Risen

FIVE POWERFUL WORDS: RISEN

MARK 16:1-8

Introduction

Welcome, everyone, to Resurrection Sunday. For the month of March we have been looking at five powerful words from the last week of the life of Jesus: Rejection, Love, Remember, Forsaken, and today RISEN.

Our text opens with the women going to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus with spices. The women seek to perform one last act of service to the Lord the loved.

Wright: “They were not going in order to witness Jesus’ resurrection. They had no idea any such thing was even

thinkable. They were going to complete the primary burial. …They got the shock of their lives.”

Mark 16:6 “…You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here.”

Today we celebrate the greatest news the world has ever heard: The Tomb is Empty!

This is the theme of the preaching of the Apostles (Acts 4:33 "And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.")

The weekly remembrance of the Early Church as they communed together.

The theme of the Gospel is that “[Jesus] was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead … For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek." (Romans 1:4, 16)

Other than Jesus, there was one other main character of Mark’s Gospel. His name was Simon, but Jesus gave him a new name (Mark 3:15), Peter - which means Rock.

1. Peter’s Story in the Gospel of Mark

Peter was outspoken, impulsive, open, a man of action. Many scholars believe that Mark’s Gospel is an account of the preaching and teaching of Peter. Most believe that Mark is the earliest of the Gospels and that Matthew and Luke would have had a copy of it. They follow the same sequence of events.

It is important to see Peter’s role in the Gospel of Mark. He shows up in our text for today, in the resurrection account.

Peter was an inner circle friend of Jesus, along with James and John. These three were allowed to come into the room when Jesus raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead (Mark 5:37) These three who had the holy privilege of seeing the transfiguration in person and observing Jesus having a conversation with Moses and Elijah (Mark 9).

In a discussion about the identity of Jesus, it was Peter who confessed, “You are the Christ.” (Mark 8:29). But a few verses later Peter was bold enough to rebuke Jesus about his revelation that he would suffer and be killed. Jesus spoke back sharply, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” (Mark 8:33)

Proclaimed Loyalty when Jesus revealed that they would all fall away. Mark 14:29-31 Peter said to him, “Even though they all fall away, I will not.” And Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.”But he said emphatically, “If I must die with you, I will not deny you…”

Jesus asked Peter, James, and John to with him into the Garden of Gethsemane in that moment of intense prayer before his arrest, Mark 14:37-39 “…he came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” That was a prophetic.

Denied Jesus. As Jesus was arrested, Peter follows from afar. When he is questioned about his connection to Jesus, and after two denials, “… he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, ‘I do not know this man of whom you speak.’ And immediately the rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” And he broke down and wept.” Mark 14:69-72

The painful events of the cross are near the end of Mark, but not the end of the story.

2. The Great News: The Tomb is Empty (Mark 16:1-6)

Mark 16:1-6

When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him.