Episode 1311: Easter Conquering Fear

[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: Thanks for joining me on episode 1,311 of the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

[00:00:07] Stephanie Scheller: I'm Stephanie Scheller. I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others, develop your influence, and create your greatest impact on the world by using your time, your talent, and your treasures. To live out your calling, grow yourself.

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[00:00:35] Scott Maderer: They are afraid that the women are mistaken that something is wrong and they go to check themselves. And all too often, that's how we receive the message of Easter. We hear it as one of death and fear instead of one of life. And. To return home. Welcome and thank you for joining us on the [00:01:00] Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

[00:01:02] If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent, and your treasures for your true calling. In the Inspired Stewardship Podcast, you will learn to invest in yourself. Invest in. And develop your influence so that you can impact the world.

[00:01:29] In today's spiritual foundation episode, I talk with you about John chapter 20, verses one through 18. I share how the Easter story is about conquering fear to live, and I also share how it should be a return to home for all of us. John Chapter 20 verses one through 18 says, early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tome and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb.

[00:01:56] So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, [00:02:00] the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, they have taken the Lord out of the tomb and we do not know where they have laid him. Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went towards the. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb.

[00:02:15] First he bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came following him and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there and the cloth that had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself.

[00:02:34] Then the other disciple who reached the tomb first also went in and he saw and. For his, yet they did not understand the scripture that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes. But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet.

[00:02:59] They said to her [00:03:00] woman, why are you weeping? And she said to them, they've taken away my Lord and I do not know where they've. When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. And Jesus said to her woman, why are you weeping? What are you looking for?

[00:03:17] Supposing him to be the gardener. She said to him, sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him and I will take him away. And Jesus said to her, Mary, she turned and saw and said to him in Hebrew, Rabbi, which means teacher. Jesus said to her, do not hold on to me because I have not yet ascended to the Father, but go to my brothers and say to them, I'm ascending to my Father and your Father.

[00:03:44] To my God and your God. Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, I have seen the Lord, and she told them that he had said these things to. Now, this is the culmination in many ways [00:04:00] of the Christian journey of lint. A few weeks ago, we began the Linton season and we talk about wandering into the wilderness, acknowledging our hungers, and we began to encounter Jesus during that journey.

[00:04:17] We came to him by night. Confusing conversation about claiming life and heard all of these words and a promise of love that we clinging to even in darkness or especially in darkness. We met Jesus in the middle of the day at a well that we went to hoping that we wouldn't be noticed, hoping that he wouldn't see what we had done, and yet he told us everything we had ever done and he loved us.

[00:04:47] And so we ran away and told everyone we knew, even those who we were avoiding by going to the well at noon we heard and felt him rubbing mud on our eyes so that we could [00:05:00] see what we had never seen before. And whole new VistaGen and vistas opened up before us. And even though those around us couldn't see and doubted that it was the.

[00:05:13] And felt that we had lied about our blindness or something else had happened. We still reveled in the light and followed Jesus. And then the stone that we had been hiding behind the stone that had blocked our way forward. The stone that cut off our air and crushed our hope was rolled away, and we walked forth blinking in the light of life.

[00:05:36] He did this for us and we remembered and we cried tears of. And we hoped that he would stop and sit and set up camp, let dwell with us. But he kept moving forward and we went with him because we wanted to follow the light. We wanted life to be there. We didn't want it to fade away. And we followed him, waving [00:06:00] palms in the air and shouting, Hosanna, save us, help us, claim us.

[00:06:05] We are yours. And we laid. Are cloaks before him so he wouldn't have to walk in the dirt. We sat at his table with him and the others as he lifted the bread and as he told us that the bread was him. Somehow the bread was his body broken into many pieces that we would need now and forever into Eter. We ate with him, but we really didn't understand.

[00:06:34] We had confused minds. He was here with us. Why was he talking about needing the bread to be him? Why was he talking about the cup being giving thanks and that it was his blood poured out? But he's right here with us living. He would be with us always and we. Feeling this promise of death, but not really [00:07:00] understanding.

[00:07:01] And we tried to pray with him in the garden at night. We tried to stay awake, but sleep overcame us and we failed in our mission to be with him as all of this stuff happened. And those came to him and they took him away with swords and clubs with hatred and fear, and we walked with him, and yet they tore him away from us.

[00:07:24] They beat him. They abused. We walked with him as they laid him for a sentence of death on a cross of shame. We wa no, actually we didn't walk with him. We may have wanted to, we may have thought we should. We had promised we would, but our fear came between us and that walk he had told us over and over.

[00:07:45] Not to be afraid, but here we were. Terrifi. And afraid. And because of that fear, we deserted him. We denied him. We betrayed him. And he walked alone down those streets to the hill and [00:08:00] the world wept and shook as darkness descended. And now here we are at the end of the line. Nowhere left to go. This is the last stop on that.

[00:08:12] We shuffle to the exit, but we really don't know where we're going. We're continuing to stumble blindly in our own darkness, wondering where Hope has gone. Wondering why we can't breathe, why we can't see, why we can't hear. We feel like we've just run a marathon and now can't breathe. We need the breath of life to fill our lungs again.

[00:08:39] But there is nothing. There's a stillness, an emptiness, and it weighs too heavy. All we can think about is his death and now our death. He carried us with him when he went. He breathed his last and he sucked the air out of our lungs. And now we can think of. But death, where should we go? [00:09:00] Where is the place?

[00:09:01] We need to head to the cemetery and to look, to just see. To see the reality of his death, to know the reality. The only certainty we have. So we go just to look. And the Marys that went to the cemetery, what did they see? They saw death tombs, stone shrouds. They went there to weep, to grieve, and to prepare.

[00:09:25] There was nowhere else to go, just death before us. No hope and yet, surprise again, Jesus. And life surprised again, not with a quiet un assuming life, not with a gentle fluttering of doves, but the stone rolled away. It was open, and when he spoke again. Don't be afraid. See the final actual nemesis here the enemy here [00:10:00] wasn't actually death.

[00:10:01] It was fear. Fear of death, but fear of abandonment, fear of failure, fear of disappointing others, or those that we love more than life itself. You think about it, we have millions of fears, some that we can name and many that we cannot. But here he's standing in the midst of the tomb saying, do not be afraid.

[00:10:29] And he says, I know you're seeking me. I know you're looking for Jesus. You're looking for the person that's dead, the one that was killed, that's laid here, but there isn't one here like that, because I am now Jesus the rise. I can give you directions. I can show you the path to home, the path back home, the path where you've run from the fears that you're hiding from.

[00:10:58] I can show you how to [00:11:00] conquer those. Go home and you will see me again. You will see me there in the familiar, and yet now it will look d. And so the Marys do that. They run home and they spread the story. They tell the other disciples, and they don't believe either. They fear just as much. They are afraid that the women are mistaken that something is wrong, and they go to check themselves.

[00:11:30] And all too often, that's how we receive the message of Easter. We hear it as one of death and. Instead of one of life and promise to return home. Thanks for listening.

[00:11:51] Thanks so much for listening to the Inspired Stewardship Podcast. As a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit [00:12:00] back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your. If you enjoyed this episode, do me a favor. Go over to facebook.com/inspired stewardship and like our Facebook page and market that you'd like to get notifications from us so that we can connect with you on Facebook and make sure that we're serving you to the best of our abilities with time and tips there.

[00:12:34] Until next time, invest your. Your talent and your treasures. Develop your influence and impact the world.