Sometimes, it helps to double check the Gospel before you write your sermon. I was surprised as I listened to the Deacon telling us the story of the empty tomb in Mark to hear her continue past the ending of the women fleeing the tomb and saying nothing to anyone because they were afraid. This was the point on which I had planned this whole sermon.
But the crafters of our Gospel book saw fit to add "The Shorter Ending of Mark," one which says that the women "told briefly" the news to Peter and the others and all lived happily ever after because Jesus sent them out to proclaim eternal salvation. The end.
OK...that's some embellisment on my part. But that "shorter ending" which is at least a little better than the expanded "other" ending of Mark was something the church tacked on about the time of the 4th Century. Because.....they needed something better than where Mark left the story??
Anyway...I preached the sermon I had prepared. And I will continue to teach people to pay attention to a message of uncertainty...trepedation...and awe-struck fear that comes with those last words of Mark's Gospel. Because it helps to keep Mark's version a very real and relatable story of Jesus and those who were brave enough to follow his path. They had to go back to Galilee. They had to be reminded of Jesus' declaration that he made coming back from his time in the wilderness. They needed to change in order to move the story of Love forward.
Text: Mark 16:1-8
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I don’t watch a lot of T-V…or Netflix…or Hulu.
But one show that is my “junk food” of television is “The
Equalizer” starring the hip hop artist and actress Queen Latifah.
Like every good cop show ever put on American T-V…the plots are
pretty simple to follow:
Something bad has happened to someone.
The criminal is not readily apparent.
The injured party turns to the good guy…or gal in this case…Queen
Latifah….to get to the bottom of the case and right the wrong done.
And after some plot twists and turns…a few commercial breaks to
help pay the bills…the bad actors are caught…the victim has received
justice…and everything is made right in the world…all in 52 minutes time.
No loose threads…unless they intend for you to come back next week
for a part two.
We like things tidy…and unambiguous.
Which is why the ending of Mark’s Gospel…his story of the
resurrection…is so unsettling.
Because there is NO resurrection:
We don’t see Jesus.
He’s gone.
Some young man…an angel we suppose…tells Mary Magdalene and the
other Mary and Salome…that Jesus has been raised. Go tell the others,
especially Peter…Jesus is going ahead of them to Galilee… the fulfillment of a
promise he’d made right before all the chaos and trouble began at that critical
hour of his arrest and crucifixion.
They hear this news.
But instead of rejoicing and running off to tell the disciples that
Jesus has been raised from the dead…they flee the tomb.
They’re in awe. They’re terrified.
And they said nothing because they were afraid.
Not exactly the ending we want to hear.
No! This isn’t how it’s supposed to end!
These women are brave.
They go tell the men…
“He’s risen! Hallelujah!”
Isn’t that the end we prefer?
But Mark’s a realist.
And we need a dose of reality, too.
Because if this were us…wouldn’t we be terrified and amazed too?
They saw the death of Jesus.
These women watched Joseph put his dead body in the tomb.
They hadn’t been there to see the unnamed woman show up before the
Last Supper to wash Jesus’ body with expensive nard from her alabaster jar…so
they assumed somebody needed to bring spices and do the proper burial
procedure.
Now something beyond their ability to understand has happened.
Jesus has been raised from the dead.
Say what?!
Lots of Biblical scholars have put their minds to why Mark ends his
Gospel in this way…so abruptly and without the nice tight happy ending we want.
Some speculate that this is reflective of the mood in Mark’s
community…the Jewish and Gentile followers of Jesus.
This… the earliest of the Gospels…is from the time when the Roman
Empire destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem for a second time…leaving us today with
only the remnant of the Western wall.
Perhaps these women represent the trauma of that period.
A time of trembling and fear of the Roman Empire.
Others think the purpose of this ending is to get us to remember
that command to go back to Galilee.
Go back to the beginning of the story…to that first chapter of
Mark’s Gospel…where it all began, and finally take in that one sentence sermon
of Jesus’:
“The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has drawn near;
repent and believe in the Good News.” (1:15)
Suddenly…that line…in light of a missing and reportedly resurrected
Jesus…might make a little more sense.
Repent is such a loaded word… especially for anyone whose been told
the lie that they aren’t good enough for God.
But what “repent” really means here is to change your focus.
Because love has won, has beaten death.
See the world through new eyes…with a new heart.
Earlier…we heard the history of God’s people…and the many ways in
which God has always been there from the start.
God was there…through escaping oppression in Egypt…all the way to
escaping a tomb in the outskirts of Jerusalem…God has shown up over and over.
Look and see.
Even crazier? God is there often when we least expect it.
And maybe that’s the message of this peculiar…not-made-for-TV
ending to this story.
While we go about doing those things…making those preparations…carefully
putting together those plans for how to finish the multiple storylines flowing
through our lives…God is working God’s purpose out in ways that are completely
unseen…unknown… unexpected and will blow us away…when we finally pay attention.
God’s work is happening in ways and through people that we can’t
comprehend.
Because…honestly…we don’t always see God’s incredible handiwork and
can’t know how God has been molding and shaping someone until it smacks us in
the face.
And then…once we’re done saying, “Ow!”…we have to just smile, and
think, “Wow!”
This is why the words that are in the Letter to the Hebrews are so important
to remember.
“We must keep mutual love
flowing and to show hospitality to strangers because we may be entertaining
angels without knowing it.”
And angels come in all shapes, sizes, genders—binary or non-binary,
immigrants, and natives.
Now we know that the women didn’t stay silent forever.
The story of the resurrection did get shared…when they were ready
to share it.
Once that initial shock of the moment wore off and they were able
to accept this profound change to their reality: they could say…Jesus had
fulfilled the mission…and Love has burst out in technicolor.
And now…through these women…through us who believe…we can live and
love freely in full color, too.
We have the ending we need…the one which brings us back to that
beginning:
Open the eyes….see and treat those whom you meet with
loving-kindness…and know and believe….
Hallelujah! Christ is risen.
The Lord is risen indeed! Hallelujah!
In the name of God…F/S/HS.
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