up Asian-American girls.  Higher than the average, many of our girls are consumed by fear and death.  Why is that?

Rather, parents instead of fearing about their grades, their marital status, their future salary, or anything else, worry that they won’t fear God.  We need more people who actually fear God in this world.  We don’t need any more people who live for their own agenda, themselves, and their family. 

We need more people like Jesus who will lay it all down, who will rebuke anyone who get in his or her way even family from serving God with everything.  We need more people who will lay down their plans, their identity, and obey the Father with their entire lives. 

Easter is a reminder that when you give up your life for God, when you sacrifice your life to serve him, life is the only product even if you are crucified on a hill for all to see.  Life thriving not just for yourself but for the world around you.  Isn’t that what you want for your kids?  To watch them grow up to be resources of compassion, justice, mercy, love, and peace in this world.