Gò0dNews for Everyone
Joy and Fear
M
by Chad Hess
atthew 28:8 says, “So they departed quickly from
have forgotten. To fear the Lord is not to be afraid of Him,
the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell
but to have a reverence for Him because He is holy. It is to
His disciples.”
have an awe inducing understanding of His infiniteness,
It seems lately that people are living with a lot of
and our own inability to do anything that would merit our
fear and very little joy. Look at the news or go on a social
salvation apart from His grace. It is as David says to follow
media platform and you will see that fear is pervasive. Our
His true and righteous rules because fear of Him is clean
leaders seem to be using fear to further their agendas. Even
and enduring forever. Fear of the Lord, as the Anglican
our pulpits seem full of fear as many are afraid to preach the Gospel in its rawest form. The simple truth is that throughout the ages fear has been ever present. Since evil entered the garden we have been fearful, and even the advent of the Kingdom of God with the birth of Jesus seems to have done little to stop fear from holding sway in the world. If Jesus story had ended with His crucifixion that fear would forever hold sway. But thank God the resurrection of Jesus occurred three days later. I love Matthew 28:8. The actions of the two Marys and the feeling conveyed in such a simple sentence speaks volumes about our human condition, and the hope we have as believers. They departed quickly! Do you think it was the joy or the
prayer book says it, is “to delight in Your will and walk in
fear that caused the rapid departure? Have you ever been
Your ways.” The fear of the Lord is a good thing to have for
afraid and joyful simultaneously? The emotions of joy and
a myriad of reasons.
fear are not ones that we often think go hand in hand, but
Our celebration of Jesus death and resurrection has
they do often occur at the same time. They ran! Was the
come and gone for another year. Our Lord is alive! Celebrate
running caused by fear or the joy that they felt because He
that fact by living in fear of the Lord. Jesus told those
had risen? I don’t think the questions are either or type
around Him on numerous occasions to not be afraid. Jesus
questions. The questions are in fact both/and questions.
also told those around Him on more than one occasion how
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were both fearful
to find and hold onto joy. Though this world may at times
AND filled with great joy.
lead us in the direction of fear, we can have both joy and
Oftentimes authors, speakers, preachers and others talk
fear as the Marys did. We can have them both (not simply
of joy versus fear. “You can conquer your fear.” “Rise above
one or the other) if our faith is in the Lord and our fear is of
your fear.” “Choose Joy over fear.” Why not choose joy and
the Lord. Having both faith and fear (and the accompanying
fear? In Psalm 19:9 King David sings, “The fear of the Lord
joy) we are assured of an eternal future in His presence.
and righteous altogether.” Now, I know believers know what the fear of the Lord is, but let me clarify in case some
32 // April 2021
About The Author
is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, Chad Hess is a husband, father and Army Veteran. He is a parishioner at Saint Andrews Anglican Church in Rome, where he is involved in lay ministries.
