An Unexpected Easter

“When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him.  ² And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb.  ³ They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?”  ⁴ When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back.  ⁵ As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed.  ⁶ But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him.  ⁷ But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.”  ⁸ So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” – Mark 16:1-8

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Alleluia! Christ is Risen!  ~  The Lord is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!

This beautiful Easter morning we come together to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has walked out of the grave alive! This is the kingdom of God, breaking into our earthly reality, just as Jesus promised – and the hope of eternal life for every one of us.

The thing is: we really don’t hear this message in the Gospel of Mark. Of all the resurrection stories in the four gospels, Mark’s is the only one that doesn’t end on a note of joy. It ends instead with the eyewitnesses to Jesus’ resurrection running away in fear. How do we celebrate Easter with a story like this?

First let me back up a little bit and set the scene. The women in Mark’s gospel – Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome – had witnessed Jesus’ crucifixion two days before. They had witnessed the injustice of Pilate’s so-called trial. They had witnessed their Lord and their friend being tortured beyond recognition and being ridiculed while he died. They had had the courage to stay and watch with him while many others disappeared.

After Jesus died, Joseph of Arimathea went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. He placed the body in his brand new family grave, in a cave. Mary Magdalene went with him and witnessed this. She saw the care Joseph gave Jesus’ body, and she also realized the burial wasn’t complete: Joseph had to stop what he was doing because the Sabbath was beginning. So Joseph rolled a stone in front of the door of the tomb and all of them went home for the Sabbath.

That Sabbath must have been the longest day of their lives.

What these women had witnessed on Friday was life-changing, and not in a good way. J.R.R. Tolkien once wrote: “I will not say do not weep; for not all tears are evil.”  There are times when tears are very much needed, like when justice is ignored, or when cruelty has won the day, or when love has been murdered.

But the women were determined to do what they could do for the Lord they loved. So they got up on the first day of the week, as soon as the Sabbath was over, and arrived at the tomb just as the sun was coming up. And they were wondering how they were going to move that huge stone away.

But… they found… the grave… open! And when they looked inside, they saw a young man in white (an angel, according to the other gospel writers) sitting to the right-hand side of where Jesus’ body had been, apparently waiting for the women to get there.

Can you imagine what must have gone through their minds, to see Jesus’ body gone? But this young man (this angel) tells them: “Don’t be alarmed. Jesus, who you’re looking for, has been raised from the dead. He is not here; but look and see the place where he was laid” – pointing to the grave clothes that were still there.

Then he tells the women, “go tell the disciples and Peter that Jesus is going ahead of you to Galilee and he will meet you there.” It’s significant the angel added “and Peter,” because Peter had denied Jesus three times, and he was about to be forgiven. Jesus’ death and resurrection makes new beginnings possible – for Peter, and for all of us.

The other gospel writers tell us the women went out and told the disciples the good news. But we don’t hear this from Mark. Mark says the women were distressed and fled from the tomb and said nothing to anyone.

THE END.

Mark ends his story so abruptly that down through the centuries people have tried to write alternate endings to the book of Mark. (You may have one or more of those alternate endings in your Bible depending on which version you have.)

But given the year we’ve had this past year, I like Mark’s ending.

It fits us. It fits life in pandemic time: life where tomorrow is uncertain, and circumstances and plans are always changing. It’s almost like we’ve had a stone rolled across this past year.

As we stand with the women in the empty tomb, we see Mary and Mary and Salome still grieving. The pain and horror they had witnessed was still too fresh. It would take a little while for the good news of Jesus’ resurrection to sink in – for the reality of the good news to become part of them.

I think it may be like that for us too, as we begin to move slowly out of pandemic time. Like them, we are moving into a world that has changed. And like the women at the grave, we’re not quite done grieving yet. Many of us lost loved ones this past year, and we couldn’t say a proper ‘goodbye’ before they passed. Some of us grieve the loss of health or the loss of a job or a business. All of us grieve the loss of time with family and loved ones and worshiping in our churches.

Like the women at the tomb, if we try to move too quickly past the pain of this year, before our tears have all been cried, our hearts won’t let us forget – and pain denied is never pain avoided.

I think Mark knew that the women still needed to grieve. So he leaves the story there: with the commission to go and tell, the commission to be the world’s first Christian evangelists, yet knowing it’s not going to happen right this very minute.

The time will come, very soon, when the women will go and tell the disciples. Jesus is calling them all to meet him in Galilee, where they met him before, back when everything started. And all of us are invited to join them there – where Jesus healed the sick and fed the hungry – and began again the mission of proclaiming the good news that God’s kingdom has come.

When our grieving is over, like the women in Mark’s gospel, we have good news to share: Jesus is alive! Death has been conquered! Jesus has risen – and we are called to meet him, and be strengthened for the days ahead, and continue the work he began.

We are called to finish with our lives the story that Mark left unfinished. To go and tell the good news: The grave is empty. Jesus is Risen. God’s Kingdom has come. Alleluia! AMEN.

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Preached at Old St. Luke’s Sunrise Service, Scott Township PA, March 4 2021

Full service may be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_6P3F1m_Qw