| When the sabbath was over, Mary
Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought
spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very
early on the first day of the week, when the sun had
risen, they went to the tomb. They had been saying to
one another, ‘Who will roll away the stone for
us from the entrance to the tomb?’ When they looked
up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had
already been rolled back. As they entered the tomb, they
saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on
the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to
them, ‘Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus
of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he
is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him.
But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going
ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just
as he told you.’ So they went out and fled from
the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and
they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. |
|
| Mark 16:1-8 |
| One
of my colleagues in ministry at Second Presbyterian Church,
Kirianne Weaver, was a talented actress, artist and musician.
Kiri and I also went to Princeton Theological Seminary together.
While she was in seminary Kiri did an independent study where
she memorized Mark’s Gospel and gave two readings of
it as her final. She also gave her performance and interpretation
of Mark’s Gospel, on Wednesday evening of Holy Week my
first year at Second Presbyterian Church. What I missed in
Seminary, I was privileged to experience in a congregational
setting. Kiri ended her reading, “So they went out and
fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them;
and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” After
a brief pause she exited the stage. Many church members had
never heard Mark’s oldest manuscript ending, often called “shorter” ending
of Mark’s Gospel. The listeners waited and looked for
Kiri’s return but she did not emerge from the door through
which she had departed. Most folks were confused. What happened
to the resurrection accounts, the food Jesus shared with the
disciples, the walking through walls, the disciples’ recognition
of Jesus, the great commission? After awhile some people got
up to leave. Others looked at their neighbors and asked, “That
is the end? What do you do with that?” Congregants grabbed
their pew Bibles to look at the end of Mark. They were shocked
by the footnotes in their NRSV Bibles. “That is the oldest
manuscript ending? Well I never knew that!” |
| Our
memories meld the four Gospel and Acts of the Apostle’s
accounts of Jesus’ resurrection into one long story.
We begin to believe the various testimonies say the same thing
and speak in the same way. What are we supposed to do with
this tiny narrative account of Jesus resurrection found in
Mark? The congregants of Second had the right to question this
new and jarring revelation. Eight verses! That is it? This
is the resurrection and new life? Mark’s last sentence
drops on us like a bucket of water, splashing all over the
hopeful end we cling to. |
| How can the end of the good news be the women fleeing the
tomb in terror and amazement and telling no one? What was Mark
thinking? Can resurrection life, new life, come to those who
flee; through those who flee? |
| Frederich Buechner said at the end of the 20th century, “Anxiety
and fear are what we know best in this fantastic century of
ours. Wars and rumors of wars. From civilization itself to
what seemed the most unalterable values of the past, everything
is threatened or already in ruins. We have heard so much tragic
news that when the news is good we cannot hear it.” (1)
Perhaps the responses of the women at the tomb are simply emblematic
of our human nature. We are often overcome by fear to the point
we can’t see hope when it is in front of us. Yet God
promises us new life that shatters all our fears both here
on earth and in God’s eternal care. |
| The young man in the white robe proclaimed, “Do not
be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was
crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there
is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and
Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will
see him, just as he told you.” All the elements of a
resurrection story are here. The stone has been rolled back
because the tomb could not contain Christ. God broke the bonds
of death. But I think Mark revealed this good news not only
by the young man in white, but through the women’s actions
as well. Henri Nouwen once wrote, “The mystery of Jesus’ love
[is that] God reveals himself in Jesus as the one who waits
for our response. Precisely in that waiting the intensity of
God’s love is revealed to us.” (2) It is God’s
love and vindication of Jesus life and ministry that breaks
the chains of sin and death for us. God chose to love and reconcile
us to God’s self knowing our response will always be
less than adequate. In Mark the good news shines on us all!
God has chosen to act by raising Christ. Rightly so, we are
receivers of that loving and costly grace. |
| Every day at my first ordained call one minister took the
duty of greeting and aiding walk-ins who needed food or gas
assistance. The hard part of the walk-in ministry for me was
that many of those who came in our church doors needed so much
more than food or gas—and I don’t mean a referral
to a social work agency. Their lives were hard and their wounds
were deep. With no pastoral relationship formed I would sit
and listen to their troubles and sorrows and then I would pray
with them when they were ready to leave. One middle-aged woman
with a toddler looked to me with tears in her eyes and said. “Pastor
I need this food, but I need other help more. My life is a
mess. Some of it my fault, some of it is others. What I need
most from you is to hear words of God’s forgiveness.” I
shared with her the words of forgiveness I say each week in
our assurance of pardon. “I declare to you that in Jesus
Christ, you are forgiven.” With her head still downcast
and her body shaking she said through her tears, “What
I mean is that I am not sure those words are for me anymore.” We
sat in silence for a while and I prayed for God to provide
her with the assurance that nothing she could do would ever
put her beyond God’s forgiveness. The end of Mark’s
gospel came to mind. |
| I asked, “You know Mark’s Gospel?” “It’s
been a long time since I’ve read it.” she said. “Doesn’t
matter. It ends in a different way than the other three. Some
women come to the tomb expecting to tend to Jesus’ dead
body. When they get there God has already raised him. They
do not see him, but are told what happened and that he awaits
them in Galilee, his hometown. Do you know what they did in
response?” “No” she shook her head. “They
fled in fear! The good news that God conquered our sin and
death by raising Jesus had been proclaimed. In Mark, none of
the disciples ever fully give the response to Jesus God desires.
Yet God is gracious anyways. What God has already done we cannot
undo. God loved those women who fled in fear.” She licked
her lips and said, “I think I’ve been fleeing from
God’s love most my life.” We talked a little longer
and I prayed with her again. I don’t know if sharing
Mark’s resurrection story and the response of the women
helped restore her hope or not. We never met again. What I
do know is that we all need Mark’s ending, his proclamation
of grace to those who don’t understand what we are witnessing
most of the time. |
| Again words from Frederick Buechner fit Mark’s resurrection
story. “The proclamation of Easter is that all is well.
In the end, God’s will, not ours, is done. Love is the
victor. Death is not the end. The end is life. Christ’s
life and our lives through him, in him.” (3) Mark’s
account points to what we need to hear and know. God chose
to vindicate all of Jesus’ teachings and ministry, by
raising him from the dead when humanity chose to put him to
death for showing who God is. We chose death; God made a way
for new life to emerge and triumph over death and sin. |
| Jesus is alive! His work goes on beyond the limits of Mark’s
ending. In fact that is what Mark is trying to point us to!
He tells us to go to Galilee, to go home and share this news
with others, for the scriptures have been fulfilled. There
you will see Jesus for God promised it would be so. Terrified
followers, deniers, sinners, all of us who flee—the promise
is given to us. We will see Jesus! |
| Mark would have appreciated that my colleague Kiri left
the sanctuary and didn’t return after her reading. Kiri,
like Mark, left her listeners to ponder the mysterious way
God brings new life out of death and fleeing. Look, go, tell
and see, commanded the young man in white. See how every part
of our life will be resurrected as we encounter God. God is
waiting: for our proclamation, our return, our trip to Galilee. |
| Christ our Lord is risen. Alleluia! Amen! |
| Beth E. Godfrey - April 16, 2006 |
| Central Presbyterian Church, Geneseo, New
York |
| 1. Frederich Buechner in Bread and Wine: Readings for
Lent and Easter (Orbis Books: Maryknoll NY, 2003) 292. |
| 2. Henri Nouwen in Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent
and Easter (Orbis Books: Maryknoll NY, 2003) 182. |
| 3. Buechner, 292. |
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