From Fear to Faith

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes.

I don’t know if you have ever realized this, but things often seem bad at night. When you are lying in bed, with the lights off, an unpleasant event that occurred during the day keeps replaying itself in the mind like a stuck record. And every time the scene plays itself out, the situation seems darker and more dismal. It fills one with fear and dread. If you have realized this, your probably have also realized that come the morning light, everything seems better and brighter. It must be the dark.

In our story today, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb. She saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb and she immediately thought the worst. Somebody had stolen Jesus from the tomb, so she ran back into town looking for somebody who might help. She finds Peter and John and tells them about what happened, so they ran towards the tomb. John reached there first but waited for Peter to go in. I couldn’t help wonder if he was wary of entering — it was a tomb, after all — or just acted in deference to his friend. 

In any event, they entered the tomb and found it empty of everything except for the wrappings that had covered Jesus’ body. Scripture says that they “saw and believed”  but believed what? That Jesus had risen from the dead? Or that his body had been stolen? But grave robbers would not have left the linen wrappings behind. Or even if they had, they most certainly would not have rolled them up neatly. So, although they still hadn’t put it all together, in their hearts they knew the truth. Then they returned to their homes trying to figure it all out.

Faith is a funny thing. Even though on some level we believe things that are “supernatural”, there is another part of us that always seeks “logical” answers, explanations, reasons, rationales, and this can get in the way of the truth. I remember one instance, early in my Christian journey, there were so many wonderful things happening in my life, I found myself afraid it was all too good to be true. And I cried out to Jesus, “Please let this be real, Lord. Please let all this not be something that I am imagining.”

And I heard him say in that quiet voice of his, “Aneel, listen to your heart. It understands the truth.” I felt peace when I did. I know that many of us doubt the things we hear or read about Jesus. I know we often question whether the wonderful things happening in our lives are really miraculous in nature. Listen to your heart. It understands the truth.

And we move from fear to faith.