Hi, Zane.
Another gorgeous day out there. We’re still considering various options in how we navigate it.
May your day include Mtt. 6:33. Love and prayers—Tua/Ray.
Within the realm of normal humanity it virtually never includes the experience of meeting up with an angel of this description: “His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow” (v. 3). So the spontaneous human emotion of fear is very understandable. That particular angel dropping in at the tomb of Jesus, accompanied by an earthquake, then rolling away that massive sealed stone, sure had a fearful effect on the guards. “The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men” (v. 4) The angel never told those guards, “Do not be afraid.” Instead, it seems he was quite OK with their intensity of fear. I think it was intended. And he didn’t leave immediately. There was more to do on this particular angelic assignment. He parked himself atop that stone and waited for the two Marys to show. He knew they were coming. To them the first words he spoke were, “Do not be afraid.” It’s not very easy to obey a command like that in a setting like that. They had to be surprised and freaked with a good measure of fear by this spectacular encounter, but there was something within them that prevented uncontrollable shaking and causing them to become like dead women. That special something within them had to be the special connection they had with the One Who was sealed in that tomb three days ago. They loved Jesus. The guards didn’t. Think about that.