Easter Day
April 5, 2015
Cross~Wind UMC
Title: Helping People out of their tombs
Going deeper
Mark 16:1-8
(NRSV)
Mark 16:1-8
is a story about Jesus involving the discovery of the empty tomb.
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. [The women have to wait until Sunday to tend the body, not
because it is prohibited to tend dead bodies on the Sabbath,[1] but
because doing the work of rolling the stone away from the tomb is prohibited.
Additionally, any person who goes to the tomb and is exposed to a dead body
will be made 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. The women listed here
differ slightly from those given in 15:40 and 15:47. These very women have been
with Jesus for a long time. Two of the three women who come to the tomb on Sunday
morning are named as those who “saw where the body was laid” (15:47). These
women observed Jesus’ 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. 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 in order 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. It would simply be
entombed 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.]
3
They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us
from the entrance to the tomb?” [Mark emphasizes the weight and size of the stone to the reader
by the worry in these women's voices.] 4 When they looked up, they saw
that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. [Note that Mark uses the passive voice
to describe what the women see when they first approach the tomb. Mark is able
to maintain tradition and avoid directly naming God or God's stone‑rolling
activity. Clearly, however, Mark
suggests that God is the only one who could have moved away the stone. Barth
says 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.[4]]
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. [Both
his appearance and his message make it appropriate to identify this "young
man" as an angelic messenger, what was called in apocalyptic literature an
angelus interpres.] 6 But
he said to them, [typical of
the first words of angels in the Bible]“Do
not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. [In
this angel's message lies the fulfillment and the future of the whole gospel.]
[First, there is the Easter Good News] He has been raised; he is not here. Look,
there is the place they laid him. [Second, there is the
first order to spread this good news.] 7 But go, tell his disciples and
Peter [Third is the
prediction that the Resurrected One will be continually involved in the
disciples' mission] that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; [Fourth is the promise of a personal
experience] there you will see him, just as he told you.” [Mark contains his entire Easter message in the body of
this heavenly messenger's words. Barth
finds this significant. The angels were there after the baptism of Jesus and
the Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness. Angels ministered to him there. An
angel reappears here. The angel points to the empty tomb, which in itself was
an ambiguous and contestable fact. Further, what has happened around this
sepulcher is a warning against making it a primary focus of attention. The
empty tomb is not the same as the resurrection. The empty tomb is not the
appearance of the living, but the presupposition. The empty tomb is a sign.
Christians do not believe in the empty tomb but in the living Christ. He notes
that even if the story is a legend, rejection of the legend accompanies
rejection of the saga of the living Jesus. He strongly urges us to consider the
empty tomb as belonging to the Easter event as its sign.[5]] 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. [As
faithful as the women appear to be, they seem to fail here. In a sense, they
also desert Jesus. Yet, the fulfillment of the promise to the disciples does
not rest upon the women speaking. The certainty of this fulfillment means that
God will work through the actions of these women and the desertion of the other
disciples to redeem their understanding of discipleship to match Jesus’ own
more closely (cf. Mark 8:27–10:52). Even if we come to terms with a gospel
writer who does not feel the need actually to record any of Jesus' post‑Resurrection
appearances, only the promise of their occurrence, the message in verse 8
stands as a shocker. Confronted by an
angelic messenger with miraculous news, confused by the previously opened tomb
and the missing body, it is not surprising for the reader to hear that these
women "went out and fled from the tomb, for terror [tromos] and amazement [ekstasis]
had seized them." However, what can
we make of the fact that in direct contradiction to the angel's instructions,
these women "said nothing to anyone."
In one sense, it is appropriate to halt abruptly the gospel story here. If the women did not go to tell the disciples
about the empty tomb and did not urge them to travel back to Galilee so that
they could meet the risen Jesus there, then the good news could not
spread. However, one may also understand
Mark's ending as really no ending at all.
Many Bible scholars have noted that
Mark's gospel ends abruptly, at 16:8. There, the women who have come to Jesus'
tomb to anoint his body encounter an angel who informs them of Jesus'
resurrection, and they flee in terror. There are other verses after 16:8, but
scholars agree that they were added later by someone other than Mark. It is
possible, of course, that Mark intended to write more and that something
prevented him from doing so, or even that he did write more but that his
concluding sentences were lost. Nonetheless, as it stands with the ending at
verse 8, Mark's gospel is open-ended. The abrupt ending lets Mark's readers
enter the story where the Easter morning witnesses stopped. Possibly Mark
intended his ending to raise the emotions of his readers so that they would
resolve to succeed where the women and the remaining 11 disciples failed. In
other words, he was calling his readers to become disciples of Jesus Christ
themselves.
Mark’s
artistic skill for incorporating clever theological motifs into his gospel is
also apparent in Mark 10:32. In this passage, Jesus and his disciples are on
their way to Jerusalem. Mark’s interest, though, is not primarily in presenting
a travelogue, for he states that “Jesus was walking ahead of them; they were
amazed (eqambounto), and those who
followed were afraid (ejobounto).” What is Mark’s point? The disciples who were
previously amazed and afraid when Jesus went ahead of them on the way to
Jerusalem are once again alarmed (16:5, 6) and afraid (16:8) as Jesus goes ahead
of them to Galilee. Just as they did not stop following him to Jerusalem, they
are not to stop following him as he makes his way to Galilee. In short,
believers are to follow Jesus even when they are alarmed and afraid, because he
is a fearful pioneer to follow. Arguably, then, Mark’s gospel concludes with a
hopeful message because it subtly alludes to and resonates with his earlier
vignettes that encourage believers to press on.
Mark has emphasized the necessity
of both human and divine agency in discipleship throughout his gospel. As we
see at the empty tomb, discipleship on human terms is nothing more than wishful
thinking and thus is impossible, but all things are possible with God (cf.
10:27; 14:36). With God, a crucified Messiah becomes a proclaimed reality, and
a resurrected Savior is the fulfillment of a promised presence. Echoing
paradoxes throughout Mark’s narrative, the presence of Jesus occurs in his
absence: “He is risen, but he is not here.” God has thrown open the door of the
tomb, just as the heavens were ripped (1:10) and the temple curtain was torn
(15:38). The proclamation of Easter is that any God who brings new life out of
death through these open doors will also open the mouths of the witnesses to
proclaim this good news. The narrative ends in fear not because the story is
completed, but precisely because the proclamation of the gospel is incomplete.
Jesus’ appearance in Galilee is in the future. The women will tell Peter and
the disciples in the future. Peter will be restored as a disciple, foreshadowed
by his singling out by the man in dazzling white. Indeed, even this man
proclaims Jesus’ presence with them, as he bears a strong resemblance to Jesus’
transfigured appearance (16:5; cf. 9:3).
Introduction
Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome, encountered a
massive void when they showed up at the empty tomb. It was early when they
arrived, and after meeting a young man and hearing about the resurrection “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 16:8).
Can you imagine how empty Mary is feeling at this point? She has
already suffered the crucifixion of her friend and teacher Jesus, and she is
mourning his death deeply. Now she goes to his tomb to pay her respects. What
does she find? Nothing. A huge cold spot. She did not know that you have to
pass through some empty tombs on the way to resurrection life.
We know what this feels like, do we not? Each of us, at some time in life,
comes face to face with a massive void, a big empty place.
It happens …
• when you give your
heart to someone who doesn’t accept the gift
• when you learn a
sport, practice hard and still don’t make the team
• when you study and
pursue a profession, only to find you hate your work
• when you create
something beautiful, and discover that no one’s interested
• when you try to
resist a temptation, but then give in to it again and again
• when you jump to a
new job, then lose it in a downsizing
• when you put money
into a home, only to see your equity disappear
• when you retire
from a long career, and wake up with nothing to do
• when you lose a
spouse to cancer, and find yourself all alone in the world.
These are huge cold spots.
Massive voids.
Too often, we try to pretend that there are no massive voids in our
lives, no empty places. Sociologist Jean Twenge, in The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement (2009)
observes that young adults in particular have been told things such as “believe
in yourself and you can do anything” — which is not very good advice. The truth
is, bad things can happen to good people, and not every goal in life is
realistic. You may believe that you are going to earn a graduate degree and get
a great job, along with a perfect family in a beautifully decorated home, but
life does not always give you what you want. Twenge thinks that overblown
expectations are largely to blame for the recent rise in anxiety and depression
in young adults. She says, “It’s depressing to realize that your unrealistic
dreams are never going to come true.”
We are all going to face some empty places in life, and we need to take
them seriously. You cannot expect to step into a dream job right out of
college. Most of us are going to endure a lot of heartbreak before we find a
partner for life. Loss and rejection are a part of just about every life story
you can imagine. You have to pass through some empty tombs on the way to
resurrection life.
Mary and her companions make this journey as they flee from the tomb.
They do not fall into the trap of thinking that if they believe in themselves,
they can do anything. Instead, they feel a blast of alarm, terror, amazement
and fear — and these emotions set them up for the surprising reality of the resurrection.
They quickly discover that Easter is not about them — instead, it is
about God. In particular, it is about God filling the empty places in our lives
with new and unexpected life.
Application
We have a confession to make.
WE ARE IN TOMBS OF OUR OWN MAKING.
WE ARE IN A TOMB CREATED BY
EMPTINESS.
We wonder if life is worth it. Life seems to be without meaning or
direction.
A rabbi invited people to the town
square. He said he had an important
announcement. The people did as he requested,
but only with much complaining. The
merchant resented having to leave his business.
The wife complained because she had too many errands. The list could go on. But out of respect for the rabbi, they went
unwillingly to hear the message which the rabbi said was so important. Once everyone was present, the rabbi made
this simple statement: I wish to announce there is a God in the
world." That was all. But the people understood. They had been going about their daily
routine, doing all the right things. But
they had been acting as if God did not exist.
There is a little joke about a
person who was so empty that when he was drowning, someone else's life flashed
before his eyes. Yet, with Jesus walking
with us, we are led towards fullness of life, a sense of mission fills us. God enters our tomb. The stone is rolled away.
WE ARE IN TOMBS BECAUSE OF
FEAR.
It takes much courage to live truly and fully. We are bombarded by terrible news every time
we read the paper. We talk with friends
and neighbors who struggle with cancer and other diseases. In raising children, we have fears about
their circle of friends and their direction in life. There are plenty of things of which to be
fearful.
Deborah Kerr portrayed a young
Christian girl who came within moments of being devoured by the lions set loose
upon believers in the Roman Colosseum in the movie, "Quo Vadis." A reporter asked if she was ever frightened
by the trained lions as they came toward her.
"No, for I am one of those actresses who reads the script all the
way through to the end. I knew that
Robert Taylor, the director, would rescue me in time." That is confidence.
The women were commanded to go to
Galilee and meet Jesus there. He would
be with them. Matthew records that Jesus
said, "I will be with you always."
That is confidence. We have read
the end of the script of life. In Jesus,
God is with us.
WE ARE IN TOMBS BECAUSE WE HAVE
GROWN APATHETIC.
It is easy to do.
The problems of the world are so complex they seem beyond solving. In fact, the problems we have in the state of
Indiana, or even in Cass County, can seem quite overwhelming. We often find it enough to deal with
ourselves, or our families, rather than be bothered with the issues others
face.
WE ARE IN TOMBS BECAUSE OF
DEATH.
The world is a Good Friday sort of place. It has its betrayals and pains, its crosses
and grief. There is the frightening
sense of being alone. It is not just our
own death that we are concerned about.
It is the death of those close to us.
It is the innocent suffering and death which we read about all the
time.
Conclusion
Yet, we hear the voice of the angel:
"Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was
crucified. He has been raised; he is not
here." It is Easter! The stone is rolled away. God has entered the tomb, our tomb. Fear, loss, sin, even death itself, are
defeated. In our own Galilee, in our own
backyard, at our own place of work, in our own families, a risen Savior greets
us and informs us that we are no longer alone.
Hallelujah! Christ is risen!
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