WHO WILL ROLL AWAY THE STONE?
Text: Mark 16:1- 20
Did you notice who saw Jesus first? Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome were wondering who would roll the stone away. That stone can be thought of as a metaphor---a barrier between belief and unbelief. As someone (J. C. Ryle) put it “Their expected trouble was found not to exist. "When they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away." (Expository Thoughts on the Gospels). They made these women feel better and helped them with their unbelief, but there are others in this chapter who are in need of being convinced about the resurrection. Jesus appears to two others in this chapter that the Gospel of Luke tells us are the two disciples on road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13 – 32). Lastly, we have the eleven remaining disciples and their unbelief (Mark 16:14) who seem to be seeking refuge in the Upper Room.
It seems as though the Upper Room had become a Panic Room as the disciples stayed huddled and secluded behind locked doors. It seems that they were hiding because they were afraid and wanted to stay isolated from danger. In the world we live in today we can identify a lot with those disciples. “What are the doors that we might be hiding behind?” (David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor. eds. Feasting On The Word. Volume 2. Nancy R. Blakely. “Pastoral Perspective”. Louisville: Westminster: John Knox Press, 2008, p. 426). If there was a common theme between all of the doors that we hide behind, then it seems that it would have to be fear. We seem to need the evidence of the stone being rolled away before we will believe. Is our fear creating distance between who we are and who God wants us to be?
FEAR CREATES DISTANCE
Do you remember how Jesus told His disciples, prior to the crucifixion that they would all run like scared sheep? Jesus told His disciples that they would all run at the time of His arrest in Mark 14:27: "You will all fall away, Jesus told them, "for it is written: "`I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered'" (Zechariah 13:7). Thomas made his courageous statement, "Let us go that we might die with Him" (John 11:16), he was ready to die with Jesus. But, when they arrested Jesus, Thomas was not so courageous. He ran scared just like Jesus said he would. Fear creates distance.
Do you remember How Jesus told Peter that Satan wanted to sift him like sand? Jesus said to Peter “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat” (Luke 22:31). What Jesus meant was that Satan would the chaff in his religion if indeed there was any wheat at all. This comment was not just for Peter but for all of the disciples as well. (Jamison, Fausset & Brown). It was then that Jesus went on to tell Peter that he would deny Jesus three times before rooster would crow at sunrise (Luke 22:34). As Jesus had warned, Peter also fell away in fear. Peter also ran scared. Fear creates distance.
Now it is three days since the crucifixion and the disciples are in hiding. The Upper Room where they had shared the last supper with Jesus was becoming a Panic Room---a safe place. They hid because it seems that they were in fear for their lives. They were grief-struck, feeling guilty, frustrated, doubting, anxious, restless, despondent and terrorized. (David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor. eds. Feasting On The Word. Volume 2. Barbara J. Essex.. “Homileticall Perspective”. Louisville: Westminster: John Knox Press, 2008, p. 425). Fear creates distance.
They were afraid because they were like sheep separated from their Shepherd. These disciples were so scared that even an outside noise would probably have startled them. Have you ever been that scared?
“A burst of thunder caused the three-year-old to race into her parents' bedroom. "Mommy, I'm scared," she said. Her sleepy mother responded by saying, "Go back to your bed. God will be there with you." The little girl stopped at the doorway, turned and said, "Mommy, why don't I sleep here with Daddy, and you go in there with God?" (Raymond McHenry. ed. McHenry’s Quips, Quotes And Other Notes. Third Printing. Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 2004). Fear creates distance.
JESUS CALMS OUR FEARS
Do you remember when the disciples experienced a storm in the Galilean Sea? They had Jesus with them in the boat and yet they were scared. Jesus questioned them about their lack of faith and then calmed the storm in nature as well as the storm in their spirit. They had seen all the numerous times that Jesus was at work liberating the captives, healing the sick, exercising evil spirits from those who were possessed, helping the lame to walk, the blind to s ee and even the time Jesus brought Lazarus back from the dead. Jesus was with them then. Now, they were like sheep without a shepherd. They were forgetting that God has the last word.
Once again, Jesus amazes His disciples following His resurrection.
1) For His disciples the crucifixion meant the end of the road.
2) The beginning of Luke 24 points out how it was not the end of the road---the end of the story but rather the end of a chapter and the beginning of new chapters that will follow.
3) Jesus came to “… enlighten and commission His disciples for preaching the gospel”. (David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor. eds. Feasting On The Word. Volume 2. Stephen A. Cooper. “Theological Perspective”. Louisville: Westminster: John Knox Press, 2008, p. 428).
4) His disciples thought they were seeing a ghost.
5) Jesus assured them (the two from Emmaus) of His resurrection bidding them “peace” where they were lacking peace.
6) Jesus told them to look with their eyes, touch with their hands as He told them ghosts do not have flesh and bones as He does. Jesus also ate some broiled fish (Luke 24:36 -43).
7) Then He opened their minds to the scriptures about the Messiah from Moses, the prophets and psalms and how they were fulfilled.
8) Finally, Jesus commissioned them when He told them that they were witnesses of these things.
JESUS RECONNECTS US
Jesus was helping them to make the connections that they needed to make. “The disciples thought that Jesus was going to establish an earthly kingdom but the crucifixion smashed that idea as if it were a flowerpot that had fallen from a ten-story building. The resurrected Jesus came into their company and proceeded to explain how what had happened to him was connected to what God had done and said before. Making connections is what any religion is about, helping people understand how they fit into the cosmos, how their lives connect with the past and the future and, most importantly of all, how we connect with God. The resurrection of Christ teaches us that our connection with God and others does not end when our mortal-cord is severed.” (Russell F. Anderson. Lectionary Preaching Workbook. Series V. Cycle B. Lima: CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 2008, p. 195). How are we helping people connect?
We need to help others to make the connections because of our witness.
There is “… the story of an English girl whose parents died when she was a teenager. Being the oldest, she assumed the mother’s role of caring for her siblings. After a couple of years of hard labor, she was taken ill to a hospital. The doctor discovered that she was dying. Hearing of her plight, a minister decided to visit her and prepare her for eternity. He seemed more interested in having her recite the proper doctrinal formulation than he was in sharing with her the love of Jesus. The right words weren’t coming from her lips and he was becoming somewhat annoyed as he asked: “But what will you have to show the Lord when you stand before his judgment seat?” The girl quietly responded with wisdom that could only have been drawn from the well of suffering love: “I will show him my hands.” (Russell F. Anderson. Lectionary Preaching Workbook. Series V. Cycle B. Lima: CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 2008, p. 196). As His witnesses today, we are His hands and feet. Jesus wants us to share with others that any ‘… trouble that they expected was found not to exist” because Jesus has conquered all our enemies, sin, death and the fear of death. What do our hands look like in our service to Jesus? Jesus commissions and dispatches us to share the Gospel today as He did with His original disciples! In The name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit! Amen.
