Sermon Text: Mark 16:1-8, 1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Easter Sunday, 16 Apr 06
Easter is the focal point of the Christian year, celebrating the resurrection of Jesus the Christ from the dead. There is something compelling about Easter -- even for people who regularly avoid going to church. Here's a factoid for you -- about a third of Americans are what is called unchurched - they haven't attended a church service in the last 6 months. There's an organization that studies religion and spirituality trends called the Barna Research Group. What this group also reports is that most of these folks used to attend church. And the majority consider themselves Christians. Some more statistics show that many of these are former Catholics or Baptists.
There is something compelling about Easter that changes the patterns of many unchurched people. Maybe it's a personal crisis, maybe an invitation from a friend or family member, that causes people who usually don't go to church to show up in church on Easter Sunday. If you are one of these people, we are glad you are here today. Something about your past church experience may have scared you off before. But we are glad that you have come to worship today.
Today is a big Sunday in the life of the church. The sanctuary is full. We pull out chairs. We celebrate with great music. We wait to hear the familiar story from the scriptures. And then we hear this!
Let's look closely at the last verse we heard from today's gospel reading. Mark 16:8 "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." "Is this any way to run a resurrection?" That's what Fred Craddock says about today's scripture reading. Many of you know who Fred Craddock is -- he's a great Disciple preacher and retired seminary professor. Just how is running off in terror and amazement supposed to persuade the followers of Jesus, and stir up the hope and desire that eventually builds the church?
And the church did get built -- as our 1st reading from Paul's letter to the Corinthians testifies. In that reading today, we heard probably one of the oldest creeds from the early church. They would recite this in their worship.
It's in verses 3 & 4 of the 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians and is a testimony: that Christ died for our sins, in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures.
This is a summary of the gospel. And Paul knew that. That's also why the early church baptized on Easter because in this one act in worship, the good news -- the gospel -- was summarized. Baptism became a witness. Just as Christ died, WE die to our sins and are raised up to new life. So what's with these 3 women running off in terror and amazement back in Mark's gospel?
We may not really remember Mark's account of the resurrection because these big days in the life of the church tend to all blur together. A good example is Holy Week. We take details from all the gospels and throw them together into one big Bible story. Some of us attended the Stations of the Cross on Friday, at Holy Cross Catholic Church, one of the ecumenical services we had last week here in the Tucker Northlake area. The 14 stations of the cross combine events that are recorded in all four gospels. But each gospel has slightly different witness to the passion. There is no one gospel that includes every detail of the passion story that we have come to know.
Likewise, there is no one gospel that includes every detail of Easter morning as we have come to tell it. Here's what we know: on the morning of the third day some women (1, 2 or 3 depending on the gospel) go to the tomb. The women see the empty tomb. Depending on the gospel, an angel of the Lord, a young man, or 2 men in dazzling clothes, make an appearance. In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, they tell the women looking for Jesus "he has been raised." In John, the risen Jesus himself appears to Mary Magdalene. We tend to blur all the details together into one account.
But when we do that, we often miss something important from the individual gospels. So today, we are taking a closer look at one of these gospels -- Mark. And it is not the easiest one to look at when we are celebrating the resurrection of our Lord.
The other tricky thing about Mark's gospel is that even the early church was very, very uncomfortable with this ending. So uncomfortable that they added some more to tone it down a bit. There are two different endings tacked on to the Gospel of Mark that go past v. 8 -- one called the shorter ending and one called the longer ending. Look it up if you have your Bible with you, or go home and take a look at it. These were not found in the most ancient manuscripts -- they were added centuries after Mark's gospel was written.
But let's take Mark's gospel, ending with v. 8 and see what it has to teach us on this Easter morning. First let's go back to the tomb, with Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James and Salome -- the same 3 women that stayed with Jesus at the cross as he died. Here they are, full of fear, wanting only to anoint the body of their beloved teacher. And all we hear is that they are worried about moving the stone. But you know how it is when something tragic has happened. We are so overwhelmed, we can hardly bear to think about the tragedy. We have a spouse to bury and we worry about whether there's enough ham to feed the visiting family.
But when these 3 women get to the tomb, they find that the large stone has already been rolled away. And a young man dressed in white and sitting inside tells them 3 things:
They don't even know it, but they've just been given three promises full of hope and power.
What we celebrate on Easter HE HAS BEEN RAISED. Hope just shouts out of that short little phrase -- HE HAS BEEN RAISED. This is the gospel. This is the good news. God has done this -- it's nothing we've done for ourselves. God brings life to places where there is none! God so loved the world that he gave his only Son! This is who God is! This is the good news!
And then in the next verse -- "you will see him, just as he told you" another short phrase that is a promise full of hope. Jesus had already promised back in chapter 14, right before he was arrested, that his disciples would see him again. That's where the early church lived -- between those two promises -- He has been raised and you will see him again. In between those two promises, Christ gave them the power to build the church.
2000 years later, we still live our lives in between these two promises. HE HAS BEEN RAISED and YOU WILL SEE HIM. What's in between these two promises, is one more promise that too many of us try to live without. "He is going ahead of you" is the promise that reminds us Christ is with us and we are to follow him. Following this Jesus who "is going ahead of you" can change your life.
I recently read about a prison ministry in Nebraska that helps people turn their lives around.
There was a 40 year old woman named Michelle, who had begun a cocaine habit at the age of 20. By the time she was 35, she had hit rock bottom, was addicted to crack cocaine and was doing anything she could to get the money to buy it, including stealing. Authorities finally caught up with her in 2001 and she landed in jail in 2001. She wanted to kill herself, by drinking Pine Sol in that jail cell. But along came a volunteer for the Good News Jail and Prison Ministry. She talked about God, Michelle remembered.
But this addict had tried spirituality before and wasn't much interested. Still, the volunteer persisted. "She was so genuine," Michelle remembered. "What happened in that jail was such a miracle. I got some hope. With that little bit of hope, I made a new commitment to Christ." With that little bit of hope, she also got into a drug treatment program and today is drug free, has her children back, owns a home, and is a top salesperson at an auto dealership in the Omaha area (World Herald, "Woman Believes Ministry Saved Her", April 2, 2006, p. B1).
Jesus is risen and is going ahead of us. He invites us to follow him. Eugene Peterson, is a pastor as well as the author of The Message, a contemporary translation of the Bible. He uses those words: "He is risen and is going ahead of you" every single day in a very practical way.
Peterson says that "in every visit, every meeting I attend, every appointment I keep, I remember that I have been anticipated. The risen Christ got there ahead of me. The risen Christ is in that room already." In order to fix that idea in his mind, he says, "I have taken to quoting it before every visit or meeting: 'He is risen. He is going before you to 1020 Emmorton Rd.; there you will see him, as he told you.' Later in the day it will be, 'He is risen. He is going before you to St. Joseph's hospital; there you will see him, as he told you.' When I arrive and enter the room I am not so much wondering what I am going to do or say, as I am alert and observant for what the risen Christ has already been doing or saying" (Eugene H. Peterson, Under the Unpredictable Plant: An Exploration in Vocational Holiness, Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing, 1992.)
What would our lives be like if we did the same thing?
At school. Remembering:
As unfamiliar and even unusual Mark's account of the resurrection is for us this Easter Sunday, it IS the good news of Jesus Christ, the son of God, just as Mark promises in his opening verse of the gospel. It is the good news because Jesus of Nazareth was crucified and God has raised him from the dead. It is the good news because he is going ahead of us and we will see him. Christ has died. Christ is risen! Christ will come again! are the words that many churches use in their communion liturgy - words that witness to God's saving act in Christ.
As for the ending of the Gospel of Mark, it doesn't sound like a real ending. And maybe that's on purpose. Maybe it's one of those events that is "to be continued."
BY US as we follow Jesus. Christ has died. Christ will come again. In between is where we live our lives.
He is risen. He is going before us, everywhere we go. There we will see him, just as he promised.
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