Easter 04/12/09 Mark 16:1-8 Title: The Story Continues
Easter
04/12/09
Mark 16:1-8
Title: The Story Continues!
Mark’s story of the resurrection is short. It has a strange ending, one that biblical scholars have puzzled over for hundreds of years. He has the women leaving the tomb, even after hearing the words of the angel, afraid and silent. Where is the joy?
It is a strange ending for sure, for in the earliest manuscripts there is no meeting with Mary Magdalene, the disciples, or giving of the great commission. It just stops with the words, “And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”
There are many possible answers for what seems to be a strange ending to the resurrection story. Some scholars think that Mark died before he could finish his gospel. Others, that the last part of the gospel is lost. Others think that the rest of the chapter is his. The problem with that believe is that the writing style is so different from the rest of the Gospel.
No one knows for sure one way or the other, but as I studied the text his abrupt ending became clearer. Why are the women afraid and silent? What is going to happen next? For Mark this is not the end of the story, but the beginning, for he recorded for us in verse 6 that Jesus is going to meet his followers in Galilee. He is going ahead of them. Mark’s gospel ends. Our story begins.
Mark wrote his gospel around 60 AD. The people that Mark wrote his gospel for were Christians living under the reign of Nero who was one of the greatest persecutors of Christians who ever lived. It was under his reign that both Peter and Paul were executed; and many of Mark's readers were facing the same possibility. The Jewish-Roman war was going on. The temple would be destroyed in 70 AD. The war would end in 73 when the last rebels killed themselves on Masada rather than be taken captive by the Romans.
Those Christians did not need a history lesson about Jesus appearances after his resurrection. They needed the assurance that Jesus was right there with them in the midst of their troubles. Some of them might have even felt like utter failures in trying to believe in Jesus, much less following the way of Jesus in the midst of their problems.
According to Saint Mark, the risen Christ had gone ahead into Galilee, the place where Jesus started his ministry. This message of risen Jesus going ahead of us is a message we need to also hear; not just in reference to our own sufferings, deaths, and resurrections; but also our going back home after our worship service this morning. Home where there may be piles of dirty dishes, unmade beds; a yard or garden that needs tending, a house that needs cleaning; cars that need washing; spring shopping that needs doing, and preparations for the family dinner.
You see it is easy to believe in the risen Christ in our worship service this morning with all of its wonderful music and Bible readings. Christ is present. He is present in the Word of God. He is present in his Supper.
But where is Jesus Monday and the following Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays when you return home; to the drudgery of the same old things, the same old problems? That is an important question; one that each person sitting here has to answer for himself or herself.
You see, it is really pretty simple, for there are two choices. Is Christ active in your life only on Sunday morning and an occasional thought or two during the week? Or is Christ Jesus alive and active in your life as your Savior twenty-four-seven, ?
If that early morning nearly 2000 years ago was the end of the story, as beautiful as it was what we would have here is a very nice story about a great man who challenged a political system, loved and healed people and rose from the dead in a way that defied the laws of nature as we know them. It would be a nice fairytale to tell our children at bedtime, a lovely little folktale to use when teaching culture and tradition. It would be just a piece of historical lore that is pulled out once a year, dusted off and read one more time, then carefully tucked away until next time. Sort of like the so many people do with nativity story at Christmas time.
It is not a nice inspiring story. It is real and what God requires of us is to take into our hearts, into our lives. For Jesus is alive, and today, so far away from the events of the Gospel of Mark, we, with the help of the Holy Spirit making the unbelievable believable are to finish the story ourselves.
This Easter story is not about new clothes for Easter or ham or Easter eggs. It is not about lilies or candles or even beautiful music. It is about God entering our lives where we know of our inability to please God, no matter how hard we try, or pray, or study his Word. It is about God meeting us in our lives where we are; those lives that are hard, where accidents, diseases, broken relationship, pain, and death occur. It is about God meeting us in our lives that are so often filled with fear, anger, prejudice, and injustice and war, and making a difference in us.
Mark, in ending his Gospel the way he did got it right, for we are very much like the women at the tomb that morning. For, we too have turned away too many times from the tomb in utter defeat and crippling fear, as we have tried to take control of our lives and the lives of others.
But it does not have to be that way, if we let God finish the story in us. Let him speak to you in the announcement of the forgiveness of your sins, the Word of God, and his Holy Supper where we meet God face to face.
You see the story continues in our lives, as Jesus meets us where we are in our hopes and failures. Death did not have the final word in Jesus life, and because he lives, it will not have the final word in our lives, for we have a new life in Christ.
What a wonderful, life giving, comforting story Mark and the other gospel writers recorded for us. The story began in the third chapter of Genesis when God promised Adam and Eve a Savior which is Christ our Lord. It continued in Mary’s pregnancy, Jesus birth, his perfectly obedient trusting life, his death and resurrection.
For most people that is the end of the story, but for Mark and us it is the continuation of God’s love story for us. Mark ends his gospel with three women, exhausted and grief-filled, leaving the empty grave afraid, and trembling with astonishment.
For them and all who truly follow Jesus trusting in him as their Savior it is a continuation of the story. On Friday Satan thought he had won. On Sunday God showed to the world his power of sin and death. We who believe in him as our Savior are now living under his guidance and protection. Go in peace, for he has risen. Amen.
04/12/09
Mark 16:1-8
Title: The Story Continues!
Mark’s story of the resurrection is short. It has a strange ending, one that biblical scholars have puzzled over for hundreds of years. He has the women leaving the tomb, even after hearing the words of the angel, afraid and silent. Where is the joy?
It is a strange ending for sure, for in the earliest manuscripts there is no meeting with Mary Magdalene, the disciples, or giving of the great commission. It just stops with the words, “And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”
There are many possible answers for what seems to be a strange ending to the resurrection story. Some scholars think that Mark died before he could finish his gospel. Others, that the last part of the gospel is lost. Others think that the rest of the chapter is his. The problem with that believe is that the writing style is so different from the rest of the Gospel.
No one knows for sure one way or the other, but as I studied the text his abrupt ending became clearer. Why are the women afraid and silent? What is going to happen next? For Mark this is not the end of the story, but the beginning, for he recorded for us in verse 6 that Jesus is going to meet his followers in Galilee. He is going ahead of them. Mark’s gospel ends. Our story begins.
Mark wrote his gospel around 60 AD. The people that Mark wrote his gospel for were Christians living under the reign of Nero who was one of the greatest persecutors of Christians who ever lived. It was under his reign that both Peter and Paul were executed; and many of Mark's readers were facing the same possibility. The Jewish-Roman war was going on. The temple would be destroyed in 70 AD. The war would end in 73 when the last rebels killed themselves on Masada rather than be taken captive by the Romans.
Those Christians did not need a history lesson about Jesus appearances after his resurrection. They needed the assurance that Jesus was right there with them in the midst of their troubles. Some of them might have even felt like utter failures in trying to believe in Jesus, much less following the way of Jesus in the midst of their problems.
According to Saint Mark, the risen Christ had gone ahead into Galilee, the place where Jesus started his ministry. This message of risen Jesus going ahead of us is a message we need to also hear; not just in reference to our own sufferings, deaths, and resurrections; but also our going back home after our worship service this morning. Home where there may be piles of dirty dishes, unmade beds; a yard or garden that needs tending, a house that needs cleaning; cars that need washing; spring shopping that needs doing, and preparations for the family dinner.
You see it is easy to believe in the risen Christ in our worship service this morning with all of its wonderful music and Bible readings. Christ is present. He is present in the Word of God. He is present in his Supper.
But where is Jesus Monday and the following Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays when you return home; to the drudgery of the same old things, the same old problems? That is an important question; one that each person sitting here has to answer for himself or herself.
You see, it is really pretty simple, for there are two choices. Is Christ active in your life only on Sunday morning and an occasional thought or two during the week? Or is Christ Jesus alive and active in your life as your Savior twenty-four-seven, ?
If that early morning nearly 2000 years ago was the end of the story, as beautiful as it was what we would have here is a very nice story about a great man who challenged a political system, loved and healed people and rose from the dead in a way that defied the laws of nature as we know them. It would be a nice fairytale to tell our children at bedtime, a lovely little folktale to use when teaching culture and tradition. It would be just a piece of historical lore that is pulled out once a year, dusted off and read one more time, then carefully tucked away until next time. Sort of like the so many people do with nativity story at Christmas time.
It is not a nice inspiring story. It is real and what God requires of us is to take into our hearts, into our lives. For Jesus is alive, and today, so far away from the events of the Gospel of Mark, we, with the help of the Holy Spirit making the unbelievable believable are to finish the story ourselves.
This Easter story is not about new clothes for Easter or ham or Easter eggs. It is not about lilies or candles or even beautiful music. It is about God entering our lives where we know of our inability to please God, no matter how hard we try, or pray, or study his Word. It is about God meeting us in our lives where we are; those lives that are hard, where accidents, diseases, broken relationship, pain, and death occur. It is about God meeting us in our lives that are so often filled with fear, anger, prejudice, and injustice and war, and making a difference in us.
Mark, in ending his Gospel the way he did got it right, for we are very much like the women at the tomb that morning. For, we too have turned away too many times from the tomb in utter defeat and crippling fear, as we have tried to take control of our lives and the lives of others.
But it does not have to be that way, if we let God finish the story in us. Let him speak to you in the announcement of the forgiveness of your sins, the Word of God, and his Holy Supper where we meet God face to face.
You see the story continues in our lives, as Jesus meets us where we are in our hopes and failures. Death did not have the final word in Jesus life, and because he lives, it will not have the final word in our lives, for we have a new life in Christ.
What a wonderful, life giving, comforting story Mark and the other gospel writers recorded for us. The story began in the third chapter of Genesis when God promised Adam and Eve a Savior which is Christ our Lord. It continued in Mary’s pregnancy, Jesus birth, his perfectly obedient trusting life, his death and resurrection.
For most people that is the end of the story, but for Mark and us it is the continuation of God’s love story for us. Mark ends his gospel with three women, exhausted and grief-filled, leaving the empty grave afraid, and trembling with astonishment.
For them and all who truly follow Jesus trusting in him as their Savior it is a continuation of the story. On Friday Satan thought he had won. On Sunday God showed to the world his power of sin and death. We who believe in him as our Savior are now living under his guidance and protection. Go in peace, for he has risen. Amen.
posted by Pastor Rhoads | 1:53 PM
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