The Road From the Cross Brings Fear

When Fear Fueled Lies

While the disciples left the empty tomb filled with hope, others scrambled to cover the truth in panic and deceit. Those who reject Jesus are often driven by fear, while those who follow Him walk in joy.

“Now while they were on their way, some of the men from the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all that had happened. And when they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, and said, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came at night and stole Him while we were asleep.’ And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will appease him and keep you out of trouble.” And they took the money and did as they had been instructed; and this story was widely spread among the Jews and is to this day” (Matthew 28:11-15).

You may have read the title of this blog and thought to yourself, “Wait, didn’t you write last week that the road from the cross leads to joy without fear?!” If you are thinking that, then you are right. I did write that and I stand by what I wrote. The road from the cross leads to joy and that is absolutely true for the Christ follower. We can live our lives free from fear and full of joy. 

But that is not the case for those that don’t know Jesus. In fact, it is just the opposite. For the person that does NOT know Jesus, the road from the cross leads only to fear. And that is exactly what we read about in Matthew 28:11-15.

While the disciples left the empty tomb of Jesus with joy and hope, the Roman guards, the Jewish chief priests and the Jewish elders assembled in fear. There were many things for them to be fearful of. For example, they feared Pilate and the other Roman officials. They feared the Jewish Council, the Sanhedrien, and no doubt, they feared how the crowd would react when word got out that the tomb was empty.

Fear will make a person do a lot of things. And we see that here. In order to combat their fear and anxiety, they made up a story. Let me say it another way - they lied. In order to compensate for their fears, they decided the best thing to do was to create a false narrative. Their fear was dominating their lives. 

I am so grateful that as a follower of Christ I don’t have to live in fear; I am grateful that I can live in joy. But when I think about the world around me, I see much fear. I see fear when I watch the news and hear reports of conflict. I see fear in the faces of people around me in the work place, the marketplace, and even on the ballfields. The enemy uses fear as a weapon to drive us away from God and away from the truth. And that is exactly what happened when Jesus was resurrected. The road from the cross and the road from the empty tomb left so many people with fear. 

While I am grateful that doesn’t describe me, I am equally convinced that part of my role as a Christ follower is to help a lost world around me know the joy that overcomes fear by knowing Jesus. Today, thank God for joy and ask God to help you see the fear in others and give them the hope of Jesus!