Matthew 28:2-4 There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 4 The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.
Fear is a powerful force given to us to help save our lives. But sometimes fear puts us in even greater danger. Fight, flight, freeze. These are the three reactions when fear takes over. The third seems counterintuitive. Freezing means you stay in the path of danger.
In the military we train to fight when danger comes. We run toward the danger. We attack the threat. We overcome with power. We train to work against our natural tendency to run away.
That has been part of military training since the beginning of time. Soldiers stay and fight. That is what makes the reaction in our text so curious.
Set the scene: Jesus’ has been killed and buried. His tomb has been secured by an elite force of soldiers to prevent the theft of Jesus’ body. Sleeping on the job was a death sentence. So they were alert and ready.
But they were ready for a band of ragtag disciples to come and try to steal. They had heard about the sword-to-the-ear incident and knew it would be no problem to keep the tomb secure. This would be an easy job with no danger involved.
And yet, at the end of a long night the unexpected happens. Lightening Man shows up. This wasn’t in their protection contract. This out of this world encounter had not been in their training manual. They faint! Every one of them!
And the untrained women don’t faint! What? They have seen and heard some pretty out of this world things as they followed Jesus, so a Lightening Man would not be beyond the realm of possibility for them. And they are able to hear the message of hope and pass it along.
And Lightening Man is followed by Jesus the Resurrected Man. They grab him and hold on. They are afraid and filled with joy at the same time.
The fainting soldiers work to save their lives, but they must live with what they experienced. I wonder how many of them became followers of Jesus? I can imagine them either telling the following generations of their experience. Or like many veterans, just holding the traumatic experience close to their chests, not telling anyone.
But the women, and then the disciples and more than five hundred others witnessed the Resurrected Man, Jesus. And the world has changed.
The Arnold Journey 