Easter Sunday, March 31, 2024
Mark 16:1-8
Introduction
We read only verses 1-8 because it makes for a shorter sermon. (Ok, if you think I believe that about my preaching please see me after worship as I have something else I’d like to sell you.) Truthfully though, we read only verse 1-8 because biblical scholarship generally dismisses “The Longer Ending of Mark” for several reasons, among them on the basis that word usage and style in the section are not consistent with the rest of the Gospel of Mark, and therefore are likely not part of Mark’s original manuscript—and I tend to agree.
Scholars N.T. Wright and James Edwards think the real ending is lost to us, “so far”, but they also think through verse 8 is what we have and therefore must treat as “the Word of God to us.” All of which means then, is that preaching from this text for Easter, while not as grand or as inspiring as the other Gospels, Mark still provides an opportunity to be surprised and even inspired still, as he overturns expectations for what Easter is and what Easter does.
Move 1
Matthew, Luke, and John each record resurrection sightings of Jesus with a vigor that has their readers proclaiming, “Christ is Risen! Risen indeed!” There are conversations with Jesus, meals with Jesus, even embracing Jesus with exclamations of “Rabbouni!” Matthew’s account is somewhat similar to Mark’s, but the women in Matthew, though afraid, still run and tell the disciples what they have witnessed—they obey the angel’s instruction.
In Mark though, the women are too terrified to say anything. And that’s that. Mark is done. Resurrection happened, but no one is going to know because those who saw it were just too afraid. And that ending, I think is what made those who wrote “The Longer Ending of Mark” write what they wrote. Mark’s Gospel doesn’t end happy. It ends with fear and being afraid. And we all know any good story must have a happy ending, right? No good story ends with “they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” That’s terrible. Can you imagine if this was how stories were told today? Imagine such story telling…“A Hare was making fun of the Tortoise one day for being slow, and said, “Do you ever get anywhere? But the tortoise said nothing because he was afraid.” Or how about… “Away they all flew like the down of a thistle, but ere as he drove out of sight, he said nothing, not even Merry Christmas or good night, for he was afraid.”
But let’s bring this closer to home… For all those fans of the TV show Friends… What if Rachel didn’t get off the plane and go back to the apartment and Ross…because she was afraid? For fans of The Office… What if Jim never told Pam how he really felt… because he was afraid? For those who love The Big Bang Theory… What if Lenard, after declaring that one day he and Penny would have children who were both smart and beautiful, believed the ridicule heaped on him by Sheldon… because he was afraid?
This one is for my wife and all those who have seen every episode of M*A*S*H… What if B.J. didn’t spell out in rocks the word “Goodbye” for Hawkeye to see as he lifted off in the last helicopter out of the 4077… because he was afraid?. And then, for all of us, what if… because he was afraid, Travis Kelsey never made that friendship bracelet with his phone number for Ta-Ta?
These are the stories we want to live with and hear again and again. They make us feel good. They are happy. But while feel good, happy stories are great, the truth is…they aren’t always true. They aren’t always real. And they aren’t always our stories.
Move 2
After the Sabbath is over, the women, Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James, and Salome, make their way to the tomb with spices so they can anoint the body of Jesus. And we know they go expecting a closed tomb, a dead body, and having to do a heart-wrenching task—a task though that would never let anyone else do. But what they actually encounter is the complete opposite, the completely unexpected— an open tomb, a missing body, and a young man— perhaps an angel who is very much alive— who then tells them Jesus is not there, He has risen, and they are to go to Galilee to meet Him. The messenger adds that the instruction—to meet Jesus in Galilee—which is what Jesus had told them. But it kind of sounds like a mild rebuke. Especially when we remember Jesus had also told the Disciples three times He would be killed but would rise again.
The women weren’t expecting any of these realities, they were not looking for a risen Jesus. They had seen the worst of the worst on Friday. They had experienced the unthinkable. Every fiber of their being had been shattered. They carried a pain so great there was nothing that could possibly ease it. Not even seeing firsthand how everything Jesus said was true. Can we even begin to imagine the state these women were in before coming to the tomb; after arriving at the tomb; and then running away from the tomb? Can we? Yes, we can, can’t we? We can because Mark’s account of the first Easter is for all of us who are living in a world that gives us good reason, understandable reasons, to be afraid. Mark leaves us wondering, in the midst of our fear… If we are so beloved by Jesus, then where is He?
Move 3
The women’s response, their fears and being afraid, brings us face to face with the mystery and power of what Easter is and does. There are no heroes among Jesus’ followers. The hostility that put Jesus on the cross has reduced them to flight and fearful silence. And it’s understandable. It was understandable so many centuries ago, and it is understandable today because in both times, in all circumstances, forces were and are at work giving them, and us, reason to be afraid.
For the followers of Jesus, being known as a follower of Jesus meant persecution, imprisonment, and probably death. It meant an ever looming specter of being outed at any time by someone in your community because their beliefs differed from yours and because they did, they used it against you. Sound familiar? Sure it does…because it still happens today. We are followers of Jesus and we live in fear of being outed as the kind of Jesus follower we are.
Are we pro-life Jesus followers, or pro-choice Jesus followers? What kind of Bible do we read Jesus followers? Which three letter news source do we turn on in the morning Jesus followers? Are we democrat Jesus followers, or republican Jesus followers? Are we Jesus followers who say Jesus was never political, or are we Jesus followers who say Jesus was political? Are we outspoken about the Jesus we follow, or do we try no to reveal the Jesus we follow? Are we afraid Jesus followers, or are we just afraid?
That was the question Mary Magdalene, Mary, and Salome were asked—it was asked of all the Disciples. It’s the question each of us are asked today. And like the ending of the Gospel of Mark, we have to figure out for ourselves what comes next.
Move 4
Matthew, Luke, and John give us what we want in a conclusion to the story of Jesus—a happy ending. And they are faithful. Mark’s ending is not a happy ending. But there is a reason why. It’s not a happy ending because it’s not an “ending” at all. Mark’s “ending” is actually an invitation. It’s an invitation to remember. Throughout Mark’s Gospel the Disciples just don’t get what Jesus is saying and doing—which describes much of our own discipleship. And like the women, we are frightened, which causes us to forget we are Christ’s beloved.
Commenting on this passage, preaching professor Tom Long writes, “Mark is not about human potential. Mark is about the action of God…It is about a kingdom that arrives like a storm, a break-in, a revolution, and places upon us all the urgent task of finding ourselves in a new reality.” And that new reality is that we are more like the women of Mark’s Gospel resurrection story than we have ever realized because we are followers of Jesus…but we are afraid. And just like at that first day of resurrection, we are going to leave the place where we experienced the resurrection…afraid because of what might happen if we tell others what God has done in Jesus.
But here’s the beauty and truly inspiring piece to Mark’s Gospel that’s so often missed… Though they left afraid, saying nothing to anyone, we know they didn’t say nothing. And we know they didn’t because Mark tells us their story. The women left the tomb understandably afraid. They said nothing to anyone because they were understandably afraid. But somewhere they remembered what Jesus said. Somewhere they remembered how Jesus called them his beloved. Somewhere they remembered His resurrection is an invitation to share and spread their belovedness even though they were afraid.
Conclusion
On Easter Sunday we want celebration, big music, and exclamations of “Rabbouni!” We want Disciples in a foot race to the tomb. We want earthquakes and Roman soldiers who are so afraid they roll over and play dead. We want “Halleluiahs!” and shouts of, “Christ is Risen! Risen indeed!” Which means, the short ending of Mark is not what we want or expect on Easter Sunday. It’s not the Easter story we come looking for.
The first witnesses running away scared and afraid is not the story we want. And yet…today… this Easter… it’s the story we have. But it’s the story we need…because this story is more our story than we realize. Mark did not know exactly what we would be scared of all these years later; he just knew we would be. And by ending his Gospel as he did, right in the middle of a sentence, he extends to us an invitation, an opportunity, to remember, and then decide what we will do next. Will we go forth today still afraid? Or will we go for today still afraid, but nevertheless remembering we are Christ’s beloved?
No matter how imperfect our faith, or however many times we remain silent when we should share the Good news, the truth remains… We are Christ’s beloved…even when we are afraid. And because we are, and always will be… then the invitation…the opportunity… to write and live our resurrection story ending is always up to us.
Happy Easter. Amen.
Pastoral Prayer, March 31, 2024, Easter Sunday
Holy God, today we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ. And because we do, we celebrate life and new life— we celebrate how the Advent of hope, peace, joy, and love came and lived among us, and now reigns forever and ever because sin and death have been defeated. The resurrection bears witness to your power to see even in death the gate to eternal life.
But amidst our celebrations we know the world despised and rejected your Son—and still does today. We know the privileged and powerful rejected His power and authority, corrupting and inciting the people against Him—and they still do today.
Which is why it can be easy to understand how even the most devote and trusted follower of Jesus would be afraid. Afraid to speak up. Afraid to tell anyone who we call Lord. Afraid of what could happen if we did.
So help us again, on this day of Resurrection, to remember that though we may be afraid, we are never alone. Though we may feel the pain of loss, we are never lost. Though we may allow the world to make us doubt, make us live in fear, the belovededness you have gifted us can never be forsaken.
Risen Christ, on this holy Easter morning, bless us once again by guiding us to peer into the empty tomb and see the Good News, that enables and empowers us to claim your grace, your mercy, your forgiveness, and your resurrection power: For in dying, you destroyed our death; and in your rising, you restore our life. And now, not even death can stop you from filling the world with your power of truth, mercy, grace, forgiveness, hope, peace, joy, and love.
God of new life, on this day of resurrection, we ask you to hear now the prayers we want and need to lift to you in this time of Holy Silence.
All this we pray in the blessed name of our risen Savior, Jesus the Christ, who taught us to pray saying, “Our…