“Fear is the path to the dark side…fear leads to anger…anger leads to hate…hate leads to suffering.” ~ Master Yoda
The diametrical opposite of love is not hate but fear. We fear what we do not understand. Uncertainty and the unknown takes us out of our comfort zone and unsettle us. What we are not able to understand and control eventually make us angry, which if we let fester will lead to hatred. With what is happening in the world today, there is a lot of fear. Are we surprised that there is also a lot of hate?
Yet, there is a good kind of fear that is almost holy. The book of Proverbs tells us, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”
And the women on that early Sunday morning, upon seeing the empty tomb were also filled with fear, “So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.”
This is what the disciples must have felt during the first hours and days after the Resurrection. They were still full of human fear because of what had happened to their Master. they were still in hiding and in flight mode. any knock on their doors could be the Roman soldiers looking for them. Slowly, they realized that Christ is risen just as he had promised. Slowly, their human fear became a holy fear. Their sadness and discouragement turns into joyous expectation. Their uncertainty becomes courageous faith in their Risen Lord. From out of their hiding, they come out proclaiming, “The Lord is Risen!”
This fear with great joy is what I feel when my fondest dreams are coming true. I pinch myself to make sure I am not dreaming. I tremble with excitement and, yes, with fear, not sure this is all happening to me. This is the Risen Lord making his presence felt in my ordinary life. The Resurrection, with its joyful fear (or, is it fearful joy?), is my guaranty that something awesome is bound to break out in my life.