A resurrection scene without Jesus that ends in failure

             Alleluia. Christ is risen! Christ is Risen Indeed! Alleluia! (2x)

            …Was not the triumphant cry of the women at the tomb, 
that first Easter. 
No, instead they ran away, 
seized by terror and amazement
—they said nothing
—for they were afraid.

            There is a reason the earliest church added extra verses to Mark’s Gospel later on. 
There is a reason Matthew, Luke, and John all re-told Mark’s terse verses. 
It is an unsettling ending, 
abrupt and anxiety producing
—not so much a Resurrection Appearance, 
but a Resurrection Absence, 
then silence.

            Mark’s ending is, as Rev. Dr. David Lose describes it, “a resurrection scene without Jesus, that ends in failure.” 
And yet, beloved in Christ
—it is very much good news!

Let us pray.

 

            These women are the last link between Jesus’ joyous ministry in Galilee 
and the fierce horror and finality of Good Friday
—they were with him back home and at the cross, 
and now, the women come early Easter Morning, 
intent on doing right by Jesus’ body. 
But this final act of devotion, 
becomes a moment of panic.

            Fear… terror, grip them. They are overawed by this news. 
“He has been raised, death does not have the last word!” 
He’s waiting for you in Galilee! 
The Risen One!

 

            Two things Mark’s Gospel is known for are: 
-the short, shorn even, Resurrection appearance… or absence rather… 
-and the Markean secret
—that whenever someone stumbles upon Jesus’ identity as 
Anointed Lord, 
Son of God, 
Holy One
—he commands them to, “Tell No One!” 
Don’t even consider it at all, 
until you’re on the other side of the story… 
and now we are!

            Imagine it! The women’s aha!-confession! 
He is the risen one of God!
—we need to go back and see! 
Back to Galilee 
to honestly know him!
Return to the Gospel again!

            God raised from the dead the one who was flooded by the Spirit in Baptism, 
called to do a new thing, 
to be the reign of God for a chaotic and death oppressed world!

            He is raised! 
The Son of God and Son of Man. 
The one whose ministry of 
teaching, healing, and confronting all the forces that defy God and damage relationship, 
pointed to a new and better way of life. 

            He is raised! 
A gentle humble man who in deed and word announced the Kingdom of God; 
Getting Justice not as the world wills it
—he does not ride a war horse, but a donkey (and the Donkey… Makes all the Difference) 
the righting of wrongs by wooing the world 
to a life of devotion, 
intense moral awareness, 
and compelling witness to God!

            He is raised! 
The one who planted parables like seeds, 
and himself was a seed
—his suffering, rejection, and rising from the dead, 
a seed planted and sprouted
—fruit coming in full!

            He is raised! 
At the empty tomb Jesus is revealed, 
the cross IS God’s way in the world!

 

            At the empty tomb, these women are possessed by alarm and terror
—how could you not be struck? 
seized by the enormity of the scene before you! 
And the young man says what angels always say, 
“Be not afraid!” 
Be possessed not by fear, 
but by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, 
for he goes on ahead of you to Galilee
—Go to Galilee! 
Go! Follow him!

 

            Follow him! 
Dear Christians, follow him! 
Our faith is not a hobby, or product to be sold, 
but a life of following the one who is making the whole world right!

            Follow him! 
Christ into whom you are Baptized
—that is an ongoing call to the four Rs
—A life of Repentance (Continually crawling back to the font as we Lutherans are fond of saying), 
and living in a way that honors Christ in all of our roles, relationships, and responsibilities.

            Follow him! 
By pointing to him, speaking about him, 
preaching Christ crucified and raised! 
After all, that’s what Mark is saying with his slim ending: 
The fear and silence of the tomb is a space for you to finish the story
—break your silence, for you are empowered by Jesus to do so! 
Go and tell!

            Follow him! 
Be a seed of the kingdom, 
a repairer of relationships,
practice gentle justice, 
live a life beyond death!
Ours is not simply a grand encounter with God
—but a calling and a journey! Follow him!

 

            They followed him all the way
—from beginning to end, to a new beginning, 
these women. 
There at the tomb, shocked by all that has occurred, 
astonished that the rock is rolled away, 
alarmed by an empty tomb and angelic encounter, 
amazed by the news of the resurrection
—a future is possible! It doesn’t seem like it, but it is, 
there is reason to hope
—you will see him again! 
Look, not where they laid him, but where he promised he’d be
—ahead of you in Galilee, “There you will see him!”

            They are amazed
—(Ekstasis)… ecstatic, literally thrown out of themselves, 
or as authorities on the Greek much more accomplished than I, interpret, 
they are now “standing in a different place.”

 

            They faced the cross and tomb
—and they’re still there—those instruments of death, 
but the women are now in a different place. 

            They’ve been invited deeper into the mystery that we call Easter. 
They found themselves at the base of failure, 
only to discover that “the Gospel does its work in the midst of failure!” 
The Gospel is with us in our rock bottoms, 
Jesus is buried with us there, 
Jesus rises with us there! 
The stone rolls away there!

            There are all kinds of places folk find themselves in life, 
a literal ABC of awful, 
and yet you need to know there is hope there!
—Uncontrollable Anger, Addiction, abandoned by community, 
there is hope there!
Bedridden or behind in school, 
there is hope!
Cancer or Covid 
there is hope!
Unexpected diagnoses, physical decline, divorce, distance from loved ones, 
dissension and disagreements in families, 
yet there is hope there!

Missing those who’ve died, mental illnesses of all sorts, malaise, 
still there is hope.

 

            All of it, life can be hard. 
And yet, Christ is there, buried with us. 
All of it, a reality even as the resurrection transforms it, 
spits us out in a different heart and head space, 
there is a different sense of gravity on the other side
—there is hope on the other side. 
Hope in this new place, outside the tomb, 
standing present with the absence of the risen Lord.

 

            There they stand, in the midst of “a resurrection scene without Jesus, that ends in failure.” 
There the women appraise afresh the Gospel of Jesus Christ, 
Wow! He is the Risen One of God!

There the women continue to follow our Lord, 
wherever he may go, even beyond death.

There the women are thrown out of themselves 
and land in a world where hope is again possible.

            There, at that tomb, they, 
and we as well, can say, 
“Alleluia. Christ is risen! Christ is Risen Indeed! Alleluia! (2x)