Joyferring: Fear and Joy

Many years ago I knew I was called to a life of physical suffering. It was His special assignment for me--to live in a pain-filled body with joy.  One year I told a friend I felt like I was holding two white globes, one in each hand. One was called suffering and the other joy. She put my hands together and now we call it joyferring. It's my special assignment. I don't always do it well, but I know He will give me grace.

There are different kinds of pain and different kinds of joy. Some women who came to the tomb, encountered an angel who told them Jesus was alive. This is their story of fear and joy--afraid that it could be true and one that it was true.

 Afraid Yet Filled with Joy

Mt. 28:1-8, Mark 16:1-8, Luke 24:1-12 and John 20:1-2

Women had followed Jesus,

Had provided and cared for His daily needs.

Now they followed the body of Jesus to the tomb,

 with Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus, and 75 pounds of spices.

            They saw how they had laid Jesus' crucified body in the tomb.

            Then they went home

To prepare more spices and perfumes for His body and

To rest on the Sabbath,

                                    Obedient to the 4^th commandment.

Some of these these same women got up early on the first day of the week

To to to and see the tomb where Jesus body lay,  

To bring spices and perfume to anoint Jesus’ body.

One the way they wondered who would be able   

To roll away such a large stone for them.

When they got there, they looked up and

Saw the stone had already been rolled away.

            So they went in and found

Jesus wasn’t there—

                        His body was gone!

                                    Where could His body be?

                                    How could this be?

Then they saw the angel just sitting on the stone,

In clothes gleaming white like lightning.

In their fright, these grieving yet hopeful women bowed down,

Faces to the ground,

Wondering what was going on.

When they looked up,

They saw two men in clothes that

Gleamed white, just like the angel’s-

                                    Like lightning.

            How could this be?

Then they heard them speak, 

“Do not be afraid.  Don’t be alarmed.

I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified.

Why do you look for the living among the dead?

He is not here!

He has risen!

Remember how he told you, the Son of Man must

Be delivered into the hands of sinful men

Be crucified

Be raised again on the third day?

Come and see the place where He lay.

Then go quickly and tell the disciples:

He as risen and is going ahead of you into Galilee.

There you will meet Him, just as He told you.

Then they remembered…. and

             Bowed to the ground,
                       Ran with the news.

Later, when the women returned to and entered the tomb again,

            They checked just to be sure he wasn’t there.

                        But they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

            Trembling in bewilderment they hurried away,

and fled from the tomb.

The women said nothing because they were

Afraid

            Yet Filled with joy

But they RAN to tell the disciples.

To spread the joy and bewilderment.

They told them all the things that had happened,

And all the things they had seen and heard!

Breathless, they explained,

            “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb!

            We don’t know where they have put him!”

            The men dressed in gleaming white said

You must go to Galilee.

It is there you will meet Him.

But the disciples did not believe them.

These women, though still afraid,

Were filled with joy,

            No matter what the disciples believed.

            They were filled with something more called hope,

                        Hope beyond the grave.

                        Hope that there was more to life than death,

                                    Just as Jesus had told them.

So what am I AFRAID of?

            Pain that is crippling?

            Lack of mobility?

            Family turning away?

What kind of BEWILDERMENT do you have?

            Relationship loss?

            Job loss?

            The raging Corona virus?

What have you found in your SEARCHING for life?

            The Resurrected Christ who is interceding for us

                        In ALL your fears and bewilderment.

What more do you HOPE for?

            Relationships restored?

            Pain healed, new body?
            Place and calling in life?

In ALL these things we are more than conquerors

            Afraid yet filled with joy!             
                  Through Him who loves us day and night.