“16 When the sabbath was over,
Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that
they might go and anoint him. 2 And very early on the first day
of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. 3 They
had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the
entrance to the tomb?” 4 When they looked up, they saw that the
stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. 5 As
they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting
on the right side; and they were alarmed. 6 But 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. 7 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.” 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.” (Mark 16.1-8. NRSV)
From our earliest years many of us are
familiar with the story of Easter.
Whether from Sunday School, parents, or Hollywood movies, the outline of
what happened early one Sunday morning in an out of way place in the vast Roman
Empire 2000 years ago, is one we are able to recite.
One thing that is common about familiar
stories is that often we are so familiar with them that we do not realise what
we do not know about them. When we
recall a common experience in our lives, each of the participants may remember
it slightly differently. When my sisters and I gather and share stories of
family trips or holidays, each of us tell the story differently. Sometimes we are amazed that we were at the
same event. I suppose our interpretations
of an event depend on our station in lives, our ages, what were important in
our individual lives at that times, and so many other things. It is not that
the incident did not happen, but its significance and what we learn from the
event may differ because we each bring and receive something from our lived experiences.
The Bible offers four different account of
what happened when the women went to the tomb to anoint and mourn their friend
and leader, Jesus of Nazareth. Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John.
The details differ, but each highlights
common significant points: Jesus had died; his friends, except for a few women,
had abandoned him and were hiding in fear of the authorities (no one wanted to
be the next victim of Rome’s cruel and barbarous actions); Jesus was laid in a
borrowed grave; on early on the first
day of the week, his brave women friends came to the tomb to mourn; the stone was removed, the
body was gone, and they met, or were told to go and meet, the risen Jesus.
Mark, the earliest and shortest gospel, can
be characterized as the “Joe Friday” of the Gospel writers. You know, the police sergeant from “Dragnet”,
who when he investigated a crime, did not have time for elaborate tales, who
always told the witnesses, “Just the facts, ma’am or sir”.
Mark’s gospel does not have any long
narratives about Jesus birth, death, or resurrection. And he ends his story,
abruptly. “ 6 But 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. 7 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.” 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.”
Now what? Throughout the gospel Mark
emphasized following Jesus. Jesus
called, and people followed. As he was
headed to Jerusalem, and his death, Jesus called, and told his followers that
he will suffer and they would too if they followed him. For those who follow
Jesus are not exempt from hardships, pain, sorrows, and griefs. Jesus reminds them that he will experience
such difficulties and they will too. But if we follow him, we will experience
more than suffering, but life. If we
follow him, we are assured that God is with us.
God has not and will not abandon us. Whatever challenges we face we will
not face them alone, but that the one who breathed life into our lungs, who
sustains the earth and all of creation, is not a God who is separate from us,
but one who walks with us, and most importantly, is willing to lead us.
Yea though I walk through the valley of the
shadow of death, thou art with me, the Psalmist reminds us. The life death, and resurrection of Jesus is
the testimony that the Divine presence is with us. Always.
“He is going ahead of you to Galilee; there
you will see him, just as he told you” Jesus confronted the horrors that
humanity face, and the miracle of that first Easter morning, was that when
confronted with them he met them all and overcame. The jaws of death were not
able to hold him. We are called to walk
on, to face the future, knowing that Jesus will be with us, just as he told us.
Now who can explain the inexplicable? Mark, unlike the other gospel writers, does
not share stories of encounter with the resurrected Jesus. What he does share is that we will meet that
Jesus in our daily lives. Each encounter will be unique. Each miracle we
encounter will be new. The resurrected
Jesus will meet us and guide us. Those
chapters are written in each of our lives.
We are able to share them with one another. The story does not end but
continues. The chapters are continuing to be written in our lives today and
into the future.
Let
us continue the journey. “There you will see him, just as he told you”.
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