Read Matthew 28:1-10
Do Not Fear! Choose Joy!
Early Sunday morning, Mary Magdalene, and some other women, went to the grave site of Jesus. An earthquake had occurred, an angel rolled the stone away, then sat upon the stone. Seeing this, the guards shook with fear and became like dead men.
The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid.” He said that Jesus had risen from the dead and they were to go quickly and tell the disciples to meet Jesus in Galilee. The women departed quickly with fear and joy and reported everything to the disciples. But on their way there, Jesus greeted them and the women worshiped Jesus in fear. Jesus said, “Do not be afraid.” And he told them to go tell the disciples to meet him in Galilee.
The women, with all that they had experienced were struck with fear and twice they were told to not be afraid. Are you kidding? How could they not be afraid? The first time, they were full of fear, there was no mentioning of joy. There is often fear of the unknown. The second time they had fear, Joy was present. They were given bits of information which put hope into their hearts. There was still issues of the unknown, but there was this new element of Hope. So they ran with fear and joy. If we have hope we can have joy. And our hope is in Jesus.
Just like the women, we face situations every day that promote fear. There’s always fear of the unknown, but with Christ, we have the Holy Spirit and one of the fruits of the spirit is JOY. We can have joy because there’s always hope in Jesus. We can have joy because our confidence is in Christ who is in control.
1. The women were instructed to go tell the disciples the good news of Jesus. There was some fear still but they had Joy. Who is Jesus asking us to tell the good news of Jesus? Let us go with joy because we know he’s in control. We can be confident in that.
2. What other situations in life promote fear. If we let fear control us, it adds stress, and stress will take years off from our lives. Jesus wants us to have joy. He wants to give us confidence because he is in control. Do not be afraid. Choose Joy because our hope is in Jesus and not in our circumstances. He’s got this!
