This morning, I invite you to hear our gospel reading with new ears…
Three women made their way to a lonely tomb just after sunrise. The sky still had that rosy pink hue – but instead of feeling warm and comforted, they were reminded of the bloodshed only days earlier.
Never again could they look at a cross the same way again. Before, it had been a symbol of punishment, a tool used by the Romans to keep the people in line. Now, it was where their teacher had been martyred. It stood for all of his truth and goodness and they would forever remember him upon that cross.
They were journeying back to the place where they had laid his body. They were going to mourn but also to honor and glorify his broken body. They were going to say goodbye.
A million thoughts raced through the minds of those three women. Chief among them – what’s next? Would they, could they, return to their old lives? With Jesus dead, there wasn’t really any among the group of disciples who seemed ready to continue sharing his message. For all they knew, the disciples had scattered in the nights before – never to return again. No, it all ended on the cross. All of their hopes and dreams, all of the promises of the Kingdom of God ended on the cross. It was finished.
They brought with them the spices and oils they would need, but as the three women neared the tomb, they began to wonder what on earth they were doing. Were the Romans who crucified their Teacher watching them? What about the Jewish leaders? And if they made it there safely, how were they going to roll back the stone covering the entrance on their own?
Despite their doubts and fears, they kept moving forward, step by step, clutching one another’s hands, until they came to the place where he had been laid.
The stone… That big huge obstacle they thought they would have to overcome. It was gone. And peering inside, a young man sat on the cold hard slab just inside the tomb. What was he doing there? And where on earth was the body of Jesus?
The man looked at them and the women instinctively flinched. He had a strange aura about him and was dressed in dazzling white. They were absolutely speechless.
Don’t be afraid – he whispered to them…. You’re looking for Jesus of Nazareth, but he’s not here! He has been raised, just like he promised. Go – tell the disciples and Peter that he will meet you in Galilee. He’s waiting for you!
The hearts of the women literally stopped beating for a few moments. They had come to honor a dead body and they were met by a mystery. He has been raised?! He’s… waiting for us? Was it a trap? Was it true? Could it possibly be?
It was all so completely overwhelming. They felt like they were standing in the presence of the holy – like Moses before the burning bush – like Elijah standing on the side of the mountain and hearing God’s in the silence… and yet nothing made sense. Nothing that was happening fit with their understanding of the world! If the massive stone could be rolled away without any human effort, if Jesus really was raised from the dead, what other assumptions and truths that they had known would be proved false? If the very power of death had been overcome, what was next? What else was going to change? (Charles Campbell)
The world was turned upside down for these three women by this radically holy encounter. Terror and amazement seized them and they turn and fled from the tomb. Was it unworthiness? Was it the weight of the message that they were called to proclaim? Was it fear and awe that come from being face to face with God’s power? The world may never know. But Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome said nothing to anyone… for they were afraid.
Living, Risen God,
May the words of my mouth be your words, and may I be blessed with the courage to say them.
May the thoughts of all of our hearts and our minds, be your thoughts, and may we be blessed with the courage to live them. Amen.
Christ is Risen! “He is Risen Indeed” Christ is Risen! “He is Risen Indeed!” But Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome said nothing to anyone… for they were afraid.
Believe it or not – that is the way that the Gospel of Mark originally ended. Jesus never shows up in his resurrected glory, there is no witness from the disciples, no sharing of the good news. Mark ends his account of the life of Jesus with three women, fleeing from the scene because terror and amazement had seized them and he tells us they said nothing to anyone.
We, of course, can say this probably didn’t actually happen for a number of reasons. First of all, all of the other gospels have the women speaking. And all of them have Mary Magdalene there at the tomb – witnessing first hand the resurrection of Christ and then sharing that message with the disciples. Secondly, if we believed Mark’s account fully – if that truly was the end of the story – then how did we get here? If they didn’t tell anyone, then how was the church born?
No, Mark has a reason for telling his story this way. Throughout his gospel, Mark is leading us on a journey, following in the footsteps of the disciples. Each and every time the disciples make a mistake and look like bumbling idiots, we learn something more about who Jesus is. Each and every time they fail, we learn more about what it means to follow God.
And this cliff-hanger ending is no exception. Mark tells us the women were afraid and said nothing to anyone… and then we are invited to live the rest of the story.
This morning… after we have encountered together the holiness of God and the miracle of the resurrection… what will we do? Will we let fear close our mouths? Will we roll the stone back in front of the tomb and conveniently forget that this all happened? Will we be silent? Or will we find the courage to risk it all to share this amazing and terrifying good news with the world?
Sharron Riessinger Lucas calls this: living in the tension of holy fear and prodigal joy. We are filled with joy because God has run out to meet us like a father who destroys all barriers in order to welcome home us wayward children! Christ is Risen! Jesus destroyed death in order to give us life! The tomb is empty! Amen!
But in the midst of that joy, there does reside fear in our hearts. We would be foolish not to admit it. Because with the empty tomb comes the amazing and awesome announcement that “Jesus is risen and on the loose in this world” (Lucas). And if God is really out there – really present in this world that we live in… then as the great theologian Karl Barth once said… “each of us has some serious changes to make in our living.”
That is as true in my life as it is in yours. And what keeps us from making those changes and truly proclaiming Christ as a living reality is fear.
We all have fears. I know that they are there, percolating in your throat, ready to cut off the good news. So what better time than Easter Morning to share our fears with one another… here in the midst of these lilies, the alleluias, the sweet smell of spring’s new life (Lucas).
I thought about passing around a microphone and asking you to share your fears… but if I’m going to be honest with myself – most of us would have a fear of standing up and admitting our fears! So here are a few that I have been pondering
We fear speaking on behalf of those who cannot speak for themselves, because what if we say the wrong things?
We fear seeking justice for the marginalized and release for the captives, because what if it puts us in danger?
We fear telling the truth, because what if our message is rejected? What if we are rejected?
We fear sharing what we have with others, because what if we don’t have enough?
We fear welcoming the stranger in our midst, because what if they stay?
And I think we fear all of those things, because we haven’t let ourselves fully accept the reality that Christ is alive… not spiritually present, not a memory of the past, but actually resurrected from the dead.
As Charles Campbell puts it – “[Jesus] goes ahead of us into the future to meet us there and claim us, not on our terms, but on his. We can no longer deal with Jesus as a dead body, safely buried in a tomb, but now we encounter him as a living reality. There is no escaping him, no containing him, no forgetting him.”
And if Jesus claims us on his terms… then we don’t need to worry about saying the wrong things because the Holy Spirit will bless us with words. We don’t need to worry about being in harm’s way or being rejected, because we know that nothing in this world, neither angels or demons or powers or principalities, neither life nor death can separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ. We don’t need to worry about running out of food or money, because we have life and life abundant! And we don’t need to worry about the stranger, because Lord knows, we could use a few more bodies in these pews! I mean… because each and every single one of us is a vital part of the body of Christ. God is in control…
Control is the key word there. We have fear in our hearts because we have come face to face with the holy and we are no longer in control. And any encounter with the holy rightly puts awe and trembling in our hearts.
It is the kind of fear portrayed in C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia series, as the people rightfully fear and revere Aslan the Lion. He is dangerous, he is righteous and there is no escaping him, no containing him, no forgetting him. He is wild and wonderful.
And the wild and wonderful Christ, who cannot be escaped or contained or forgotten is calling our names and has a word for us to proclaim. That on an old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine, Jesus suffered and died to pardon and sanctify us all….and…. AND… this is the part we leave out of the song… AND death itself has been defeated.
And Mark asks us: when – not if, but when the terror and amazement of the good news seizes your life – what are you going to do?
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