Mark 16:1-8 New International Version (NIV)
When the Sabbath was over, Mary
Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they
might go to anoint Jesus’ body. Very early on the first day of the week, just
after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other,
“Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?” But when they
looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away.
As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting
on the right side, and they were alarmed. “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are
looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not
here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter,
‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told
you.’” Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb.
They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.
If you’ve been with me at our services over the past few days
you’ll know that we’ve been exploring Mark’s version of the Easter events.
Mark’s was the earliest Gospel to be written and the way he outlines events is
very short and to the point. It’s also a very fast moving Gospel. Everything
happens with almost breathless speed: the text is littered with the repeated
phrase, “and immediately”. There is a real sense of urgency in this Gospel and
the Easter section is no different.
It may seem an obvious statement but the Easter accounts are
the most important texts in the Bible for the Christian: without Easter, we
wouldn't know about Jesus because if his story had ended at the crucifixion he’d
probably have been forgotten other that for passing references in contemporary
sources and there would have been no community memory to pass on.
Those of us who grew up as Christians or in an overt
Christian environment probably have a strong awareness of the Easter message,
possibly as a total mixture of the four gospels, and our understanding of the
events is also shaped by the theology of the Epistles, particularly those of
St. Paul.
What kind of stories are the Easter stories then? What
language do they use? Are they intended as historical reports to be understood
as history remembered or do they use the language of parable and metaphor to
express truths that are much more than factual? Or is it a combination?
There are those Christians who see the Easter events as
literally and factually true. So central is the historical accuracy of the
stories for many people that if they didn't happen in this way, the foundation
and truth of Christianity disappear for them. And then there are those who have
difficulty in believing that the stories are
factual and if believing that these stories are factually accurate is essential
to being a Christian, then they don’t believe they can be Christians.
Many other Christians take a less literal view: aware of
differences in the accounts, they don’t insist on the factual accuracy of every
detail and recognise that witnesses to any event can have quite different
recollections. They might see the stories as part parable and use the model of
parable Jesus himself used - the truth of the story is not dependent on whether
it is historically accurate: there was no Good Samaritan for instance. Does
that render the story meaningless? Parables can be true - truth filled and
truthful - regardless of their factual accuracy and to worry about factual
accuracy misses the point. The point lies in its meaning and in you and I
getting that meaning.
Are we concerned about whether there was one angel at the
tomb as Mark and Matthew record or two as Luke has it? Do we even agree amongst
ourselves about the meaning of the word “angel” and therefore the nature of
angels? Do we worry about where the disciples hid out after the crucifixion:
Jerusalem according to Luke or Galilee according to Matthew? What we do agree
on is the basics: the tomb was really empty and this was because God
transformed the body of Jesus and Jesus did appear to his disciples after his
death in a form that could be seen, heard and touched.
Sadly, though, we often don’t get beyond the "Did it happen?"
reply to the "What does it mean?" question, and that’s the wrong
answer to the question. What we should be saying, perhaps, is: “believe, if you
want, that the events strictly happened in that way. Now let’s talk about what
they mean. Equally, if you're quite sure they didn't happen quite like that,
fine. Now let's talk about what they mean.”
Mark's Easter story is very brief but he provides us with the
first narrative of Easter. He doesn’t report any appearance of the risen Jesus
and the story ends very abruptly. His story starts with the women who saw
Jesus' death and burial going to the tomb to anoint his body, concerned as to
who will roll away the stone covering the entrance to the tomb. As they arrive,
their question becomes irrelevant. They saw that the stone, which was very
large, had been rolled back. They enter the tomb, somewhat tentatively we might
guess, to discover a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right
side. We generally interpret that young man as an angel, but even that word is
loaded with countless unhelpful images of wings and harps and halos thanks to
medieval artists. Let's be clear: an angel is God's messenger so let's strip
away the fanciful appearance. He says 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."
Mark then tells us that the women were given a commission:
"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 although Mark
doesn’t himself recount any stories of the risen Jesus the stage is nevertheless
set for such events. So the women went out and fled from the tomb, for terror
and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone for they were
afraid. This is a good moment, though, to consider the fact that, in all four
Gospels, Jesus entrusted such marvellous news and responsibility to women, of
all people. This charge is both remarkable and ironic, given the lamentable
status of women in communities of faith then and ever since and tells us
something that the church to its ongoing shame has largely failed to
acknowledge. At this crucial moment in
the Gospel story, in salvation history, women represents that thread of hope that
runs through the Scriptures: God's trust of the small ones, the ones on the
margins, the ones without voice, the ones whom God lifts up. How wonderful and
how typical, that Jesus entrusts the primary proclamation of our faith to some
of the "least," some of the "small ones"...and yet, how
very biblical!
So, let's look at the meaning. It’s powerfully evocative.
* Jesus was sealed in a tomb, but the tomb could not hold him
and the stone has been rolled away. Jesus is not to be found in the land of the
dead. "He is not here. Look this is the place where they laid him." This
is why in Protestantism we’re more likely to see the symbol of the empty cross
rather than the symbol of crucifixion. It emphasises the belief that death
could not hold him.
* Jesus has been raised. God's messenger tells the women
this. Jesus who was crucified by the authorities has been raised by God. Our
joyful proclamation, along with that of the women, that "Jesus lives"
is also a claim about Jesus today, in our own life and time.
* His followers are promised “You will see him.” We may feel
very close to Jesus when we imagine ourselves in the garden, walking and
talking with him as we do daily in prayer, but following Jesus after that
encounter means caring about Jesus' great passion, the kingdom of God.
* Like the earliest Christians, we follow "The Way,"
a way that leads to our transformation. The women’s garden encounter with the
risen Christ is familiar to us in different forms today, when we experience
resurrection and new life, when we encounter the risen Christ in our own lives.
* The command "Go back to Galilee" means go back to
where the story began, to the start of the Gospel and what do we hear at the
start of the gospel? We hear about the way of the kingdom, when all of God's
children will live in peace, with enough for all, where healing, peace,
justice, and mercy will reign.
Without the emphasis on Easter as God's decisive reversal of
the authorities’ verdict on Jesus, the cross is simply pain, agony and horror. It
leads to a skewed view of the current world where we conclude that the powers
are in control and Christianity is about the next world, not this one. God has
said Yes to Jesus and No to the powers who killed him. God has vindicated Jesus
because the resurrection is God's way of defeating and denying the powers that
be that were responsible for his death, including empires both ancient and
contemporary. We are reminded that Jesus is really in charge, not the petty
powers that seem to rule the world in every age.
Easter as the reversal of Good Friday, on the other hand,
means God's vindication of Jesus' passion for the Kingdom of God. Easter is
about God as much as it is about Jesus. Easter discloses the character of God.
Easter means God's great mission has begun, but it won’t happen without us in
terms of personal transformation and political transformation: dying to the old
way of being and being reborn into a new way of being: in short, being born
again. This beautiful hope calls us to be grounded ever more deeply in the
reality of God, whose heart is justice, which is the political meaning of Good
Friday and Easter. That sounds as if there’s more for us to do than merely take
good news back to the others: it's a call for our whole lives, individually and
in community. The world should be able to see in our lives our own passion for
the truth that Jesus is risen and that God has indeed begun a work that requires
our participation. If we go back to our lives tomorrow as if nothing has
changed, what then have we really experienced?
