Visit the empty tomb, and leave behind your fears

​When Jesus was arrested, his disciples fled in fear for their lives. In fact, much of their time doing ministry with Jesus up to that point was marked by fear and uncertainty.

The resurrection changed them, though.

The resurrection transformed them from fearful followers to bold proclaimers.

After Jesus rose from the dead, he immediately visited his disciples. During that visit, the disciples inherited a newfound boldness. A boldness that would put their lives at greater risk than they'd ever been before.

And yet, the disciples marched on, fearlessly.

The resurrection transformed them from a group of disheartened followers into a group that would go on to be the foundational leaders of the Christian Church.

Jesus delivered us many messages through his resurrection. Among them:

The story is never over.

I am who I have said I am.

Today, you can all claim the promise to live with me in eternity.

Those are all powerful messages. But maybe another powerful one, at least as powerful as those, is I have left an empty tomb behind for you all to go bury your fears in.

Forever.

The bible tells us, God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and of a sound mind. Too often, though, we dispute that claim when we feel fear. But what if our fear isn't a reflection of the spirit, but more of our unwillingness to exercise the power to bury our fears in the empty tomb?

Did Jesus rise from the dead to send us a message that all is good now, or to help us understand that no matter how bad things get, there is no longer anything to fear?

And this new new church the disciples went to building, is its foundation built on a place to go to escape fears, or to discover that we've never had anything to fear all along?

I love that Easter offers me the promise of eternal life. I love that the promise comes from a man who went to great lengths, including death, to prove that he breaks no promises.

I also know this.

I'm surrounded by people in this world who can't begin to grab hold of a promise of eternal life when they are constantly fighting to find any source of life in THIS life. People who can't afford to have me walking around disheartened or uncertain or fearful about my own life.

And I'm constantly feeling Jesus urge me, I can't afford to have you doing that either.

It's why he left the tomb. It's why he left the stone quite visibly rolled away in front of it.

Yes, so I'd know he left it like he said he would.

Yes, so I'd know the tomb is a once upon a time story and not the end.

But also yes, so I'd know the tomb is empty now but I'm not supposed to leave it that way.

I'm to go there. Unload my fears. And roll that stone back in place so they never escape again.

The resurrection transformed the disciples lives from fear and uncertainly to boldness.

The resurrection offers me the same transformation. In fact, I think it demands it of me.

Easter Sunday is a great day to visit the tomb. To be reminded of what walked out, and to be encouraged to leave something there in his place.