Where Does Easter Find You?

Where Does Easter Find You?

Mark 16:1-8

All religions are the same – superficially. All religions – Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Sikhism are the same – superficially.

• We all believe in the Golden Rule

• We all take up offerings

• We all have holy buildings

• We all try and live by a set of rules

• We all try to be nice to our neighbours

• We all have Sacred Scriptures

So, we are the same, superficially.

Christianity, however, is fundamentally different than every other religion on earth. The huge different between Christianity and any other religion is this: Our Founder, Jesus Christ, was born in 5 BC in an obscure village outside of Jerusalem, lived 30 years of his life in another obscure village in the Galilee, died in Jerusalem on a Roman Cross in about 30 AD and here is the big difference: three days later rose He from the dead.

There is no other founder of a world religion who died and rose again. That is the fundamental difference between Christianity and everyone else. The Sikhs wear turbans and we don’t. That is not a very big difference. The Muslims pray facing Mecca five times a day and we don’t. That is not a big difference. The Hindus believe that they are coming back to earth to live life in another form, and we don’t. Even that is not the big difference between us.

The big difference which makes all the difference is the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The account of our Lord’s resurrection is found in all four Gospels. These are eyewitness accounts of what happened on the first Easter morning 2000 years ago.

Somebody says: But that’s not science. You can’t prove that. Of course, it’s not science. It’s history. Science is proven true by repeated experiments. You can’t repeat history. History is proven by eyewitness documentation. For example, how do we know that Julius Caesar was killed on March 15, 44 BC? They kept calendars. They had eyewitness, reporters, they kept journals, they wrote down the facts. That is how all of history is proven.

And that is how the resurrection of Jesus Christ is established. There were eyewitness (over 500), there were people who wrote down the facts. Four of these accounts made it into our Holy Book. We call them the four Gospels. And this morning we are going to look at one of these accounts of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Oldest – the Gospel of Mark.

Mark’s Gospel is perhaps the strangest of the four. It has a very odd beginning and ending. The ending of Mark’s Gospel is verse 8.

If you have one of the newer translations of the Bible, then right after verse 8 it says something about the oldest and best manuscripts do not have the verses that follow.

If you check out the writings of the Early Church fathers from the second and third centuries, they quote extensively from the Gospel of Mark, but not once do they quote the verses you will find in the KJV ending. The best and oldest manuscripts end at verse 8. That is where Mark stopped.

But what a strange place to end the greatest story of Good News ever written: Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.

What an odd way to end a book about Good News! How would you have ended the Gospel of Mark if it had been up to you? Here’s how Chapter 16 would have ended if I had written it:

“And when the Sabbath was over, The Trumpet of God sounded. And the Lord of Hosts descended upon Jerusalem.

Three women, including one former prostitute, walked to the Tomb where Jesus had been buried only to see a light brighter than the noonday sun coming from within. With a crack of thunder, the great tombstone flew across the garden like a pebble.

Within moments Jesus walked in triumph in a blasé of light into the Jerusalem City Centre. A growing crowd followed him singing loud praise to God. People now in the thousands are singing and dancing to the Risen Lord.

The victory parade takes them past the Palaces of Herod, Pilate and Caiaphas. These men come out to see what is going on and collapse in terror upon the ground. Jesus marches on in glory to the Mount of Olives.

When he gets to the top of the Mount all heaven opens before him. Thousands, thousands, now are in his train. And they lift their voices as one: Hallelujah, Hallelujah for the Lord God Omnipotent reigns.

As they continue singing the Hallelujah Course he slowly ascends into heaven with the words: Behold, I am with you always even unto the end of the age.”