“What Does It Mean?” Easter 2009

(First, read the text for this sermon: Mark 16:1-8)

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.

Doesn’t it shock you that the gospel of Mark ends that way?

Here’s where we are in the story. Three women are the only ones who have remained faithful to Jesus. All the male disciples are in hiding. Two days ago, these women had followed and marked where Jesus was buried. They are observant Jews, and so they couldn’t do anything more because the sabbath was beginning, and they could do no work. But now, the sabbath over, they have returned to the tomb, at first light, as soon as they possibly could.

And what do these courageous and faithful women find? Jesus’ grave has been opened! There is no sign of Jesus’ body. There is “a young man.” (Is he a vision? An apparition?) The young man says 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. 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." 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.

The end.

That’s how the gospel of Mark ends.

How can that be the end?

Of course, that’s not the end of what actually happened. Obviously the women told other followers of Jesus that the tomb was empty. Obviously the women and Jesus’ other followers experienced Jesus alive, after they had seen him dead. Obviously all of that happened. Otherwise, there would not have been a community of resurrection people to produce this gospel of Mark – the earliest one that was written, around 70 AD.

The endings are certainly tidier in Matthew and Luke, which were composed about 10 years after Mark, and in the gospel of John, produced about 30 years later. All three of those gospels end with stories of Jesus, alive after he was dead. But the gospel writer of Mark is not trying to tie things up, neatly, at the end. Instead, he’s leaving everything untied!

What does it mean, that the tomb is empty? That question is left open, as Mark’s story ends. It is a question for the readers to answer.

What does it mean, to you and me, now, as we read this story? Jesus’ rising from the grave has to matter now. The significance of this is not simply reserved for the future. Life is changed!

All four of the gospels – Mark, Matthew, Luke and John – were composed not to be objective, but to be persuasive! First were the collections of stories about Jesus told to first-generation listeners, to persuade them that God has brought the kingdom in the flesh and blood of the Christ. In the gospels, those stories are arranged in various ways, in written form, to persuade us that Jesus is the long-promised Christ, who did much more, and much differently, than what God’s people had expected for centuries. This Jesus of Nazareth, this messiah, actually rose from the dead!

How does that transform your life? That’s the question the gospel stories persuade you and me to answer. What does that mean for you, day-to-day, in your work and play?

Enter into this scene. So [Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome] went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

Of course there is terror and amazement and fear! The women’s assumptions about the way the world works now count for nothing! Logic? Reason? What we limit reality to be? The empty tomb blows all of our constructions and assumptions to smithereens.

Mark ends with everything untied to make you and me wonder about all of that. In other words, if today is simply an annual festival of lilies and brass, and cooking or going out for a special dinner; so that, when we put away our fancy clothes this afternoon and say, “There. We’ve done Easter again.” – then the untied story in Mark hasn’t drawn us in.

The tomb is empty!

Jesus is risen from the dead!

How does that transform your life? What does it mean for you, in your day-to-day work and play? How do you live the resurrection, now?

Does the Spirit draw you into daily thanksgiving, realizing that God gives us more than enough of what we need each day? It is grace upon grace. So – joyful gratitude for abundance, and resisting the deadly messages we receive each day that there is scarcity: that’s what it means that Jesus has risen from the dead.

The realization that, since we have more than we need, we are given opportunity to care for those who don’t have enough; the realization that, in that servanthood there is joy: that’s what it means that Jesus has risen from the dead.

Having the courage and intestinal fortitude to be “meek” (which means resisting the pressure to respond to aggression with aggression; but instead, defusing violence and working towards reconciliation): that’s what it means to live in the resurrection.

Resisting the message that power and beauty and celebrity are qualities to be admired and, instead, embodying God’s compassion for those who are vulnerable: that’s what it means to live in the resurrection.

Those who value “keeping everything under control,” and staying within our limits of what is possible, and being certain about the way the world works, I think find it impossible to live in the resurrection. It is for that reason that the empty tomb provokes terror and amazement and fear for Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, in this morning’s untied story from Mark. For three horrific days, they have been trying to keep everything under control, staying within the limits of what is possible. And now, the tomb is empty? It’s all just too much for them!

But that’s not where Mary and Mary and Salome end up, in what happens after the gospel of Mark ends. So, too, for you and me.

Jesus is risen from the dead!

And so God the Holy Spirit moves within us and among us, to persuaded us to let go of our death grip; to experience God moving in all the loose ends of our lives; to listen for God; to follow where the Spirit is leading us on the journey: into both exhilarating risk and profound security; into joyful servanthood to those who are in need.

That’s what it means, to live in the resurrection.

In the name of God, who is Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Pastor Andy Ballentine
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
Williamsburg, Virginia