He is risen! He is risen indeed! Halleluiah!
We are gathered here on this magical morning to remember and celebrate the glorious resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! So I say again:
He is risen! He is risen indeed Halleluiah!
I love this day, and not just because everyone is dressed in their Sunday best, our pews are just little more full than usual, and everyone has a smile on their face. No, the reason that I truly love Easter is that it is the victory celebration over the cosmic battle between good and evil. The votes have been tallied. The last inning is over. The bell has been rung. And the undisputed champion is, of course, Jesus Christ, the Son of God!
He is risen! He is risen indeed Halleluiah!
It’s just a great day! But was that first day, the very first Easter morning, so great for everyone? Let’s hear together the story of the resurrection as the Gospel of Mark tells it…
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. 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?”
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.
“Don’t be alarmed,” he 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.’”
Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.
It’s kind of an anticlimactic reading, isn’t it? Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid. This is how the original and earliest manuscripts of Mark’s Gospel end. The last chapter in Mark, chapter 16, should actually end after the eighth verse. If you look at your Bibles, though, Mark 16 continues for a few more verses. The story wraps itself up a little nicer than ending with those closes to Jesus running away frightened. These last few verses, though, weren’t added until much later, most likely by the monks whose task it was to hand copy the Gospel text for distribution. They, like many of us I would bet, did not like the original ending, so they probably borrowed from the other Gospels to make this one a little easier to handle.
But why do you think the original Gospel writer chose to end his book in this way?
Why would anyone consider this good news, that the women ran away and said nothing to anyone?
I think that it is because the Gospel writer is funny. You see, this epic ends with an inside joke to which only a few in our contemporary context are privy. Throughout the Gospel of Mark, Jesus heals, restores, and redeems. He makes the lame to walk and the blind to see. Those with infirmities are cured and even those declared dead are brought back to life. And all along the way, almost every time that Jesus heals someone, he urges them not to say anything about it to anyone.
Jesus works these miracles in peoples’ lives and then tells them to keep quiet about it.
But do they? Of course not! They tell everyone they can about what has happened to them! Some go straight to the synagogues and make such a scene that the Pharisees and scribes cannot help but take notice. Others go into neighboring towns and villages and shout to all within hearing distance about what the Lord has done through them through this wonderful man, Jesus of Nazareth.
They are told to say nothing to anyone, but they cannot keep it in. They can’t help but proclaim the good news about what has happened to them!
And yet, here, at the end, the most amazing thing yet has taken place! Jesus the Christ was raised from the dead! He is no longer dead, but is risen! The young man in the tomb even shows them the empty burial table, with the linens that had been wrapped around him folded up nicely at one end. Finally the time has come for the world to hear about what Christ has done! Finally, the people involved are not only given permission to tell the world what happened, they are implored to do so!
But what do the women supposedly do? They run away, and say nothing to anyone, because they are afraid.
Brothers and sisters, this is what I like to call holy humor!
Of course they told the disciples! Of course they spread the word to everyone who would listen that Christ the Lord is risen today! If they had not, the church as we know it would not be alive. The Gospel would have died out on the cross three days prior. But praise God that they did tell the world, because now we have the opportunity to celebrate Jesus’ victory over sin and death.
Yes, they might have been afraid. This man, whom they loved, had just been put to death by the very people who had been oppressing them for generations. They might even have been afraid at the aspect of the dead returning to life. There is a reason zombie movies remain prevalent in our world—the idea of something that should be dead coming back to life can be a scary thing.
But the victory we have in Christ Jesus, the victory in which we have the opportunity to participate, is much greater than our fears and anxieties. This victory is why the Apostle Paul can strongly hold that death has been swallowed up in victory! Now, we can look upon sin and death and declare them impotent! Where, oh death, is your victory? Where, oh death, is your sting? This victory is why we can firmly believe that in Christ we are more than conquerors! It is why we can be convinced that neither life nor death nor angels nor demons nor the present nor the future nor any powers nor height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will separate us from the love of God that is found in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This victory over sin and death is why we can boldly proclaim that He is risen! He is risen indeed! Halleluiah!
So may you join in this victory celebration! May you laugh in the face of the death like the first believers did so many years ago when they first heard this account from the Gospel of Mark. May you see the joke present in this telling, and may you rejoice in the fact that these brave women did not remain silent, but shared the Good News with the world that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is risen today! Halleluiah! Amen!
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