Lessons from the Gospel of Mark
Mark 16:1-8 (Year B, Easter Day) is a story about Jesus involving the discovery of the empty tomb. The empty tomb is a look backward, downward, and earthward. Its function is to show that the Jesus who died was the one who the power of God delivered from death and the grave.[1] If we are to find life beyond death, fullness beyond emptiness, light beyond darkness, and a God who speaks and acts beyond the silence, then it will be through an event in human history. The discovery of the empty grave points to that event. The women, in a list different from those given in 15:40 and 15:47, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome, waited until Sunday to tend to the body of Jesus because Torah prohibited them from doing the work fo rolling the stone away from the tomb. Additionally, any person who goes to the tomb and exposes himself or herself to a dead body will become ritually impure for seven days afterward.[2] This means that any man who might come with them on Sunday would render himself ritually impure for the rest of the Passover holiday. Typically, one would give up his state of ritual purity only for the death of one of his nearest kin.[3] Because the women themselves are not entitled to perform Passover sacrifices, becoming ritually impure is less of an issue for them. These very women have been with Jesus for a long time. Two of the three women who come to the tomb on Sunday morning were among those who “saw where the body was laid” (15:47). These women observed the crucifixion “from a distance.” They were Jesus’ followers who “provided for him when he was in Galilee,” supporting and sponsoring (even financially) his ministry (15:40-41; cf. Luke 8:1-3). Unlike the disciples, the women do not “desert” Jesus (14:50), nor do they deny him (14:66-72). Instead, it seems that they are the most “faithful” of Jesus’ followers. At the same time, the women do not come expecting a risen Savior. These women can give eyewitness testimony to the grim reality of Jesus' death and the burial of his body. The desire to offer his poor dead body one final act of service caused the women to return to Jesus' tomb early that morning. They planned to anoint him with spices that would mask the odor of death and decay that they already expected to find permeating the tomb. Some suggest that the burial Joseph of Arimathea gave to Jesus was to fulfill the law detailed in Deuteronomy 21:22‑23‑‑a hanged man "under God's curse" was not to remain all night on the tree where he died. This would indicate that Joseph was convinced of Jesus' criminal status and that he rushed the burial to keep the law, not out of respect for Jesus or any concern for the approaching Sabbath. Since Jesus was a criminal, his body would not rate any special attention or anointing. One would simply entomb it as quickly as possible. In this case, the women's determination to supply spices and offer him an anointing would serve to bring honor back to Jesus' name. It is also no small irony that the very focus of the women's concern, Jesus' body is exactly what they find missing from the tomb. Their concern about the stone in front of the tomb emphasize the dramatic nature of the next events. As they near the tomb, the see that the stone has been rolled back, suggesting that God is the only one who could have done this. They enter the tomb without hesitation and see a young man dressed in a white robe. As if in the presence of angel, they are alarmed, but he says to them in the typical language of an angel that they ought not to be alarmed. He notes that they are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, whom Jewish and Romans leaders crucified. The Good News of Easter is that God has raised him from the dead. Therefore, the body of Jesus is not here. He invites them to look carefully and see where they laid the body of Jesus. He then gives the first order, which is to spread the news, beginning with the disciples and Peter. In telling them that they are to go with the disciples to Galilee, and that the Risen Lord will be going ahead of them, is a promise of the continual presence of the Risen Lord. He then promises they will have a personal experience of the risen Lord, for they will see him. However, they leave the tomb because terror and amazement had seized them. We can understand their response to the angel with miraculous news. We can understand their confusion. Yet, what are to make of their direct disobedience to the angelic message: and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. The women had an opportunity to be the first to come out of their own tomb, and to share the good news with others. They did not do it.
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