Do Not Be Afraid

Then Jesus said to them " do not be afraid; go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee and there they will see me." What we read about Jesus after the Resurrection has always intrigued me. The encounter with His disciples in the upper room is a mirror of the encounter we too should have with Him. Again Jesus confounds us all... In our culture the story should have played out like one of the oldest archetypes known by many and witnessed in many books and movies..that of the revengeful ghost. The story is always the same. A group of people are responsible for someone's death. The person is innocent and wrongly accused. In some cases by chance he escapes death, but in other cases he is put to death and his ghostly self returns to extract revenge on those who did this to him. Jesus does no such thing. He tells those who first encounter Him to "be not afraid" and later when He appears in the upper room, the first words He says is "peace be with you". Christ is Risen and among us today and though we sin and did our part in nailing Him to the cross, it is the peace of Christ we must carry inside of us. The peace of forgiveness, the peace that allows our hearts to bring the love of Christ to those who need it. Peace be with you. Then Jesus said to them " do not be afraid; go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee and there they will see me."