Fair warning! If you are able to attend Asbury's Sunrise Service on Easter Sunday, you might want to wait to hear this at that time.
The Gospel According to Mark ends rather abruptly at 16:8, with no post-resurrection appearance from Jesus. Most biblical scholars agree that verses 9-20 of chapter 16 were added to Mark's original ending to make it more satisfactory to our sensibilities and to make it conform more closely to how the other Gospels end. Something else to keep in mind is that all four of the Gospel writers tell their story in their own way. So, we need not try to reconcile the differences between them; we should just hear their stories the way they tell them.
The scene in Mark 16 opens with three women approaching the tomb where Jesus was buried, just after sunrise and the end of the Sabbath, carrying with them burial spices for the purpose of giving Jesus' body the proper final preparations.
There is something wrong with this picture!
If the women had believed Jesus when he told them that he would rise again on the third day, they would have known that they wouldn't need burial spices, and wouldn't have been concerned about the large stone sealing the entrance to the tomb! (It seems we are in good company when we are surprised when God answers our prayers and fulfills his promises.)
Now, Mark is ready to reveal the event that defines his version of the Gospel story: the women discover the empty tomb and are told by a heavenly messenger, "He is risen! He is not here." This is the event that proves what Mark has said from the very beginning: "The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God."
So, what is the first human response to this good news? Trembling. Bewilderment. Fear. And ... silence.
I can understand the trembling. The women have just had an extraordinary experience, receiving a message from heaven, from Jesus himself! Although they didn't see Jesus, this was still an experience that would easlily evoke trembling.
Bewilderment? In their experience, and in ours, the dead and buried tend to stay dead and buried. But Jesus has now defied death! That is just cause for some confusion and perplexity, wouldn't you say?
Fear? We all fear the unknown. What happens now? Is what happened to Jesus going to happen to us now? How do we carry out his mission when he isn't here to lead us? What do we do?
But, what about the silence? The message from Jesus was to go and tell. Yet these women ran from the tomb in terror and told no one! We know the story gets out; after all we're reading and thinking about it right now. So we know the silence didn't last very long.
I may be giving these women more credit than Mark intended, but what if this temporary silence was a good thing? What can they say that wouldn't trivialize the experience? Do you remember Peter's lame suggestion on the Mount of Transfiguration? How can they share their experience without making it all about their experience rather than about what God has done? Perhaps a little time for contemplation in the midst of their trembling, bewilderment and fear was the best thing they could do in that moment.
God has done an amazing and extraordinary thing here. God does amazing and extraordinary things in our lives all the time! Our message from Jesus, as it was to these women, is to go and tell.
We must not keep silent!
However, it behooves us to consider how we will share God's amazing and extraordinary actions: actions we read about in the Bible, actions we've seen throughout history, as well as God's action in our own lives. We must share in a way that makes our sharing about what God has done, and not so much about what I have experienced.
Consider what God has done. Share what God has done. Make it about what God has done!
Be blessed!
Pastor Mark
No comments:
Post a Comment