Why Are You Troubled?

[Resurrection Station #3 – Luke 24 and John 20]

Why are you troubled?

Mary told them . . . the Emmaus boys told them . . . but the disciples still weren’t sure about this story that Jesus was alive again. And who could blame them? I mean, back from the dead? Seriously?? These people sound like they're a half-bubble off plumb . . .

But Jesus swept away all doubt when he showed up on Sunday night. “It is I, myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones.”

Now there are a few interesting things about this encounter with the risen Lord. For one thing, he didn’t seem to need to use the door. Luke says that all of a sudden, “Jesus himself stood among them.” John adds that the doors were locked because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, and Jesus simply “came and stood among them.” He was just there. We get no explanation of that. And yes, as much as I would like an explanation, I don’t suppose I need one. It’s just one of those stories I’ll have to ask about someday when we’re all hanging out for eternity.

But here’s what stood out to me in this year’s reading of this passage: the first words out of his mouth, apparently, were “Peace be with you!” In fact, John has him saying it twice. Luke tells us he followed that up with, “Why are you troubled? And why do doubts rise in your minds?” Yeah, they were overjoyed, but apparently Jesus still needed to tell them to stop being afraid even in the midst of their joy.

You’ve probably heard this, too – that the command “Do not be afraid” appears 365 times in scripture, once for every day of the year. I don’t know if the number is accurate, but the point is valid. We need daily reminders to chill out. We scare easily.  

But just what are we so scared of? WHY are we troubled? I mean, we don’t have resurrected dead people appearing in our securely locked homes. We don’t have religious authorities tracking us down for possible execution (at least, nobody reading this blog does, I’m guessing). Especially these days when we have horrifying images from a war in Ukraine coming at us on the news every night, whatever fears we are dealing with seem pretty trivial.

But fear is fear . . . and when you’re not in your neighbor’s mind and body to understand the impact a thought or event is having on them, you’re in no position to judge their emotional response. Besides, the trigger for our fear is not the issue here, nor is the size of it. What Jesus is addressing, it seems, is our perception.

During my graduate counseling studies, we talked about anger and anxiety being the Fight-or-Flight responses to a perceived threat. Anger = Fight. Anxiety = Flight. One of the ways to approach anger, I learned, was to reconsider whether this person or situation really put me in any kind of danger, physical or otherwise. Because if I was objective and honest, it often didn’t.

An African-American friend told me that she had stopped being angry at the racists in her life for precisely that reason: their opinion of her was no threat. “I’m a child of God. What they think of me is inconsequential.” I found that remarkable.

And if that perspective can turn off the Fight response, surely it can turn off the Flight response, also. Why should I fly – what am I afraid of? Why am I troubled? In light of who Jesus is and what he’s done and who he’s making of me, what out there could actually be a genuine threat to me? “If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Rom 8:31)

Yes, I realize that sounds simplistic. Too simplistic for a cancer diagnosis. Too simplistic for losing your life’s savings. Too simplistic for watching your child succumb to an addiction. Lord knows, I wasn’t thinking that way in the face of starting life over as a single person three and a half years ago.

But you know, maybe it really is as simple as that. Simple doesn’t always equal easy. But it can get easier, friends. Today, after Jesus has lovingly carried me through starting life over as a single person, I can more clearly hear his voice in the midst of my daily fears . . . “It is I, myself! Why are you troubled?”

Why indeed?

My task for this week of Eastertide: let go of my fears. For real. Pick one from my collection and deal with it right now. Catch the emotion the moment it begins to show its ugly face and speak truth to it until it crawls away defeated. NO threat can stand against my risen Lord.

 

[Did you miss R-Station #2? Read it here.]

[Ready for the next one? Here’s R-Station #4.]

[Wanna start from the top? Here’s #1.]

[“What’s a Resurrection Station?” you ask. Glad you did. Click here.]