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[I'm the pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio.]
Showing posts with label Mark 16:1-8. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mark 16:1-8. Show all posts
Monday, April 02, 2018
Sunday, April 01, 2018
Surprise!
[This was shared during worship with the people and friends of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio, earlier today.]
Mark 16:1-8
When my wife Ann turned forty, I threw a surprise birthday party for her. Friends from Columbus, our first parish in northwest Ohio, and our then-current parish in Cincinnati packed the place. When Ann and I walked in and people shouted, “Surprise!” she was truly shocked! Our friends, our kids, and I had done such a good job of keeping the thing secret that Ann turned to me and asked, “Did you know about this?”
I love surprises! The first Easter came as a complete surprise to Jesus’ first disciples, although it shouldn’t have. Jesus had “let the cat out of the bag,” so to speak, many times.
For example, in Mark 8:31, we’re told: “[Jesus] then began to teach [the disciples] that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.”
In Mark 9:31, we read: “He said to them, ‘The Son of Man [Jesus’ characteristic way of referring to Himself, based on passages from the Old Testament book of Daniel. The Son of Man] is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.”
In Mark 10:33-34, we see: “[Jesus] said to them, ‘The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.’”
And if all that wasn’t clear enough, in Mark 14:28, Jesus even had told them where He was going to meet them after He had risen. Back home in Galilee. “But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.”
Jesus’ first followers had no trouble imagining that Jesus could be killed. Like most of us, they had experienced death.
They had also seen the savage ways in which others were treated by the puppet king Herod, his overlords, the Romans, and even the Jewish religious authorities. The entire Roman Empire, including their conquered homeland, was riddled with the crosses on which all manner of people, innocent and guilty, had been executed.
But it seems that every time Jesus mentioned that He would rise again, it didn’t register with the disciples. They couldn’t get past death.
People still have the same incapacitated imaginations, unable to conceive that the God Who made this amazing if fallen universe, could start life all over again in the Person of the sinless God and man, Jesus.
Truth be told, we who confess Christ sometimes doubt. It seems impossible that a cross, or an electric chair, a lethal injection, a fatal heart attack, a terminal disease, can lead anywhere but to a grave. That’s why Easter is always a surprise!
Let’s look at at the gospel writer Mark’s account of that first Easter Sunday, beginning at Mark 16:1: “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.”
Jewish days started and ended at sundown. After Jesus drew His last breath on the cross, it was nearly sundown, almost the start of a new day, in this case the start of the Sabbath, a Saturday. To have handled Jesus’ body on the Sabbath would have made the pious Jews who made up the original band of Christian disciples unclean, and so unable to participate in the Passover. So, Jesus had been put into a burial tomb before sunset.
The usual practice was for the bodies of the dead to be anointed with spices, then washed, before being wrapped in burial cloths and placed in a tomb. Anointing was an important precaution. In the heat of the Middle East, bodies decomposed and stank quickly. And since the tombs were reopened frequently for the entombing of others, the spices lessened the odor as the bodies decomposed. (By the way, in these tombs, bodies would be allowed to decompose and, after a year, the bones placed in small boxes called ossuaries.) So, the women who went to the tomb shortly after sunrise did so not just to honor Jesus, but also to perform a practical task.
Verses 2 and 3: “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?’”
The stones that covered the entrances to tombs were large disks that rolled through channels. To roll them away would usually have required the efforts of more than a few strong men.
The women probably hoped that the Roman soldiers who had been placed at the tomb to prevent Jesus’ body from being robbed would move the stone for them. After all, they might have reasoned, how threatening could a dead Jewish Messiah be to them, or to anyone?
It’s always been interesting to me that, despite the impediment of the stone, the women went to the tomb anyway, a lesson in faith we all need to learn: Because the God we know in Jesus is always dependable, we can trust that He will always make a way for us to do what He calls us to do, even when it seems impossible.
Verses 4 and 5: “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.”
Angels, God’s messengers, almost always appear to human beings as young men dressed in white.
In the original Greek, Mark doesn’t say that the women were “alarmed”; the Greek word is exethambēthēsan, meaning that they were amazed, astonished, awestruck, terrified. This was no ordinary man in white and the women seemed to know it immediately.
Verses 6 and 7: “‘Don’t be alarmed [Don’t be amazed],’ [the angel] 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.’’”
The angel’s message to the women? “Surprise!” The risen Jesus was going to meet His disciples in Galilee just as He had promised.
Death was not the end of God the Son.
Death could not contain a sinless Savior Who died on behalf of sinners like you and me.
And death cannot--and will not-- contain any who, at the prompting of God’s Holy Spirit, in response to the witness of God’s Word, dare to turn from their sin and to entrust their whole lives to Jesus, to believe in Him.
As Jesus told the sister of a friend He would raise from the dead: “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.” And then He asks her the same question this Easter Sunday morning calls you and me to answer today and each day of our lives on earth, “Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26)
Do you believe that no matter what your sins, no matter what your inadequacies, no matter what your flaws. no matter what your doubts, you can believe that Jesus is capable of surprising you daily with new power for living, new integrity, new hope, new peace?
Do you believe that even after the last clump of dirt has been thrown on top of your casket because you believe in Jesus, you will live again with God eternally?
Verse 8: “Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.”
There is debate among New Testament scholars, liberal, conservative, and otherwise, as to whether verse 8 is how Mark originally ended his gospel.
If it is, it would indicate that Mark wanted his readers, including you and me, to experience the same awe, astonishment, and fear that enveloped the women as they fled the tomb. And to help us confront the same decision the women had to deal with as they fled the tomb: Is it true? Is Jesus risen from the dead?
Soon, like the women as they left the tomb, you and I will leave here. Some will collect Easter flowers and head home. Some will go out for Easter dinner with family or friends.
But will we trust the Easter message or trust in the Savior the Easter message is about?
And, like the women after meeting the angel, will we weigh whether we should do what the angel told them to do, what Jesus Himself would later tell all who know about Easter’s greatest surprise are to do?
Later in Mark’s gospel, we learn that Jesus told the disciples: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” (Mark 16:15-16)
Easter is a surprise that our Lord wants us to share!
And, as the women on that first Easter were to learn, the blessings of Jesus’ resurrection surprise are only fully ours when we dare to tell others about it and how the risen Jesus is changing our lives. The Gospel is the only thing in the world that, the more we give it away, the more we have of it. Easter proves that you can never reach the end of God's grace given through Christ!
Jesus is risen! And it's a great surprise to share!
[I'm the pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio.]
Mark 16:1-8
When my wife Ann turned forty, I threw a surprise birthday party for her. Friends from Columbus, our first parish in northwest Ohio, and our then-current parish in Cincinnati packed the place. When Ann and I walked in and people shouted, “Surprise!” she was truly shocked! Our friends, our kids, and I had done such a good job of keeping the thing secret that Ann turned to me and asked, “Did you know about this?”
I love surprises! The first Easter came as a complete surprise to Jesus’ first disciples, although it shouldn’t have. Jesus had “let the cat out of the bag,” so to speak, many times.
For example, in Mark 8:31, we’re told: “[Jesus] then began to teach [the disciples] that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.”
In Mark 9:31, we read: “He said to them, ‘The Son of Man [Jesus’ characteristic way of referring to Himself, based on passages from the Old Testament book of Daniel. The Son of Man] is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.”
In Mark 10:33-34, we see: “[Jesus] said to them, ‘The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.’”
And if all that wasn’t clear enough, in Mark 14:28, Jesus even had told them where He was going to meet them after He had risen. Back home in Galilee. “But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.”
Jesus’ first followers had no trouble imagining that Jesus could be killed. Like most of us, they had experienced death.
They had also seen the savage ways in which others were treated by the puppet king Herod, his overlords, the Romans, and even the Jewish religious authorities. The entire Roman Empire, including their conquered homeland, was riddled with the crosses on which all manner of people, innocent and guilty, had been executed.
But it seems that every time Jesus mentioned that He would rise again, it didn’t register with the disciples. They couldn’t get past death.
People still have the same incapacitated imaginations, unable to conceive that the God Who made this amazing if fallen universe, could start life all over again in the Person of the sinless God and man, Jesus.
Truth be told, we who confess Christ sometimes doubt. It seems impossible that a cross, or an electric chair, a lethal injection, a fatal heart attack, a terminal disease, can lead anywhere but to a grave. That’s why Easter is always a surprise!
Let’s look at at the gospel writer Mark’s account of that first Easter Sunday, beginning at Mark 16:1: “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.”
Jewish days started and ended at sundown. After Jesus drew His last breath on the cross, it was nearly sundown, almost the start of a new day, in this case the start of the Sabbath, a Saturday. To have handled Jesus’ body on the Sabbath would have made the pious Jews who made up the original band of Christian disciples unclean, and so unable to participate in the Passover. So, Jesus had been put into a burial tomb before sunset.
The usual practice was for the bodies of the dead to be anointed with spices, then washed, before being wrapped in burial cloths and placed in a tomb. Anointing was an important precaution. In the heat of the Middle East, bodies decomposed and stank quickly. And since the tombs were reopened frequently for the entombing of others, the spices lessened the odor as the bodies decomposed. (By the way, in these tombs, bodies would be allowed to decompose and, after a year, the bones placed in small boxes called ossuaries.) So, the women who went to the tomb shortly after sunrise did so not just to honor Jesus, but also to perform a practical task.
Verses 2 and 3: “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?’”
The stones that covered the entrances to tombs were large disks that rolled through channels. To roll them away would usually have required the efforts of more than a few strong men.
The women probably hoped that the Roman soldiers who had been placed at the tomb to prevent Jesus’ body from being robbed would move the stone for them. After all, they might have reasoned, how threatening could a dead Jewish Messiah be to them, or to anyone?
It’s always been interesting to me that, despite the impediment of the stone, the women went to the tomb anyway, a lesson in faith we all need to learn: Because the God we know in Jesus is always dependable, we can trust that He will always make a way for us to do what He calls us to do, even when it seems impossible.
Verses 4 and 5: “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.”
Angels, God’s messengers, almost always appear to human beings as young men dressed in white.
In the original Greek, Mark doesn’t say that the women were “alarmed”; the Greek word is exethambēthēsan, meaning that they were amazed, astonished, awestruck, terrified. This was no ordinary man in white and the women seemed to know it immediately.
Verses 6 and 7: “‘Don’t be alarmed [Don’t be amazed],’ [the angel] 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.’’”
The angel’s message to the women? “Surprise!” The risen Jesus was going to meet His disciples in Galilee just as He had promised.
Death was not the end of God the Son.
Death could not contain a sinless Savior Who died on behalf of sinners like you and me.
And death cannot--and will not-- contain any who, at the prompting of God’s Holy Spirit, in response to the witness of God’s Word, dare to turn from their sin and to entrust their whole lives to Jesus, to believe in Him.
As Jesus told the sister of a friend He would raise from the dead: “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.” And then He asks her the same question this Easter Sunday morning calls you and me to answer today and each day of our lives on earth, “Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26)
Do you believe that no matter what your sins, no matter what your inadequacies, no matter what your flaws. no matter what your doubts, you can believe that Jesus is capable of surprising you daily with new power for living, new integrity, new hope, new peace?
Do you believe that even after the last clump of dirt has been thrown on top of your casket because you believe in Jesus, you will live again with God eternally?
Verse 8: “Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.”
There is debate among New Testament scholars, liberal, conservative, and otherwise, as to whether verse 8 is how Mark originally ended his gospel.
If it is, it would indicate that Mark wanted his readers, including you and me, to experience the same awe, astonishment, and fear that enveloped the women as they fled the tomb. And to help us confront the same decision the women had to deal with as they fled the tomb: Is it true? Is Jesus risen from the dead?
Soon, like the women as they left the tomb, you and I will leave here. Some will collect Easter flowers and head home. Some will go out for Easter dinner with family or friends.
But will we trust the Easter message or trust in the Savior the Easter message is about?
And, like the women after meeting the angel, will we weigh whether we should do what the angel told them to do, what Jesus Himself would later tell all who know about Easter’s greatest surprise are to do?
Later in Mark’s gospel, we learn that Jesus told the disciples: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” (Mark 16:15-16)
Easter is a surprise that our Lord wants us to share!
And, as the women on that first Easter were to learn, the blessings of Jesus’ resurrection surprise are only fully ours when we dare to tell others about it and how the risen Jesus is changing our lives. The Gospel is the only thing in the world that, the more we give it away, the more we have of it. Easter proves that you can never reach the end of God's grace given through Christ!
Jesus is risen! And it's a great surprise to share!
[I'm the pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio.]
Monday, April 06, 2015
Your Easter Decision
[This was shared during Easter worship yesterday morning with the people and friends of Living Water Lutheran Church in Springboro, Ohio.]
Mark 16:1-8
[Note: This, in some ways, is the weirdest sermon I've ever written. It reflects the wrestling with God's Word that I go through every week in preparing a sermon, especially the week before Easter Sunday. I have no intention here of "putting words in God's mouth," as I believe that everything I ascribe to Him here is rooted in His Word, the Bible, and is reflective of His omnipotence, holiness, and grace.]
To begin this morning, I need to take you inside a certain preacher’s prayer chamber, inside his heart and mind, as he met with God this past week. “Lord, it’s me, Mark. It’s about Easter Sunday.”
God replied, “I see you’re going through the same gyrations you go through every year, asking the same questions: ‘What can I say that’s new and fresh and different?’ Haven’t you learned by now that you don’t need to say anything new or fresh or different? It’s Easter. You and the people who will be offering their worship to Me will be there to celebrate the greatest event in history, not to hear some snappy presentation.
"My Son, Who was killed by your sins and the sins of the whole world, rose from the dead. He did it so that, when you surrender your life to Him, you won’t have to pay the price for your sins. When you die believing in Him, it’s not the end of your living. You will be raised to live with Me just like Jesus was on Easter.
"You do understand, don’t you, Mark, that that’s the only message you need on Easter Sunday?”
“Yes, Lord,” I answered. “I do understand..sort of...but…”
“Ah,” God said. “It’s My word about Easter from the Gospel of Mark.”
“Yes, that’s it,” I answered.
“And,” the Lord went on, “you think that the eight verses that, under My inspiration, Mark the gospel writer uses to tell the world about what happened when the women went to the tomb is too sparse, too abrupt.”
“Well, Lord,” I explained, “it does end sort of...sort of...anticlimactically. With silence instead of a victory shout. Verse 8 says: ‘Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.’ The incident at the tomb ends without the women telling anyone yet about what the ‘young man,’ the angel, said. And, by this point, they haven’t even seen the risen Jesus yet.”
“As you’ll recall,” God reminded me, “the angel had just said that Jesus had gone ahead of the disciples back to Galilee. This is exactly what Jesus had promised in Mark 14:28: ‘...after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.’ So, the women couldn’t have seen Jesus at the tomb. He wasn’t at the tomb. He had no need to hang around in a graveyard after He had been raised from the dead. He had things to do. And that, by the way, should have been a clue to the women that what the angel said about Jesus being alive was true: Dead men don’t run. So Jesus, once dead, must now be alive!”
“That’s true, Lord,” I said. (God quickly reminded me that everything He says is true.) “But,” I said, “with that clue, why didn’t the women immediately proclaim Jesus’ resurrection? Why did they say nothing?”
“Mark,” He told me. “look at the Gospel lesson again. In the original Greek. What does verse 8 say?”
“Greek,” I groaned.
God responded immediately: “Are you interested in understanding what you’re asking about or are you only asking as an excuse to whine that the sermon isn’t simply magically appearing on your computer screen?”
Truth to tell, rather than rummaging through the Greek, I would have preferred the magical appearance method. But I’m learning not to argue with God.
So, verse 8, literally translated, says: “And outcoming swiftly they fled from the memorial vault for yet they had trembling and amazement…”
When I read it out loud a few days ago, I stopped.
“Hmm,” I said, “I never noticed that before.”
“What hadn’t you noticed before, Mark?”
“The word I translated as amazement and that my Bible translates as bewildered could even more literally be rendered standing outside themselves. The word in the original Greek is ekstatic. That means that they were so overwhelmed by the empty tomb, the angel, and the angel’s message that they were standing outside themselves, thrown off their stride. They didn’t understand.
"But on top of that, it could also mean that they were in awe. They were ecstatic and on the cusp of believing because they’d remembered Jesus saying that He would be crucified and raised, but…” I paused.
“But what, Mark?” I sensed the Lord pushing me, like a patient teacher to a thick-headed but earnest student.
“But it seemed too good to be true to the women,” I answered.
“The scales may be starting to fall from your eyes after all,” My Teacher seemed to say.
I went on, caught up with enthusiasm: “They were trying to take it all in and they had come in contact with one of Your messengers, luminescent with Your holiness and Your splendor. And…”
“And what?”
“And they had to decide whether they believed or not.
"Did they believe that the One they had seen crucified was risen or not?
"Did they believe that through Jesus, the power of sin and death over our eternal lives was erased?
"They must have rifled through their memories and remembered all of the times that Jesus had healed diseases, cast out demons, and raised from the dead, exercising power for others and never for Himself, power that only God possesses.
"They must have remembered all the times He had promised--in promises that seemed so strange to them at the time He made them--that He would be raised from death by God the Father after having suffered the rejection of the world.
"That He would raise from death anyone who turned from sin and believed in Him, giving them a share in the eternal kingdom of God.
"That He would stand by them in this world and hear their prayers and answer them even when He seemed far away.
"That He would claim all His own who believed and were baptized in the the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
"That He would come to His disciples, body and blood, bringing forgiveness of sin and fellowship with God and all the saints of every time and place, in, with, and under the bread and wine through the blessed sacrament of Holy Communion.
"As they ran from the tomb, the women’s ecstasy must have transformed from bewilderment to awe-filled joy!
"Jesus, dead on Good Friday, was now risen and alive and on the march on Easter Sunday.
"By the power of the Holy Spirit, Who makes it possible for we battle-hardened, cynical sinners to fall at the feet of our Savior Jesus and cry out like the disciple Thomas would do one week later, 'My Lord, my God,' the women had gained the ability to believe in and surrender to and tell the world that Jesus is risen.
“So, why, Lord” I asked, “does the gospel of Mark leave things like this at the tomb...with the women fearful and in awe and processing what they’ve heard and trying to decide?”
“Because, Mark,” God replied patiently, “that’s where most of the people of the world are right now.
"Most Christians believe, but can’t decide whether to share what they believe with others. They’re afraid.
"And the rest of the world has heard something of Easter, but hasn’t decided whether to believe--to trust--or not.
"Your job and the job of every Christian is to keep telling others about Jesus--by your words and by your actions--so that they can follow the Jesus they can’t yet see into My bright eternity, where they will see Him always and ever...where sin and death will be distant memories, where all hurts will be forever healed, where love and power will envelop the saints, where every tear will be dried, and where you will live with joy and certainty and purpose forever and ever.
"Everything depended on the women telling others. And they did. If they hadn’t, you might not be celebrating Easter this year...or any year.”
What decision will you and I make?
Will we follow and share Jesus, like Mary Magdalene, Mary the Mother of James, and Salome?
Or will we remain silent?
Will we be frightened of telling others the story of the risen Savior that some will find too good to be true, but which we know is God’s truth for our good?
Will we let the world literally go to hell, even though the message of Easter we might share can spare others an eternity of agonizing regret if we would only must the love and compassion to open our mouths?
Make this the best Easter you’ve ever had. Make every day a celebration of Easter. Say yes to the message of Jesus’ resurrection. Follow Jesus and share Jesus. Follow Jesus and share Jesus. Then keep following and sharing Jesus.
God wants everyone in His eternal kingdom. And He’s depending on us, just like He depended on the women at the tomb, to make His message known. Say yes to God and have a blessed Easter...a blessed life...and a blessed eternity. Amen
Mark 16:1-8
[Note: This, in some ways, is the weirdest sermon I've ever written. It reflects the wrestling with God's Word that I go through every week in preparing a sermon, especially the week before Easter Sunday. I have no intention here of "putting words in God's mouth," as I believe that everything I ascribe to Him here is rooted in His Word, the Bible, and is reflective of His omnipotence, holiness, and grace.]
To begin this morning, I need to take you inside a certain preacher’s prayer chamber, inside his heart and mind, as he met with God this past week. “Lord, it’s me, Mark. It’s about Easter Sunday.”
God replied, “I see you’re going through the same gyrations you go through every year, asking the same questions: ‘What can I say that’s new and fresh and different?’ Haven’t you learned by now that you don’t need to say anything new or fresh or different? It’s Easter. You and the people who will be offering their worship to Me will be there to celebrate the greatest event in history, not to hear some snappy presentation.
"My Son, Who was killed by your sins and the sins of the whole world, rose from the dead. He did it so that, when you surrender your life to Him, you won’t have to pay the price for your sins. When you die believing in Him, it’s not the end of your living. You will be raised to live with Me just like Jesus was on Easter.
"You do understand, don’t you, Mark, that that’s the only message you need on Easter Sunday?”
“Yes, Lord,” I answered. “I do understand..sort of...but…”
“Ah,” God said. “It’s My word about Easter from the Gospel of Mark.”
“Yes, that’s it,” I answered.
“And,” the Lord went on, “you think that the eight verses that, under My inspiration, Mark the gospel writer uses to tell the world about what happened when the women went to the tomb is too sparse, too abrupt.”
“Well, Lord,” I explained, “it does end sort of...sort of...anticlimactically. With silence instead of a victory shout. Verse 8 says: ‘Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.’ The incident at the tomb ends without the women telling anyone yet about what the ‘young man,’ the angel, said. And, by this point, they haven’t even seen the risen Jesus yet.”
“As you’ll recall,” God reminded me, “the angel had just said that Jesus had gone ahead of the disciples back to Galilee. This is exactly what Jesus had promised in Mark 14:28: ‘...after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.’ So, the women couldn’t have seen Jesus at the tomb. He wasn’t at the tomb. He had no need to hang around in a graveyard after He had been raised from the dead. He had things to do. And that, by the way, should have been a clue to the women that what the angel said about Jesus being alive was true: Dead men don’t run. So Jesus, once dead, must now be alive!”
“That’s true, Lord,” I said. (God quickly reminded me that everything He says is true.) “But,” I said, “with that clue, why didn’t the women immediately proclaim Jesus’ resurrection? Why did they say nothing?”
“Mark,” He told me. “look at the Gospel lesson again. In the original Greek. What does verse 8 say?”
“Greek,” I groaned.
God responded immediately: “Are you interested in understanding what you’re asking about or are you only asking as an excuse to whine that the sermon isn’t simply magically appearing on your computer screen?”
Truth to tell, rather than rummaging through the Greek, I would have preferred the magical appearance method. But I’m learning not to argue with God.
So, verse 8, literally translated, says: “And outcoming swiftly they fled from the memorial vault for yet they had trembling and amazement…”
When I read it out loud a few days ago, I stopped.
“Hmm,” I said, “I never noticed that before.”
“What hadn’t you noticed before, Mark?”
“The word I translated as amazement and that my Bible translates as bewildered could even more literally be rendered standing outside themselves. The word in the original Greek is ekstatic. That means that they were so overwhelmed by the empty tomb, the angel, and the angel’s message that they were standing outside themselves, thrown off their stride. They didn’t understand.
"But on top of that, it could also mean that they were in awe. They were ecstatic and on the cusp of believing because they’d remembered Jesus saying that He would be crucified and raised, but…” I paused.
“But what, Mark?” I sensed the Lord pushing me, like a patient teacher to a thick-headed but earnest student.
“But it seemed too good to be true to the women,” I answered.
“The scales may be starting to fall from your eyes after all,” My Teacher seemed to say.
I went on, caught up with enthusiasm: “They were trying to take it all in and they had come in contact with one of Your messengers, luminescent with Your holiness and Your splendor. And…”
“And what?”
“And they had to decide whether they believed or not.
"Did they believe that the One they had seen crucified was risen or not?
"Did they believe that through Jesus, the power of sin and death over our eternal lives was erased?
"They must have rifled through their memories and remembered all of the times that Jesus had healed diseases, cast out demons, and raised from the dead, exercising power for others and never for Himself, power that only God possesses.
"They must have remembered all the times He had promised--in promises that seemed so strange to them at the time He made them--that He would be raised from death by God the Father after having suffered the rejection of the world.
"That He would raise from death anyone who turned from sin and believed in Him, giving them a share in the eternal kingdom of God.
"That He would stand by them in this world and hear their prayers and answer them even when He seemed far away.
"That He would claim all His own who believed and were baptized in the the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
"That He would come to His disciples, body and blood, bringing forgiveness of sin and fellowship with God and all the saints of every time and place, in, with, and under the bread and wine through the blessed sacrament of Holy Communion.
"As they ran from the tomb, the women’s ecstasy must have transformed from bewilderment to awe-filled joy!
"Jesus, dead on Good Friday, was now risen and alive and on the march on Easter Sunday.
"By the power of the Holy Spirit, Who makes it possible for we battle-hardened, cynical sinners to fall at the feet of our Savior Jesus and cry out like the disciple Thomas would do one week later, 'My Lord, my God,' the women had gained the ability to believe in and surrender to and tell the world that Jesus is risen.
“So, why, Lord” I asked, “does the gospel of Mark leave things like this at the tomb...with the women fearful and in awe and processing what they’ve heard and trying to decide?”
“Because, Mark,” God replied patiently, “that’s where most of the people of the world are right now.
"Most Christians believe, but can’t decide whether to share what they believe with others. They’re afraid.
"And the rest of the world has heard something of Easter, but hasn’t decided whether to believe--to trust--or not.
"Your job and the job of every Christian is to keep telling others about Jesus--by your words and by your actions--so that they can follow the Jesus they can’t yet see into My bright eternity, where they will see Him always and ever...where sin and death will be distant memories, where all hurts will be forever healed, where love and power will envelop the saints, where every tear will be dried, and where you will live with joy and certainty and purpose forever and ever.
"Everything depended on the women telling others. And they did. If they hadn’t, you might not be celebrating Easter this year...or any year.”
What decision will you and I make?
Will we follow and share Jesus, like Mary Magdalene, Mary the Mother of James, and Salome?
Or will we remain silent?
Will we be frightened of telling others the story of the risen Savior that some will find too good to be true, but which we know is God’s truth for our good?
Will we let the world literally go to hell, even though the message of Easter we might share can spare others an eternity of agonizing regret if we would only must the love and compassion to open our mouths?
Make this the best Easter you’ve ever had. Make every day a celebration of Easter. Say yes to the message of Jesus’ resurrection. Follow Jesus and share Jesus. Follow Jesus and share Jesus. Then keep following and sharing Jesus.
God wants everyone in His eternal kingdom. And He’s depending on us, just like He depended on the women at the tomb, to make His message known. Say yes to God and have a blessed Easter...a blessed life...and a blessed eternity. Amen
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
A Look at This Sunday's Gospel Lesson
[This is meant to help the people of Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Logan, Ohio, where I serve as pastor, to prepare for worship. But because we use Biblical texts used from the Revised Common Lectionary, I hope that others will get some benefit from reading this post too.]
The Bible Lessons:
Acts 10:34-43
Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Mark 16:1-8
Prayer of the Day:
O God, you gave your only Son to suffer death on the cross for our redemption, and by his glorious resurrection you delivered us from the power of death. Make us die every day to sin, that we may live with him forever in the joy of the resurrection, through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
A Few Thoughts on Mark 16:1-8
1. There are several theories about the ending of Mark's Gospel. (1) Some say that its ending is precisely as we have it in our Bibles, including vv. 9-20; (2) Others, maybe a majority of contemporary scholars, believe that it originally ended at v. 8; (3) Still others, most notably the well-known N.T. (Tom) Wright, hold that, based on the development of the rest of Mark's Gospel, the book couldn't have possibly originally ended at v. 8, but that the original ending is lost to us.
There are other theories as well, but hardly worth going into at this point.
2. Whatever the case, the Church, led by the Holy Spirit, has included vv.9-20, in our Bibles.
3. Nonetheless, Mark 16:1-8, gives us a stunning picture of the first events of the first Easter, one that doesn't tell us what to think or feel, but instead puts us in the places of the three female disciples who had come to anoint the body of Jesus, discovered an empty tomb, and a mysterious young man in white who tells them that Jesus has risen from the dead.
Verse-by-Verse Comments
1When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him.
1. Remember that the sabbath ran from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday, as is still true of the Jewish calendar. So, on the evening before they went to the tomb, these three disciples of Jesus purchased spices for anointing His body.
There's a little irony here in that Jesus is the Messiah (Hebrew) or the Christ (Greek), meaning Anointed One.
You remember that Jesus was quickly buried so that those who handled His body wouldn't be rendered ritually unclean for the celebration of the sabbath.
It was customary to anoint the body with spices--the verb in the original Greek of Mark's gospel is smear, rather than anoint--before it was placed in the tomb. Because multiple bodies might be placed in a tomb, it was important to do whatever was possible to combat the odor associated with decaying flesh. Tombs weren't usually the final resting places of bodies. They were left there to decompose long enough before being placed in ossuaries.
2. These are the three women are specifically mentioned in Mark 15:40-41, as witnesses of Jesus' death. That passage also mentions that they "provided for him when he was in Galilee." One commentator I consulted this week pointed out that care for the body of the deceased was, in those days, seen as expressing love for neighbor, on a par with giving to the poor.
3. In the Old Testament and Jewish law, the testimony of three witnesses was sufficient to certify the truthfulness of an assertion. But only the testimony of men was valid.
Yet, God chose women to be the first witnesses about Jesus' resurrection. The world might doubt their testimony. But all who are open to the Spirit of God know that in Jesus' kingdom, "there is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28).
4. By the way, there is no evidence that Jesus ever married. But had He chosen to do so, there would have been nothing wrong with that. I bring this up because of the occasional author who insists that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene.
2And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb.
(1) In pointing out that this day--what would be Sunday on our calendars--was the first day of the week, Mark is pointing to the new start that creation is given through Jesus Christ. "So if anyone is in Christ," Paul writes of those who believe and are baptized, "there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!" (2 Corinthians 5:17) In Jesus, the world starts over!
3They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?”
(1) These women had no idea how they would complete the task they'd decided to take on. They went to the tomb anyway.
(2) We might wonder where the men were. Are these female disciples of Jesus more courageous than their male counterparts? Well, maybe.
But, keep in mind the status of women in that society. Women weren't regarded as fully adult human beings. Men didn't view women as threats and so women could go about with greater freedom and less chance of encountering trouble for their association with Jesus than the men would have had.
On Good Friday, even these three women watched Jesus' death "from a distance" (Mark 15:40).
4When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back.
(1) Problem solved? Not really. Now, other problems must have suggested themselves to the women, including the possibility that Jesus' body had been taken away.
5As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed.
(1) Mark doesn't tell us that this is an angel. It's safe to surmise as much, though.
(2) A "certain young man," often thought to be Mark himself, makes an appearance in the garden of Gethsemane. Some suggest that this is the same young man who meets the women in the tomb. There are numerous theories about the significance of the young man in Mark 14:51-52, as well as about his possible connection to this young man. But none of them seem to cut it to me.
6But 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.
(1) The "young man" uses the same verb Mark has just used to describe the women's reaction to all that they've seen. "Don't be alarmed," he tells them. This is similar to the first words often used by angels in their Biblical encounters with human beings, "Don't be afraid."
(2) Notice that the young man affirms the reality of Jesus' death. He was crucified.
(3) He tells these witnesses to "look"--note well--that Jesus' body is gone.
7But 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.”
(1) The young man commissions these women to be witnesses, telling the other disciples and Peter to meet Jesus in Galilee.
(2) You may have heard me say it (or may have read where I've written it) before, but it's a fact: Dead men don't run.
The risen Jesus had gone ahead to Galilee, some sixty miles from this spot in Jerusalem, and the disciples were invited to catch up with Him.
(3) There's a deeper significance in this directive too. Biblical faith only looks back in order to gain guidance and inspiration for our lives. Biblical faith is primarily a forward-looking faith. God calls us to trustingly move from day to day in the certainty that Jesus is blazing a trail for us. Hebrews 12:1-2 get at this idea: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, 2looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God."
(4) Why is Peter singled out as one to be informed? There seems to be a lot of informed speculation, but no real consensus on this question.
Is it because Peter is the designated leader?
Or is it because he denied Jesus three times on the night of Jesus' arrest?
Is it to assure us that Christ always seeks reconciliation with us, no matter how we may deny or betray Him?
Maybe all three explanations are true.
8So 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.
(1) Their fear was understandable.
(2) If this is the original ending of Mark's Gospel, it would fit with its strange start. In that case, the entire book would be seen as "the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the son of God," only made complete by our willingness to believe in Him and His resurrection.
(3) On this basis, I believe that there's sound reason to argue, contrary to what most scholars say, that Mark was not the first gospel written, that it may have been the last one written. It appears to have been composed not to evangelize non-believers, as is especially true of Luke's and John's gospels, but to Christians, already familiar with the story of Jesus. Mark only cites about nineteen words from all of Jesus' sermons. Again, I think that he assumes the church's familiarity with Jesus' words. His gospel comes as a reminder that Jesus' life, death, and resurrection are only the beginning. Jesus' followers are called to complete the gospel by repenting and following Him in His kingdom daily (Mark 1:14-15). Of course, I could be wrong. Nothing, in fact, is more likely, because I'm no scholar.
Easter Sunday
April 12, 2009
April 12, 2009
The Bible Lessons:
Acts 10:34-43
Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Mark 16:1-8
Prayer of the Day:
O God, you gave your only Son to suffer death on the cross for our redemption, and by his glorious resurrection you delivered us from the power of death. Make us die every day to sin, that we may live with him forever in the joy of the resurrection, through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
A Few Thoughts on Mark 16:1-8
1. There are several theories about the ending of Mark's Gospel. (1) Some say that its ending is precisely as we have it in our Bibles, including vv. 9-20; (2) Others, maybe a majority of contemporary scholars, believe that it originally ended at v. 8; (3) Still others, most notably the well-known N.T. (Tom) Wright, hold that, based on the development of the rest of Mark's Gospel, the book couldn't have possibly originally ended at v. 8, but that the original ending is lost to us.
There are other theories as well, but hardly worth going into at this point.
2. Whatever the case, the Church, led by the Holy Spirit, has included vv.9-20, in our Bibles.
3. Nonetheless, Mark 16:1-8, gives us a stunning picture of the first events of the first Easter, one that doesn't tell us what to think or feel, but instead puts us in the places of the three female disciples who had come to anoint the body of Jesus, discovered an empty tomb, and a mysterious young man in white who tells them that Jesus has risen from the dead.
Verse-by-Verse Comments
1When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him.
1. Remember that the sabbath ran from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday, as is still true of the Jewish calendar. So, on the evening before they went to the tomb, these three disciples of Jesus purchased spices for anointing His body.
There's a little irony here in that Jesus is the Messiah (Hebrew) or the Christ (Greek), meaning Anointed One.
You remember that Jesus was quickly buried so that those who handled His body wouldn't be rendered ritually unclean for the celebration of the sabbath.
It was customary to anoint the body with spices--the verb in the original Greek of Mark's gospel is smear, rather than anoint--before it was placed in the tomb. Because multiple bodies might be placed in a tomb, it was important to do whatever was possible to combat the odor associated with decaying flesh. Tombs weren't usually the final resting places of bodies. They were left there to decompose long enough before being placed in ossuaries.
2. These are the three women are specifically mentioned in Mark 15:40-41, as witnesses of Jesus' death. That passage also mentions that they "provided for him when he was in Galilee." One commentator I consulted this week pointed out that care for the body of the deceased was, in those days, seen as expressing love for neighbor, on a par with giving to the poor.
3. In the Old Testament and Jewish law, the testimony of three witnesses was sufficient to certify the truthfulness of an assertion. But only the testimony of men was valid.
Yet, God chose women to be the first witnesses about Jesus' resurrection. The world might doubt their testimony. But all who are open to the Spirit of God know that in Jesus' kingdom, "there is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28).
4. By the way, there is no evidence that Jesus ever married. But had He chosen to do so, there would have been nothing wrong with that. I bring this up because of the occasional author who insists that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene.
2And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb.
(1) In pointing out that this day--what would be Sunday on our calendars--was the first day of the week, Mark is pointing to the new start that creation is given through Jesus Christ. "So if anyone is in Christ," Paul writes of those who believe and are baptized, "there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!" (2 Corinthians 5:17) In Jesus, the world starts over!
3They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?”
(1) These women had no idea how they would complete the task they'd decided to take on. They went to the tomb anyway.
(2) We might wonder where the men were. Are these female disciples of Jesus more courageous than their male counterparts? Well, maybe.
But, keep in mind the status of women in that society. Women weren't regarded as fully adult human beings. Men didn't view women as threats and so women could go about with greater freedom and less chance of encountering trouble for their association with Jesus than the men would have had.
On Good Friday, even these three women watched Jesus' death "from a distance" (Mark 15:40).
4When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back.
(1) Problem solved? Not really. Now, other problems must have suggested themselves to the women, including the possibility that Jesus' body had been taken away.
5As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed.
(1) Mark doesn't tell us that this is an angel. It's safe to surmise as much, though.
(2) A "certain young man," often thought to be Mark himself, makes an appearance in the garden of Gethsemane. Some suggest that this is the same young man who meets the women in the tomb. There are numerous theories about the significance of the young man in Mark 14:51-52, as well as about his possible connection to this young man. But none of them seem to cut it to me.
6But 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.
(1) The "young man" uses the same verb Mark has just used to describe the women's reaction to all that they've seen. "Don't be alarmed," he tells them. This is similar to the first words often used by angels in their Biblical encounters with human beings, "Don't be afraid."
(2) Notice that the young man affirms the reality of Jesus' death. He was crucified.
(3) He tells these witnesses to "look"--note well--that Jesus' body is gone.
7But 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.”
(1) The young man commissions these women to be witnesses, telling the other disciples and Peter to meet Jesus in Galilee.
(2) You may have heard me say it (or may have read where I've written it) before, but it's a fact: Dead men don't run.
The risen Jesus had gone ahead to Galilee, some sixty miles from this spot in Jerusalem, and the disciples were invited to catch up with Him.
(3) There's a deeper significance in this directive too. Biblical faith only looks back in order to gain guidance and inspiration for our lives. Biblical faith is primarily a forward-looking faith. God calls us to trustingly move from day to day in the certainty that Jesus is blazing a trail for us. Hebrews 12:1-2 get at this idea: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, 2looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God."
(4) Why is Peter singled out as one to be informed? There seems to be a lot of informed speculation, but no real consensus on this question.
Is it because Peter is the designated leader?
Or is it because he denied Jesus three times on the night of Jesus' arrest?
Is it to assure us that Christ always seeks reconciliation with us, no matter how we may deny or betray Him?
Maybe all three explanations are true.
8So 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.
(1) Their fear was understandable.
(2) If this is the original ending of Mark's Gospel, it would fit with its strange start. In that case, the entire book would be seen as "the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the son of God," only made complete by our willingness to believe in Him and His resurrection.
(3) On this basis, I believe that there's sound reason to argue, contrary to what most scholars say, that Mark was not the first gospel written, that it may have been the last one written. It appears to have been composed not to evangelize non-believers, as is especially true of Luke's and John's gospels, but to Christians, already familiar with the story of Jesus. Mark only cites about nineteen words from all of Jesus' sermons. Again, I think that he assumes the church's familiarity with Jesus' words. His gospel comes as a reminder that Jesus' life, death, and resurrection are only the beginning. Jesus' followers are called to complete the gospel by repenting and following Him in His kingdom daily (Mark 1:14-15). Of course, I could be wrong. Nothing, in fact, is more likely, because I'm no scholar.
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