In Exodus 14, God leads the children of Israel, children of the covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, out of Egypt into the promised land. To rescue them from the pursuing Egyptians, God divides the Red Sea, so that they “marched into the midst of the sea on dry land, with the water like a wall to their right and to their left” (v.22). But to the Egyptians, God reveals a terrifying face: “the LORD cast through the column of the fiery cloud upon the Egyptian force a glance that threw it into a panic” (v.24). Later, the Lord reveals through the prophet Isaiah that, while he has since been angry with his covenant people, his heart is still turned toward them. “For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with great tenderness I will take you back…So I have sworn not to be angry with you, or to rebuke you” (Is. 54:7,9). God uses the human language of anger and pity to persuade his sinful, frightened people to trust as they did at the Red Sea. Will they be persuaded? In his account of the resurrection (Matt. 28), St. Matthew references “fear” four times. When an angel appears to announce the risen Lord, the guards “were shaken with fear of him and became like dead men.” The women coming to the tomb leave “fearful yet overjoyed.” When they see Jesus, he tells them not to be afraid. When faced with an event as epoch-altering as the resurrection of the Lord, fear is not an unreasonable reaction. But the paralyzing fear of the guards, the enemies of the Messiah, is different from the fleeting fear of the women, who, upon recognizing Jesus, “embraced his feet, and did him homage” (v.9). For a brief moment, Jesus was taken from us, but now, on this Easter morning, he is returned. On seeing him, will we shake with fear and become like the dead? Are we joyful, but still cautious in our approach? Or will we recognize him, embrace him, and give him his eternal homage as our risen Lord? 

Reflection by parishioner Kathryn Wilmotte