What is there to be afraid of?

One of my seminary professors once recounted something from his childhood that he had never forgotten. He said, “When I was 12 years old in confirmation class, my pastor said, ‘A Christian is not afraid to die.’ I was horrified. I was terrified because deep down inside I knew that I was afraid to die.

Photo Mark Schroeder wearing green vest with cross — WELS President Mark Schroeder

Because I believed what my pastor said, there was only one thing I could conclude: It must mean that I am not a Christian. So, for the next several years, when it came time to confess my faith in church with the words of the Apostles’ Creed, I would leave out the word I. I would say, ‘Believe in God the Father Almighty. . . . Believe in Jesus Christ. . . . Believe in the Holy Spirit.’ I couldn’t say, ‘I believe,’ because I was convinced I was not really a believer.”

How sad that, because of a misunderstanding, that poor young man lived through his teenage years convinced he was not a Christian because he was afraid to die. What the pastor should have said is that a Christian does not have to be afraid to die.

It was only years later, sitting in that same church one Easter Sunday, that my professor’s eyes were opened through a message about what actually happened on the first Easter. With great joy he believed that message and finally realized he was a believer after all.

We celebrate that same resurrection truth not just on Easter Sunday but every day of our lives. Because of the events of that first Easter—when a Savior who was dead became alive once again—death has become something that believers do not need to fear. The crucified Savior rose to defeat death not just for himself but also for us. Because he lives, we will live. Because he rose, we can say with Paul, “ ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’ ‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’ ” (1 Corinthians 15:54-55). We can say with Job, “I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes” (Job 19:25-27). When loved ones die, the apostle Paul encourages us not to grieve like those who have no hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13). We may grieve for our loss, but because Jesus rose, we have a sure confidence that our loved ones now live at the side of their risen and victorious Savior.

There’s no doubt that we will sometimes think about death and experience fear: fear of the unknown and fear caused by our own sins and failings. But that doesn’t mean we are not believers. It does mean we sometimes waver in our faith and take our eyes off God’s promises. It does mean we struggle every day with our own sins and failures and Satan uses those struggles to try to make us forget God’s promises.

It’s at those times when the message of a risen Savior comes into our ears and hearts and reminds us that he has taken away death’s power forever. We stand at the door of an empty tomb of a living Savior no longer afraid, no longer doubting like Thomas, no longer walking in the shadow of death.

He lives. That’s our assurance that we have nothing—absolutely nothing—to fear in death.

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