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| Picture courtesy of the Lumo Project |
Introduction
Well, we have finally arrived at
the last page of the Book of Mark. We’ve been going through this Gospel since last
June last and here we are in chapter 16 on Easter Sunday.
The
Shock
It
all starts with the men nowhere to be seen. Cowering in a room somewhere, they
are feeling terrified and utterly crushed.
But women, as we know, are made of stronger
stuff. As we saw last Sunday, there they are at the cross. They never leave his
side. They stay to the end. They attend the burial. Then the sun sets on Friday
to start the sabbath.
24 hours later, as soon as night falls on Saturday, the sabbath ends, and they go shopping for burial spices. They will have the gruesome job of washing and embalming Jesus’ butchered dead body as soon as it’s light.
So
up they get, before dawn on Sunday morning. Already, they’re thinking about
what their morning’s work is going to look like. They will tenderly wipe dried blood
stains from Jesus’ stone-cold feet and hands, from his lacerated back and legs,
from that great gash in his side. They will wash his hair and beard, matted
with blood and sweat.
They
will be the last to touch that face that looked at them with such love. With a
deep breath, not holding back their tears, they will gently close his lifeless eyes
for the last time. Then they will lay their perfumed spices on his body and
leave.
I just love the servant heart of these women.
Why did they do this? It was their love and devotion for Jesus. It was the
least they could do. In life they cared for him; in death they would honour
him. They knew he had given it all for them. Nothing was too great a sacrifice
to give back in return.
So they set out at first light, carrying their jars
of spices, and it occurs to them on the way that the tombstone is going to take
some shifting. As they’re thinking about the weight of this great slab of rock,
and the physical impossibility of rolling it, and maybe having to wait until
some men arrive to help they look up and see that someone has already moved it.
Who did it? Where are they? When did they do it? And why? And as
they go in, bracing themselves for the sight of a dead body in a messy burial
shroud, they are startled to see there’s nothing
there, except a young man sitting to the right.
No wonder it says they were alarmed. This tomb, this
sepulchre, this place of the dead now has no body in it. It’s heart-stopping.
It’s shocking; it’s distressing. What on earth is going on?
“You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth who was
crucified. He is not here. He is risen.”
They were freaked out. Mark says
they “went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling
and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to
anyone, for they were afraid” (Mark 16:8).
Jesus had said three times, in plain language, that
the leaders would reject him – they did. That he would suffer - he did. That he
must be killed – he was. And that he would rise again. No one understood it
then.
And they still don’t get it now. What they hear is too
big, too mind-blowing too world-shattering to really grasp. It simply does not
sink in.
From
Fear to Faith
All through Mark’s Gospel we have
been watching people trying to get from fear to faith.
·
When Jesus calms the storm (Mark 4) the disciples are
terrified. Jesus says, “Why are you so afraid. Do you still have no faith?”
·
When Jesus sets free a self-harming, demon possessed
man (Mark 5) the locals are greatly afraid, but the man becomes a believer.
·
When Jesus heals a woman who touches the hem of his
garment, he says “who touched me?” (also Mark 5) and she trembles with fear. Jesus
says, “Don’t be afraid, just believe.”
·
When Jesus walks on water (Mark 6), the petrified disciples
cry out, in terror. Jesus says, “Take courage! Don’t be scared, it’s me!”
·
When Jesus’ glory is revealed in a blinding
transfiguration (Mark 9) Peter, James and John are so frightened they don’t
know what to say.
·
As Jesus walks up to Jerusalem heading for
confrontation (Mark 10) those who follow are afraid.
·
When he gets there, (Mark 11) the religious leaders are
scared of him because the crowd.
·
When Peter is accused of being one of his followers (Mark
14), he is gripped with fear and denies knowing him.
·
When Jesus is on trial, (Mark 15), Pilate is afraid
of the crowd and of losing his job, so he hands him over to be crucified.
This whole Gospel is about how scary and daunting it
is to be around Jesus.
And now, right at the end, “trembling and bewildered,
the women say nothing because they are afraid.”
Fear is a daily reality for us all.
Amongst the most common phobias; fear of the dark, flying, heights and phobia
number one; fear of a harmless creature the size of a £2 coin that you can
exterminate by stepping on – the household spider. Don’t squash it. Kathie (who
is every spider’s best friend) will pick it up and take it outside where it
will be much happier.
I used to fear that I would lose my hair. Look where
that got me! Two modern phobias are arachibutyrophobia (which is actually the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of
your mouth). Clearly, a fate worse than death… And there is now a fear called nomophobia
which is the fear of being without your smartphone.
These are all minor fears that affect your mood. But there are more serious ones that affect your life; fear of change, fear of
loneliness, fear of illness, fear of exams, fear of failing exams, fear of facing your mum and dad after getting the results of exams, fear of financial hardship,
fear of bullies, fear of the future, fear of death.
Nicky Gumbel said recently, “It
is no coincidence that as the fear of God has decreased in our society, all the
other fears have increased.”
Listen, you don’t need
to fear the future. God is already there. You don’t need to
fear death either. This is what Easter is about.
The Victory
On
Good Friday, Death has Jesus on the ropes. It gives him an absolute pounding. There’s
blood everywhere. It’s carnage in the ring! The crowd can hardly watch.
Left hook, right cross,
a series of devastating jabs, then the decisive blow; a right uppercut! Jesus falls
pulverised like a stone to the floor, motionless, lifeless, seemingly out for
the count. Death walks around the ring, face gloating, arms in the air, basking
in the glory of certain victory.
But just as the
count goes to 7… 8… 9… suddenly the whole arena begins to shake. And sensationally
up from the canvas gets Jesus. Death turns around and, is startled to see that this
fight isn’t over yet.
And with one mighty
blow, Jesus thumps it into the ropes with a force so hard, they snap, and Death
falls utterly defeated to the floor below.
The crowd go wild!
Even the referee can’t believe it, but he lifts Jesus’ arm aloft and declares him
the winner, the victor, the undisputed champion of heaven and earth! Halleluiah, Christ
is risen!
The
Understated Ending
Kathie will tell you that I really
enjoy mushroom soup. It’s my favourite. When I go to a restaurant, if soup of
the day is mushroom I don’t need to look at the rest of the menu. I love it.
And so this week I was pleased to see in my local
supermarket Ainsley Harriot Cream of Wild Mushroom soup. Other brands are
available…
But what set this particular brand head and
shoulders above the competition for me was the little message in Ainsley’s own
handwriting on the packaging. It says, “Irresistibly creamy with the rich taste
and aroma of mushroom.” Mmmm, wow. And
look, he even signs the corner of the box with a smiley face.
Driving home, I had visions of happy young women in
gingham summer dresses, and wicker baskets under their arms, picking fresh,
aromatic wild mushrooms for me in English forest glades. I dreamed of a lovely
old copper pan on an Aga cooker with fresh cream being stirred into this
mushroom heaven.
But while I was drinking my soup at home, I started
to read the box. Made in Leeds? When I checked the ingredients, it could have
been Chernobyl… Dipotassium phosphate. Maltodextrin. Trisodium citrate. Calcium
carbonate. Mushrooms 1%... It’s basically a chemistry set with artificial flavouring.
Anyway, I mention this because of the complete
contrast with this morning’s reading. The most ancient and
reliable manuscripts of Mark’s Gospel literally say in v8; “Trembling and
bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone,
because they were afraid of…”
No one knows why Mark’s Gospel ends so abruptly in mid-sentence.
What we do
know is that the earliest Christians added v9-20 to round things off a bit
later; it mentions speaking in tongues and driving out demons, being unharmed
by poison and so on. Isaac will speak on that bit next week, and I expect a live
demonstration from him of snake handing and poison sampling to bring the text
alive…
But why does Mark’s Gospel end so abruptly? Maybe
Mark was just finishing his Gospel when the authorities arrested him so he
couldn’t complete it.
Or possibly Mark died before he wrote the ending.
Or it could be that Mark did finish it, but the last bit about Jesus appearing risen from
the dead enraged some enemies, so they tore it off.
Or perhaps the edge of the scroll with an original ending
was destroyed in the great fire of Rome.
We just don’t know. We can ask when we get to heaven,
though we probably won’t care then…
But if you spend 16 chapters writing about the good
news about Jesus, you really want to end on a more positive note than; “Nobody spoke
to a soul because they were really scared.”
But here’s the thing: a box of powdered soup is
dressed up to sound like something off the menu of a Michelin five-star
restaurant. All image and no substance.
But the Gospel that changes lives, that saves the
lost, that heals communities, that prospers nations, that brings hope to the
hopeless, and blessing to the world has no fancy packaging. There’s no
exaggerated marketing speak. It’s not bothered about image or looking good. It’s
all substance.
All four Gospels confirm that it was women went to
the tomb and were the first reluctant messengers of the resurrection. The 2nd
Century Pagan philosopher Celsus hated Christians. He called them “a council of
frogs in the marsh, a synod of worms on a dung hill.”
Unsurprisingly, he didn’t believe in the
resurrection. But do you know why? Because like everybody else in his day he
said, “You can’t accept the resurrection because it is based on the testimony
of women.” Gullible, hysterical, easily-led, representatives of the weaker sex.
That’s what people thought.
Listen, if the Gospel writers made up a story about
the resurrection to deceive to world, they would never, ever say it was women
who witnessed it because nobody in that society would take them seriously.
They wrote what they did because that’s what happened. They didn’t care
what it looked like in their misogynous world; they just reported the facts.
This is real. This happened. Thousands of Jewish
men were crucified by Pontius Pilate between AD 26 and 36 – you only know the
name of one of them. And this is why. If Jesus had not risen from the dead, nobody
today would ever have heard of him.
Ending
Are you going to open your life to Jesus and
experience his grave-busting power for yourself? Jesus is actually alive today.
He is still changing lives every day. He brings real forgiveness today, true freedom, deep healing today, new life, fresh hope and a bright
future today to all who come to him
in faith. The Bible says, “taste and see that the Lord is good.” If you’ve
never tasted the Lord’s goodness, come on, do it today!
Those women arrived at a cemetery expecting nothing, clinging to the old
familiar past, never imagining that the Lord might change their lives forever.
Maybe that’s how you felt walking into church today? Here we go again…
“Christ the Lord is ris’n todaaaay, aaaaaleluia…”
But the Lord is doing something new. Don’t look in the place of death. He
is not there, he is risen.
Let’s
pray…
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