When someone faces a scary situation, they often respond in one of four different ways: fight, flight, freeze, or “fawn”. In other words: confront, flee, drop to the floor in the fetal position, or try to appease the source of fear. So, what happens when three women go to the tomb to bring spices and anoint the body of Jesus two days after He had been crucified?
Mark 16:1-13 tells the story of two Mary’s and Salome going to the tomb, while it was still dark. They planned to honor their Lord by anointing His body, but realized they were not going to be able to roll away the large rock over the tomb on their own. Before they could dwell on that quandary too long, they arrived and saw the stone was already rolled back! Now, put these things together: a dark night, three extremely tired and emotional women, and the unexpected. That’s a recipe for fear! I’m sure they were on high alert as they slowly stepped into the tomb, where they saw a young man dressed all in white, simply sitting there. “Do not be alarmed”, he says! The understatement of the decade! The heavenly messenger goes on to say, “You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. But go, tell His disciples and Peter that He is going before you to Galilee. There you will see Him, just as He told you.”
What do the women do? How do they respond to this alarming situation? Verses 1-8 are full of synonyms for fear: “alarmed” x2, “fled”, “trembling”, “astonishment”, “seized”, and “afraid”. Yes…they flee. And it seems that the fear is contagious, because as they finally tell other people about the resurrection, the response is fearful unbelief (v. 11, 13).
But, these women were not the only ones afraid on this particular weekend. Just three days before, when Jesus told His disciples that all of them would fall away (flee) from Him, Peter insisted that he would not. He even insisted that if he must die with Jesus, he would not deny Him (Mark 14:26-31). Yet, as Jesus was betrayed and brought before those who would question Him, Peter had three opportunities to courageously answer that he was one of Jesus’ disciples. Instead, fearing for his life, he denied Jesus to his shame (14:66-72).
This must be the reason why the angel said to the women, “…Tell His disciples AND PETER…”. Now, Peter was one of the disciples, so why single him out like that? Because Peter, who once was fearful, doesn’t have to be afraid anymore. Jesus is alive!
Are you afraid? Fearful of the things going on in this world? Hear the personal word to you today, “He has risen; He is not here. Tell His disciples and (insert your name here) that He is going before you…”
