Joy and fear, belief and doubt are often mixed together in us, just as they were in the reactions of the disciples to the news of Jesus’ Resurrection on the first Easter day.
Photo: Ramon Perucho – Pexels
Rev. Dr Robin Steinke of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America reflects on the “earthshaking news” of Easter
(LWI) - Why does the angel tell the first disciples who discover the empty tomb: “Do not be afraid?” Why are the women who come searching for Jesus’ body filled with fear as well as joy? Why does the Bible tell us that some disciples “believed and some doubted” when they heard the news of the Resurrection?
In our Easter message, Rev. Dr Robin Steinke, professor and President of the Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, reflects on the familiar, yet “earthshaking news” that Christ is Risen! Fear and joy, she says, “are knit together [….] when the women expect to find a tomb and instead encounter the living Christ.”
In a similar way, when the women tell the rest of the disciples the news “that will turn their world upside down,” Steinke notes that “belief and doubt are mixed in the same person wondering if what they are seeing can really be true.”
If you are experiencing a mix of belief and doubt, fear and hope, joy and sadness, this Easter Proclamation is for you!
Rev. Dr Robin Steinke, President of the Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA
She continues: “When fear seems overwhelming, violence erupts, suffocating poverty abounds, the ravages of climate change destroy livelihoods and homes, racism, colonialism and injustice lingers, the risen Christ is present in the toughest places and upends the status quo.”
“We need each other in the global communion,” Steinke says, “to remind us when we forget this good news that Jesus has been raised from the dead.” She adds: “If you are experiencing a mix of belief and doubt, fear and hope, joy and sadness, this Easter Proclamation is for you!”
