Resurrection of Jesus

Mark 16: 1-8

A Sermon by the Reverend Odette Lockwood-Stewart

Epworth United Methodist church

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. (v.8)

The ending of Mark’s Gospel is abrupt and disturbing.  Unlike Matthew, Luke and John, in Mark – the earliest gospel - there is no appearance of the risen Christ, there is no joyful sharing of the good news.  If Mark’s gospel were produced by Dreamworks studio, they would demand a re-write, add some special effects, and send those three women out singing in twelve part harmony.  Imagine if the great Easter Hymn (we just sang) had been written using Mark’s Gospel.   “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today, we’re afraid, let’s run away.” I don’t know, it doesn’t quite have the same ring to it.  Now, if you look in your Bible you will find that there is the alternative, “longer ending” for Mark’s gospel, verses 9-20, that ends on a brighter note, but all the most ancient sources end at verse 8.  In fact it ends even more abruptly because it ends mid sentence: “and they said nothing to anyone for they were afraid and…”.

Mark leaves the Easter story open…for us to finish….

This Holy week at Epworth we’ve had many opportunities to enter into the passion of Jesus and of our lives: early morning prayer; Monday evening Reflection group, Sunday night’s drama workshop, Thursday night’s service of darkness; the community-wide services on Friday - at sunrise, calling for peace, and at noon, recalling Jesus’ “seven last words.” 

In recent weeks and months as individuals, families, as a community we have been plunged into passion stories of our own fear, grief, suffering, and despair.  One person came by my study this week, sat down and said, “Whoa! I really need Easter!”  A young child knocked on my door, to tell me that there was something she felt happy about: that she was going to be six years old and having a birthday party! Then she sat down and said, “But there is something I’m not happy about: the lady in our church who died.”

Here we are, ready for Easter, aching for Resurrection, Sanctuary beautifully adorned, brass and choir calling us to joyous praise, and Mark’s Gospel gives us this great Hallelujah ending:  they said nothing to anyone for they were afraid.

Let’s look at the Easter fear of Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome.

Fear - is response to threat, and these three women clearly were under threat. They risked their lives by tending to Jesus’ body.  They stayed with Jesus at the foot of the cross when all others deserted him. They watched him die in agony. They stood in darkness … felt the earthquake… They saw the soldiers and the mob.  But even so, Saturday night they went to find spices to anoint his body.  And at dawn they went …to the tomb.  They didn’t know how they’d roll back the heavy stone in front of the tomb.  They didn’t know if there would be guards there.  They didn’t know if the same violence that killed Jesus would kill those who cared for him.  They were afraid.

These three women were also afraid because they were face to face with mystery.  They experienced something that they did not fully understand. When they arrived at the tomb, the stone was already rolled away! They walked into the tomb.  Inside the tomb a young man was waiting for them.  He knew why they were there and told them that Jesus, who was crucified, had been raised.  Strange and wonderful news …as unbelievable then as it is now. Fear and awe was a natural and inevitable response to such news.

Finally, I believe the women were afraid was because they knew what was required of them.

Three women were supposed to go and tell the disciples this amazing news with absolutely no authority or evidence.  Who would believe them? They’d be dismissed, or ridiculed …or worse. Now remember, throughout Mark’s Gospel the disciples are portrayed as persistently flawed and fearful.  In all kinds of situations, the disciples just didn’t quite get it … facing a storm, witnessing transfiguration, turning away children, … they misunderstood again and again.  Now the disciples might have been ready to hold onto memories, to ask “what Jesus would do,” to recite his teachings, and recycle his sermons. But to believe that Jesus had been raised, that he was alive … that God was on the loose in the world doing such things, at such a time, that was something else!

These women were afraid precisely because they did understand!

They understood that once this news got out, nothing would ever be the same again.  Elisabeth Schussler-Fiorenza writes, “Resurrection does not simply spell survival of the soul but requires the transformation of the world as we know it.”

What matters is not so much what we believe about resurrection …but whether we expect resurrection!  Jesus did not teach us specifically what to think as much as he taught and showed us how to think, talk, walk, live.  With love.  The wonder of the Risen Christ is the power to transform fear to faith!  It is the power to move us from despair to hope!  That power is love.  Love and fear cannot occupy the same space.

Barbara Johnson wrote, “We are Easter People in a Good Friday World.”

Resurrection offers the invitation to rise above fear’s silence to claim and proclaim new life.  When we expect resurrection, our lives are changed and challenged.  We will live a kind of hope and victorious love that the world will not always understand.  That hope and love has to do not just with reality but deeper reality. It has to do with the announcement that all those life-giving, boundary-crossing things that Jesus did and taught and showed in his living still apply!

You see, the heart of living as Easter people in a Good Friday world is in the heart.

Yesterday five of us from Epworth participated in a gathering called “A Gathering of Hearts Illuminating Compassion.” It was a meeting in San Francisco with the Dalai Lama and religious leaders of every faith traditions. On a day of Passover for Jews, Baisakhi for Hindus and Sikhs, the anniversary of the birth of the Prophet Muhammad for Muslims, and Holy Saturday for Christians.  I can’t even begin to capture or represent the depth and power of the gathering … the expansive spirit, the love, compassion, and the depth of the joy.  We gathered in these dangerous times to pray that “never again will people kill in the name of their religion.”  We gathered in these dangerous times to honor and celebrate what is at the heart of all of the faiths and all of our understandings of God, of reality.  Love.

I found myself drawn once again to the abiding, joy-filled resurrection power that I know as God in Christ.  I found myself once again convinced that self-giving love is at the deepest level the one and only power strong enough to overcome the destructive forces at work in the world through human institutions. 

Jasmin is leaving Epworth to return to Tubingen, Germany, after her practicum here.  When I asked her if there were Easter traditions unique to Germany, she told about Easter laughter.  Usually the pastor would tell jokes on Easter Sunday(I’ll spare you that).  The point being that we can laugh on Easter, we can laugh in the face of death, we can laugh despite the burdens we bear.  I have to tell you, this morning ….at 6:23…. there was another gathering, -- a freezing, drenched gathering of over 30 folks down by the bay –in hurricane wind and rain singing “There’ll be Sunshine in the Morning.”  There was a lot of laughter.  And I felt the same expansive spirit, love, compassion and joy huddling like the March of the Penguins by the Bay as I did in the Mark Hopkins hotel yesterday.

There is a well-known refrain that states the challenge that faces followers of Jesus who want to live as Easter People …  “Christ has no hands but our hands to do his work today.”  The verses that lead up to it are less well-known:

Jesus’ hands built houses and shaped plows.  Today the world needs people who can beat swords into plowshares and rebuild shattered civilizations.

Jesus’ hands quieted storms on the sea and in human hearts.  Today in the midst of storms of hate, prejudice and misunderstanding, the world needs people quietly to build for peace.

Jesus’ touch brought healing to the multitudes.  Today the peoples of the world desperately need healing of body, mind and soul.

Jesus’ outstretched hand offered rest to the weary and pointed the way to God.  Today Christians must blaze a new way of love and community.

Jesus’ hands, pierced by nails, were offered as a sacrifice for your life and mine.  Today if we would follow him, we must offer our lives to the building of his kindom. 

“Christ has no hands but our hands to do this work today.”

It’s Easter morning.  Christ is risen!  Be afraid.  But go anyway … and tell others!