Sermon for Easter Sunday Yr B 20/04/2003
Based on Mk 16:1-8
Grace Lutheran Church, Medicine Hat, AB
By Pastor Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson
A very zealous soul-winning young preacher recently came upon a farmer working in his field. Being concerned about the farmer’s soul the preacher asked the man, “Are you labouring in the vineyard of the Lord my good man?”
Not even looking at the preacher and continuing his work the farmer replied, “Naw, these are soybeans.”
“You don’t understand,” said the preacher. “Are you a Christian?”
With the same amount of interest as his previous answer the farmer said, “Nope my name is Jones. You must be looking for Jim Christian. He lives a mile south of here.”
The young determined preacher tried again asking the farmer, “Are you lost?”
“Naw! I’ve lived here all my life,” answered the farmer.
“Are you prepared for the resurrection?” the frustrated preacher asked.
This caught the farmer’s attention and he asked, “When’s it gonna be?”
Thinking he had accomplished something the young preacher replied, “It could be today, tomorrow, or the next day.”
Taking a handkerchief from his back pocket and wiping his brow, the farmer remarked, “Well, don’t mention it to my wife. She don’t get out much and she’ll wanna go all three days.” 1
As we see from this joke as well as from today’s gospel, communication can and often does involve, among other things, misunderstandings, surprises, and yes, even failures. Today we learn that three women, Mary Magdalene, and Mary mother of James, and Salome go to the tomb where Jesus was laid as soon as they can after observing the Sabbath. They went, Mark tells us, to anoint Jesus’ dead body. One last final act of love and faithfulness to give their Lord the final burial rite. They were, of course, expecting a closed tomb and a dead body in it. They were also caught up in their concern over how they might roll away the heavy, very large stone covering the tomb’s entrance. No doubt their hearts were still deeply sorrowful over the death of Jesus. They would miss him terribly; they would feel as if their world had come to an end without him; what future did they have now without Jesus?
But lo and behold they were wrong! Surprise! Surprise! The stone was already rolled away when they arrived at the tomb. What could this mean? Did someone steal their Lord’s dead body? What were they to do now? Who would do such a thing anyways?
Summoning up as much courage as they could, they entered the tomb. Most likely they were expecting to find nothing in it except darkness and perhaps the lingering odour of a dead body. Surprise! Surprise! Instead, they saw a young man dressed in white sitting there, as if he were waiting for them and expecting them. When they saw him, Mark tells us “they were alarmed.” To be alarmed in such a circumstance is not unusual, is it? Likely most of us would be too. After all, throughout the Bible whenever an unexpected messenger from God appears to someone they usually have to reassure them with words of comfort like: “Don’t be afraid, fear not.”
The same is true here, the messenger of God in white begins his revelation to the women by speaking words of comfort: “Do not be alarmed.” Then he tells them who they’re looking for as well as how he died—“Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.” But the story does not end there. The women however are likely not prepared to hear what the messenger in white is about to tell them next. Surprise! Surprise! “He has been raised; he is not here.” Then, to drive his point home further, he invites the women to look around at the empty tomb so they could see for themselves exactly where his dead body had been laid.
However, the young man in white concludes his revelation by now giving the women the instruction to “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.”
Then comes the finale. Surprise! Surprise! The earliest, most reliable manuscripts of Mark’s Gospel end with verse eight! Mark tells us: “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.” That’s all. The end. What a way to end a gospel! Most, if not all of us, want a happy ending, do we not? This ending here at verse eight is full of ambiguity. We’re left with the nagging question of: Why did Mark end his gospel like this? Why does Mark not give us an account of the risen Jesus appearing to the women? Where is the message of good news and triumph to be found in such an ending?
One clue that verse eight gives us is in the contrast of words employed to describe the state of the women: “TERROR AND AMAZEMENT HAD SEIZED THEM, AND THEY SAID NOTHING TO ANYONE, FOR THEY WERE AFRAID.” It may be instructive that the word “amazement” also translated as “astonishment” often is associated with the actions and words of God and Jesus in the Bible. It is a word the has the connotation of both a sense of dread before the holy presence of God and Jesus, as well as the sense of surprise and of being attracted to God and Jesus through a sense of wonder and fascination. By describing the women in this way, Mark may very well be emphasising to his audience that this is a divine revelation from God.
In stressing the very human response of the women to God’s messenger and his message, does Mark not make the women more real and believable? How many of us would not respond like the women? All of the gospel resurrection accounts mention either this element of fear or doubt as responses to the risen Christ. It most likely required time for the women to deal with their fears and doubts first before they were able to go and proclaim the good news of the risen Christ to the other disciples and Peter. When God speaks to us or calls us, the same thing is true. We don’t always respond in faith right away—at first we may be afraid and even sceptical about it. We may need time to deal with this and integrate it into our lives before we are able to respond. Obviously the women did not remain silent and fearful permanently—for if they had, no one would be here today celebrating the resurrection of Christ.
Another aspect of Mark’s ending, which is consistent again with the other resurrection accounts, is that women, not men are the first messengers of the resurrection. This is quite ironic, for at that time in history it was clearly a man’s world—only men were allowed to be legal witnesses. Men, not women held positions of authority. Yet, God breaks with this human-made tradition by giving the good news of the resurrection to the women first. They become the first preachers of the resurrection.
So, ultimately, Mark’s ending then is a word of encouragement to his original audience and to us. He gives us the message that there is hope for ordinary people like you and me. We may not be perfect; we may fail sometimes miserably at what we do; we may continue to wrestle with our fears and doubts; yet the good news is that Christ is risen, and God still works to draw people into his church. He is risen to give us a new beginning. He is risen to remind us that the God of Life is more powerful than death; the God of all Goodness is more powerful than evil; the God of Love is more powerful than fear and hatred; the God of faith and hope is more powerful than doubt and despair. That is why the church still exists after all of these centuries and that’s why we’re here today to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus in our lives today. Amen.
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1 Cited from: www.humor.com website.
