Stone Cold Response
Have you ever been scared stiff?
Have you ever found yourself unable to move, paralyzed in fear, shaking in your boots?
For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. - Matthew 28:4
In today's reading from the Gospel of Mark, we get a glimpse of such fear in the Temple Guards, the men assigned to keep watch over the tomb.
These were unshakable men, men who would use their bodies as shields, men who didn't rattle or shrink from a challenge.
If this is how they reacted to the earthquake and the vision of an angel rolling away the stone from the tomb, imagine how the women felt.
It is one thing to be a believer and it is quite another to have our beliefs confront us face-to-face, outside our normal zone of comfort and reality. Like the guards, we can find ourselves stone cold in our response, unable to move or think or act.
What happens to that built in Flight or Fight response in these life-altering situations, when we do neither? What good is being ready for action if we fail to act when confronted?
This is a question of faith. In fact, it is THE question of faith. Are we ready, willing and able to stand up for and stand up to the challenges of our faith?
It is funny, but I usually think that means I will have to defend my faith when challenged by other who question or simply don't believe. I don't worry about a challenge from the other side, a challenge that makes me look like a non-believer.
Such scenarios are outside the norm, so I don't expect them and that could mean, I don't believe they will happen.
Wow!
That almost sounds like I don't believe what I say I believe. If an angel could appear to the guards and Mary, could it happen to me?
There is a lot of talk about heaven these days, thanks to the release of the movie, Heaven Is For Real, but that's different, right?
While it is based on a true story, I can dismiss it as entertainment, or I can say, yes, it is a real experience, but in the afterlife, not here in this world. I can rest assured that the laws of science and nature will protect me from a sudden encounter with one of God's messengers intruding on my very comfortable and protected life.
After all, if God could pop in unannounced at any time, that would really mess me up, screw up my plans, disrupt the false sense of security on which I live my life.
Yuk!
No, it is better to think these tales are just that, tales, stories crafted to explain the unexplainable in ancient, ignorant means. Surely we are too sophisticated and educated today to believe earthquakes are God's wake-up call.
Aren't we?
Hmmm.
I guess I can laugh at the guards, have empathy for Mary and go about my day believing these things don't and won't happen to me. And that suits me just fine.
Oh, but if, per chance, something like that does happen, I will know what to do. Like the guards, I will have a stone cold response.
More to come...
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