“Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed.…”
Matt 28:8
From the moment we are born, we are brought into a world of the unknowns - and fear becomes a part of our lives. Today’s Gospel offers us two very different but very human looks at fear.
For Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, it is a fear of the unexpected and the unknown as they encounter an empty tomb. Just before this Gospel begins, the women are told by an angel, “Do not be afraid! I know that you are seeking Jesus the crucified.” They hurry away and their thoughts must been racing as they try to make sense of something incomprehensible. Jesus’ body is gone? An angel has told them not to be afraid? What in the world has happened to Jesus?
And then he is there himself: Jesus is coming toward them, greeting them and we can imagine their stunned reaction and their joy as they embrace him. The first thing he says to them are the words we have heard him speak so many times, “Do not be afraid.” He is telling them to trust in him, to trust in this experience and in this unknown. Then he gives them the mission to spread the news and let others know that they will encounter him. Their fear has been turned to joy by the presence of Jesus in their lives.
The other fear is in the second part of the Gospel: while the Marys are hurrying back to the city, the guards, now wide awake and frightened, tell the chief priests what has happened. Jesus’ body is gone! The elders and chief priests are also deeply afraid, but their fear is the kind all of us have rooted in the darker parts of our souls. Their fear is about losing power and control and having the people begin to believe in Jesus, this unlikely King of the Jews. This kind of fear, so tangled in our insecurities and lack of trust, creates more complexities. Lies are created, money exchanged. In case the soldiers fear for their jobs, they are reassured: “if this gets to the ears of the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.”
We can imagine the very different reactions to fear at the end of this story. Mary Magdalene running back, filled with joy, bursting with the incredible news for the Apostles: Jesus is alive! He is risen! In the face of their disbelief, her story of her encounter with Jesus will tumble out in joy and laughter and is rooted in the truth.
It is this same kind of knowing we see in the first reading as Peter feels the truth deep in his soul. It gives the timid and afraid leader the courage to fearlessly proclaim the story of the resurrection. Peter stands up and raises his voice loudly to tell to the crowd that God raised Jesus up, “releasing him from the throes of death.”
On the other side? The guards trudge home, puzzled, afraid of what they don’t understand, afraid of being caught in this lie. The chief priests are soured with fears, lies and deceptions. Who among us can be trusted with the truth? Will the frightening truth leak out? Can we all keep our stories straight? What will we lose if people find out the real story? They move farther from the truth and the Good News of Jesus’ life and resurrection.
Dear Jesus, on this great day after Easter, help us to hand our fears over to you. Today, in all of the terrors and anxieties that we face, both those that are real and those that are not, we ask for the light of your truth to shine in our hearts. Give us the sense of your presence deep in our hearts and fill us with your Spirit so that our hearts find a new courage to proclaim you with joy.
Maureen McCann Waldron
The most important part of my life is my family – Jim my husband of 47 years and our two children. Our daughter Katy, a banker here in Omaha, and her husband John, have three wonderful children: Charlotte, Daniel and Elizabeth Grace. Our son Jack and his wife, Ellie, have added to our joy with their sons, Peter and Joseph.
I think family life is an incredible way to find God, even in (or maybe I should say, especially in) the most frustrating or mundane moments.
I am a native of the East Coast after graduating in 1971 from Archbishop John Carroll High School in suburban Philadelphia. I graduated from Creighton University in 1975 with a degree in Journalism and spent most of the next 20 years in corporate public relations in Omaha. I returned to Creighton in the 1990s and completed a master’s degree in Christian Spirituality in 1998.
As our children were growing up, my favorite times were always family dinners at home when the four of us would talk about our days. But now that our kids are gone from home, my husband and I have rediscovered how nice it is to have a quiet dinner together. I also have a special place in my heart for family vacations when the kids were little and four of us were away from home together. It’s a joy to be with my growing family.
Writing a Daily Reflection is always a graced moment, because only with God’s help could I ever write one. I know my own life is hectic, disjointed and imperfect and I know most of us have lives like that. I usually write from that point of view and I always seem to find some sentence, some word in the readings that speaks right to me, in all of my imperfection. I hope that whatever I write is in some way supportive of others.
It’s an incredibly humbling experience to hear from someone who was touched by something I wrote. Whether the note is from someone across campus or across the world, it makes me realize how connected we are all in our longing to grow closer to God.
