Resurrection! Mark 16: 1-8

When we cry together “Christ is Risen, indeed!” What exactly are we proclaiming? We are harkening back to today’s Gospel text after a trying Holy Week. 

Jesus was killed right before the Sabbath, which meant that his followers had to quickly put his body in the tomb and come back to care for it later. So, when the Sabbath was over, the same women who had stood by Jesus at the cross, and the same women who had watched where they had laid his body, came back to give him a proper burial. 

I wonder, as they were approaching the tomb, if they were thinking of the woman who not that long ago anointed Jesus with expensive perfume and her tears? Did they recall Jesus’s words to his disciples, “But you will not always have me.  She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial.” Or in the haze of their deep grief, were they simply going step by step to the tomb? 

At one point someone remembered the stone. The stone that the Roman government had put in front of the tomb to prevent anyone from coming to steal Jesus’s body and claim that he had risen. The stone that may prevent them from doing this one final kind act for their master and lord. 

But when they arrived at the tomb, they found that the stone had already been rolled away. One less thing to worry about. They entered into the tomb and were struck with terror. Because they were not alone in the tomb. A man dressed in a white robe was already there. 

Of course, he said the words “Don’t be alarmed”. Words that harkened back to the announcement of Jesus’s birth long ago. Words that they had heard again and again as they traveled with the disciples. But they were still afraid as the man told them about their task - saying that they had come look for Jesus, but he is risen! Look for yourselves! He isn’t here. 

This is not what the women had been expecting at all. All they wanted to do was go and give Jesus a proper burial. While the rest of the world moved on, getting back to normal after what had happened on the cross that day, their lives had been changed. But now they were in completely amazement. This they don’t even know how to process. 

The man dressed in white wasn’t finished though. He told them to take a message to the disciples and Peter that Jesus was going on ahead of them to Galilee. They will see him there. 

Galilee, that place where it had all began. The place where Jesus had called the disciples from the shoreline. The place where Jesus had taught, and brought healing, and performed miracles. Now the disciples were to go back there and have this encounter with Jesus.

But at the same time, Galilee is also a place of the unknown. It’s a place of different people, with a variety of accents, customs, and mannerisms. Is that really the safest place to go at a time like this?

The women left the tomb. But they didn’t do what the angel said, because they were afraid.

It’s not a very satisfying ending, is it? We want more! What happened? How did the disciples know to go and meet Jesus? What happened next? The early church also struggled with this particular Gospel’s account of the resurrection, so much so that they tacked on an additional ending to answer some of the questions they and we have. 

But today I just want to stick with this original text. Because there is something about the unknown that speaks to us today as well, is there not? There is something about the terror, amazement and fear the women felt that we can understand in the world we live in today. How are we supposed to go back to the place where it all began when we know where it ends? How are we supposed to go back and encounter Jesus in the place where people are different then us? How is this Good News?

Maybe, just maybe, the unsatisfying ending is in and of itself part of the Good News, my friends. What do I mean by that? I mean this. The Good News that we find in Mark, chapter 16 is two-fold. First, what the women thought was the ending, wasn’t. That horrible thing that they experienced on Friday, watching Jesus die and having his body placed in the tomb. That wasn’t the end of Jesus’s story. In the words of Pastor Adam Hamilton, “the worst thing, is not the last thing.” Death did not have the final victory. For Jesus is Risen. That’s part of the reason we come together today and proclaim that “Christ is Risen Indeed!” 

But Mark 16 reminds us that this isn’t the end of the disciples story as well. It’s not the end of the Church’s story. It’s not the end of yours or my story either. We want a nice ending with all of the pieces tied up for us, but that’s not how it works. That’s not how the Good News works, my friends, because it keeps going. We are still part of that Good News today. The ending is still being written. It’s still in process. People are still hearing and proclaiming the Good News right here and around the world. 

The story did not end with Jesus’s death. But the story is also not over yet because God is still at work. We also mean that when we proclaim “Christ is risen indeed!”

The question, then, is how are we living into the Gospel? How are we being part of what has yet to be written? 

Maybe for some of us, the idea of being part of carrying forth the Good News terrifies us like did the women so long ago. What did the women have to fear? Everything. Absolutely everything. They had watched Jesus died. They had returned to care for him and were met by an angel/ stranger who told them that Jesus was risen and told them to go back and tell the disciples to go to a place and a people they may not understand what has happened. 

If they were honest, they didn’t understand what was happening either. It was simply too much to process.

Sometimes, we too have fears. Fears that people won’t understand. Fears of rejection. Fears that people are going to ask us questions that we don’t have answers for. So we flee the sight of the empty tomb. 

But for others of us, maybe the idea that we are invited to be part carrying for the Good News amazes us. Maybe we are asking, “Are you sure you want to use me Lord? Do you know who I am? Do you know what I’ve done?” To which Jesus replies, yes. Now go. We may not fully understand all the ins and outs of proclaiming “Christ is Risen indeed but we are humbled that Jesus is inviting us to be part of this Kingdom work before us. 

And maybe for others what we feel is joy. Joy to go forth. Joy to keep going forth no matter what. Joy because the resurrection has changed us and now we can be part of sharing that with the world! When we proclaim that “Christ is Risen!” We are also saying that Christ saved me. Christ took what my life once was and raised it from the ashes and made it into something new. And you so desperately want that for other people.

No matter what we may be feeling, we are part of the story, Church. The Gospel keeps going on. So, I ask you again, how are we being part of what has yet to be written? Because God is still at work, in and through us, in this world today. Amen.