Well. What a horrid way to end a Gospel. Really. I mean, picture this: Jerusalem 33 A.D. Jesus has been crucified, died, buried. This Jesus on whom so many had pinned their hopes and dreams. They had either seen or heard the stories of his miraculous abilities. The ability to calm storms. The ability to produce food out of thin air. The ability to heal the sick. The ability to cast our demons. The ability to make the lame to walk, the deaf to hear, and the blind to see. The ability to raise the dead. That was power. That was authority. Surely he was the promised Messiah–the promised one that was to bring about wholeness and peace and God’s kingdom on earth. Ah, but all of that had been discarded; cast away; trashed. This Jesus had been betrayed, arrested, condemned. Hung on a cross to die on that hill called Calvary. Wrapped in burial cloths. Laid in a tomb. Dead. The movement he had started was all but finished. Cut the head off a snake, and the rest of the body dies. It had happened before. It would happen this time.
But some women went to the tomb. They didn’t have time to prepare Jesus’ body for burial after he had been taken down from the cross. It was a rush to get even the body buried before the Sabbath’s restrictions on work kicked in. So, now, they would come and do the job they would have done had it not been for those restrictions. They would anoint his body. They would place spices on it. They would grieve appropriately. And they found something they did not expect. The stone that had sealed the tomb–an object of concern because of its size and weight; an object that stood in the way of these women’s mission was now rolled away. The tomb was not sealed. It was open. And walking into the tomb, they did not see the body of Jesus. They did not see the body of the one who walked on water. They did not see the body of the one who rode into Jerusalem on the donkey. They did not see the bloody, torn flesh; the thorn pierced forehead, the nail pierced feet and hands. No. There was no body. There was only a young man; a young man dressed in white and sitting on the right hand side. Who was he? Was he an agent of Pontius Pilate there to catch any of Jesus’ followers and have them prosecuted? Was he an agent of the Jewish Religious Leaders–there to spy out those who might be unfaithful; who they could charge with blasphemy and cast them out of the Jewish faith? Were they in danger?
No. Not by a long shot. The young man looked at them with a look of peace; with a look of confidence; with a look of unfettered excitement. “Don’t be afraid. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified. He has been raised.” Let that sink in for a minute, y’all. It’s the reason we are here this morning. It’s the news that changed the world. It’s the most shocking thing that has happened in all of history. “He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place that they laid him.” Oh my; oh my. Oh my, oh my. If this is true; if this is real; then oh my, the implications are astounding. Reality is changed. If he is raised, then everything he said was true; every teaching he pronounced was trustworthy; he was and is the Messiah; he was and is the redeemer of the world; that teaching about giving his life as a ransom for many; well, that’s true too. Oh my, oh my. This, this is too good to be true. This is an amazing occurrence. He is not here, he is risen. Death could not hold him down. God has righted the injustice that was committed against Him, and wait...if God righted the injustice against him and death could not hold him down, does that now mean that the same thing will happen to all of his followers? Does that mean that we too will be raised from the dead? Does that mean that we too will have our injustices reversed? Surely it does!! Surely this is good news! Surely this good news demands that we tell it.
Well, that’s exactly what that young man says. That’s exactly what that young man calls upon those women to do. “Go. For God’s sake. Go! Go and tell his followers and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee. Go! There you will see him, just as he told you!! Go! Go and tell! Let them all know!! Stop waiting around here!! Go!”
And they went. Yes, they went. They hurried away from the tomb for terror and amazement had seized them. They were overwhelmed. And they went and told...they went and told...no one. Wait. What? This can’t be right. That can’t be the ending. They went and told no one? Possibly the most earth shattering news they had ever come across; quite possibly the most hopeful thing that they would ever encounter, and they told no one? Are you kidding me? By God, they must have been Lutheran! Okay, that’s a joke. Please don’t take it personally. But you gotta admit, it’s kind of funny. I mean, we do have a reputation out there. They make jokes about us. What do you get when you cross a Jehovah’s witness and a Lutheran? Someone who goes around knocking on everyone’s door but doesn’t know what to say.
Okay, enough poking fun. Gonna stop that. It’s Easter. We are not here to be made to feel guilty. We are not here to be made fun of. We are here to hear the proclamation of the Good News that Christ is risen! And we hear it. Loudly and clearly, we hear it. We hear it in the spoken word. We hear it in our hymns. We hear it in our lessons. We hear it. Yes, we hear it just like those women heard it, but I have a nagging question. I have a question that bothers me some. Why didn’t those women go tell the disciples? Why didn’t they burst forth with excitement? With this earth shattering news, why did they tremble in fear? Why do we?
I mean, maybe they thought everyone would think they were crazy. Maybe they thought that everyone would look down on them. Maybe they thought no one would believe them. It’s all a possibility. But maybe, just maybe it was something else. Maybe just maybe it wasn’t a matter of fear of how others would react. Maybe it was because things hadn’t sunk in yet. I mean, despite the evidence they saw with their own eyes and heard with their own ears, it wasn’t enough to convince their hearts. Despite seeing the evidence of the stone rolled away; the absence of the body; the words of the young man; the teachings that Jesus himself had told them; despite all this evidence, it didn’t sink in. It didn’t hit them deep down within their soul. I mean, I am sure they wanted to believe it. They wanted to believe that their Lord had conquered the grave. They wanted to believe that he was risen, but they just couldn’t get there. They just couldn’t bring themselves to that point. Their fear was too great.
And I think many of us can resonate with those women. Many of us struggle too. I mean, let’s be honest. Let’s be truthful. Let’s be real. Some of us have heard this news for years–since we have been small. And we know we should be telling the story; we know we should be engaging others with the Gospel, but when we think about even starting that conversation our insides turn to absolute mush. We are sore afraid. And for others, I mean, some of you out there might not be so sure about this whole Christianity thing. You might think that this resurrection business is simply something we believe without evidence. And that’s not true. In fact, there is some pretty good, reasonable evidence to believe that Jesus was raised from the dead. But event that won’t necessarily bring anyone around. Even that won’t necessarily convince anyone to walk out of here with bravery and bravado to engage those who are not worshiping this morning. I mean, I can stand up here and share with you those very good reasons why the resurrection is an actual historical event. I can lay out the evidence: first, there was an empty tomb–all the authorities would have had to do is produce the body, and the movement would have ended. Second, the authors of the Gospels said that women were the first witnesses–if you were writing fiction back in that day, you would have never used women. Their testimony wasn’t even allowed in court. You would have used men if you were writing fiction. Third, the disciples believed they saw Jesus raised from the dead. You could excuse one or two of them, but hundreds, as Paul tells us about in Corinthians? No. Mass hallucinations like that just don’t happen. Fourth, those same disciples died without recanting. Have you ever, ever heard of a lie being kept so well. Yeah, me neither. Criminal justice folks will tell you someone always cracks. And finally, every single other Messianic movement died out; went away; disappeared after the Messiah figure was arrested or killed. Every. Single. One. There is only one that didn’t. The Jesus movement. All of these things are historical fact. All of them. And the question is: What overarching story puts all of these facts together? What does all of this evidence point to? The simplest and best possible explanation is that Jesus really did rise from the dead. Jesus was resurrected by God the Father. That’s the best possible explanation by far. It’s the explanation that fits the evidence. You would be hard pressed to come up with better.
But, like I said, even this evidence; even all of this put together cannot make you or me go out into the world and tell all. Even though our heads right now might be thinking, “Oh, yes. I can see this. Jesus really did rise from the dead. He is alive. The things he said must be true...” Even though our heads might be thinking this, when we head out into the world and confront the world, knowing we might face hostility; knowing we might be laughed at; knowing we might face rejection; we clam up. We stay silent. We tell no one because we are afraid. Oh, my, we are just like those women.
And that’s just great. I’ve just come to the same place as the ending of the Gospel of Mark. And this would be a horrible way to end the sermon. Ah, but wait. Just wait. There is more. Sorry if you are disappointed. The ending is not quite here. It will be here shortly, but there is just a little bit more that we have to put forth.
You see, even though the women sitting in fear and telling no one was the ending of the Gospel of Mark, it was not the end of the story. For you see, those women didn’t stay huddled in fear. Eventually, their hearts were convicted. Eventually, their fear disappeared, and they went to Galilee. They and the disciples saw the risen Christ. Their hearts became convinced that Jesus was raised from the dead. But they were still afraid. They still did not move out into the world. Their fear was still too great. Because even though they had seen the evidence; even though they had seen Jesus; something still had to give them the conviction and the fortitude to move out into the world. Something more had to happen, and eventually, that something did.
It was the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost that transformed their fear into boldness. The Spirit moved among them and in them, and they unlocked their doors; they stopped trembling; the knowledge of Christ’s death and resurrection and his redemption of the world by grace moved from their heads into their hearts and they fearlessly proclaimed it to the world.
They were persecuted. They were killed. They were hunted. And yet, they kept proclaiming. They faced rejection. They faced skepticism. They faced scorn, but they kept proclaiming. Why? Despite all the resistence, why did they persist? Because of what St. Paul says in the book of Romans: faith comes through hearing. Faith comes by hearing the good news. Yes, we point to the evidence, as I did earlier, but for the Gospel to move from your head to your heart, you must hear it over and over and over again. And that is why countless people have passed this good news down throughout history. Beginning with those women, and then the disciples, and then the evangelists; and then the Church Mothers and Fathers; and then countless pastors and preachers, teachers and mothers and fathers, and grandparents and aunts and uncles–all of them kept telling the story. They kept passing down the good news. And even though it took time for people to believe; even though it sometimes took months or years or decades, they kept preaching and teaching. Their conviction led them into the streets; they went into the synagogues; they climbed into pulpits over and over and over again. They read and prayed to their children and grandchildren. They taught children and adults who seemed to be preoccupied with other things. And slowly, but surely, they watched hearts change; and they saw courage build. New generations became convinced that this news was true, and then they stepped forward to tell the news. And so the story continued, and it continues. The good news continues to be announced by those who are convinced that through His life, death and resurrection, Jesus has changed the world and that He is the only hope of the world. And that is why I stand before you today. And that is why you are here this morning: to hear the proclamation and have ours heart convicted as we become the next generation to continue the story; to continue the announcement of the good news: Christ is Risen!! Christ is Risen indeed!! Amen. Alleluia!!
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