Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries
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Mark 16:1-8
The book of mark has a funny ending. Its ending which we just read, simply says, “Go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee...and they went out and fled the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing...” The actual original text ends in verse 8. This was discovered when earlier manuscripts of the gospel were uncovered by archeologists. The early manuscripts ended with verse 8. It soon became apparent that for someone, maybe a monk that was copying scripture, the ending was odd and insufficient. Surely the rest of the story should have been recorded. Various endings were then added by editors and copyist to try to fix it. But it is clear, the longer and even a shorter passage, of Mark is not found in the most reliable Greek copies that have been uncovered of the gospel of Mark.
Now in your Bibles, take a look sometime, and you may see that what is called “the longer ending of Mark” will be included with a footnote letting you know that it isn't included in early manuscripts, and then some Bibles include another short ending that was also added later. Bruce Metzger, a renown biblical scholar and Greek New Testament expert, writes, “Clement of Alexandria and Origen, two early witnesses to the Bible, showed no knowledge of these verses, and also with Eusebius and Jerome”. The way Mark ended originally is puzzling. I however, am glad, Mark resisted this urge, and left us with an honest account. They went out and fled the tomb...and said nothing.
This ending shows us that the disciples were quite devastated over the death of Jesus and quite unbelieving at the news of his resurrection. Whatever ideas they had about Jesus, Jesus had given them hope, he had shown great works, he had taught them and they clearly loved him and believed still in some sense that Jesus was chosen and would be the savior and messiah they awaited. But now all that was gone, all that was dead, all those hopes were dashed, and the loss was real and poignant, and shocking.
On Good Friday, the reality of death hit home to the disciples. Jesus was dead, and all their hopes and dreams had died also.
Death comes as a shock, it robs us of the people we love. Even though we know life and death are related to each other intricately tied to the web of life, that death is a part of life, the fact we know this doesn't usually take away the shock, surprise and grief of the death of those we love. The same is true of Jesus and those that loved Jesus.
Dead were the hands that held the lepers,
Dead were the fingers that touched the eyes of the blind,
Dead were the lips that prayed thanksgiving over the fish and the loaves,
Dead was the heart that beat with compassion for the outcast, the alien, and the foreigner.
Dead were the lips that bravely stated that the poor in spirit, the meek, the brokenhearted, and the peacemakers would inherit God's kin-dom,
Dead was the Jesus who sat at the table with tax collectors and sinners;
Dead was the Jesus who reached out to the woman at the well, the one ignored and abandoned by her own;
Dead was the Jesus who forgave sins and told us to love our enemies.
The Roman Empire and the religious elite thought they had won. They thought they had silenced another insurrectionist, another radical rabbi who dared to threaten the status quo. When his body was taken down from the cross, they breathed a sigh of relief and thought: Finally, we have put an end to this nonsense.
Until Easter.
On Easter morning, God had the last word. Death will never have the last word again.
On Easter morning, God declared in the words of the Danish theologian, Karl Barth, the divine Yes of God, to the No of the Roman military might.
Humanity at its worst cannot put down the eternal unstoppable word of God; Jesus
God's word demonstrated in power, God's word demonstrated in glory, God's word demonstrated in victory, God's word demonstrated in love, God's word demonstrated in the empty tomb.
Now, I understand a little bit why v8 ends strangely, the disciples of Jesus were terrified and ran out of the tomb and said nothing to anyone. I get that. If they shared their experiences with other, people would think they were crazy, they would be understood, they would be rejected, they were still in danger of the authorities.
Its ok to be in a place where we are honest about our grief, pain and fear in the face of violence and death, to be uncertain about the future, because if we are honest it looks scary, when we look a the world, the news isn't good, we fear that dark days are ahead of us, and what Jesus demands of us . Jesus love is so radical and we are so unused to it that it is unnerving. It is unsettling. The disciples had many examples of times where Jesus unnerved them with his love.
It's ok to be in a place of fear, or uncertainty, because Jesus will meet us in Galilee. The story of Mark is unfinished intentionally because like our story, it is yet to be finished. The story continues. It continues with you and with me, with our broken dreams, with our wounds and grief, with our painful past. We are met with just love, and hope and a sun rising to meet a new day and the wonderful possibilities that are at our very doorstep. Easter offers us the empty tomb, and the resurrected Christ, I am going on ahead of you. My power is enough, my grace is enough my mercy is enough, a new creation is dawning.
Just like a garden that blooms in the spring, like a wilderness that comes to live after the first rains falls, this Easter, if you find yourself in a place like the disciples did, know that we won't stay in that place forever. Jesus is ready to take up places we haven't been to yet. Places where he walked and he will himself be our shepherd, and guiding hand, and will make the impossible possible, the way only God can. Easter is the clarion call of God's new world, and God's new creation dawning in the person of the risen Christ. This heralds Good News for all of us, for each of us. It invites us not just to acceptance and love but to action that springs out of that acceptance of love. Nothing can ever be the same again after Easter. The story, you story...is still being written.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
