Resurrection!
Praying the Gospel of Mark. Resurrection Day. (Mark 16:1-8)
Audio Post: (Also available on The Friendship with Jesus Podcast on Spotify, Apple, etc)
When we walk slowly through Mark’s account of the final days before the cross, the air seems to thicken, the darkness deepen, and the tension and pain of what is coming rises to a level of foreboding and doom. And finally, death. Jesus’ friends have been living there throughout the hours of Friday and Saturday. But the darkness of the night sky, like the anguish in their hearts, begins to give way to a dawning light, as the women approach the tomb.
Here’s the story:
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.
Because our main purpose here is to pray this story, I will not go into all the scholarly and theological debates that exist about the strange way Mark ends his gospel. The question is, of course, did Mark intend to end his gospel here or has a longer ending been lost? Opinions abound.
Your Bible probably includes verses beyond verse 8 but with a note saying the earliest manuscripts do not have this section. Even to the untrained eye, though, verses 9-20 do seem to have been added by someone who is eager to sum up the story. They just don’t sound like Mark.
But, let’s not get pulled into all that. We want to pray the story we have here in verses 1-8. A couple of brief reflections:
Again, The Women
As mentioned yesterday, the only disciples we see in this final chapter are the women who have faithfully remained present to Jesus in his final hours, the two Marys and Salome.
If someone was making up this story, and hoping to use it to convince others of an empty tomb, these would not be the witnesses one would choose. It speaks to the authenticity of the account.
I am struck by how many times, women must have sat in church and listened to a sermon express the idea that all the disciples abandoned Jesus, when the text is very clear – and all the Gospel writers agree on this – that all the disciples did not abandon Jesus. These women remained til the very end, even willing to do the unpleasant duty of preparing the dead body for burial. Mary Magdalene does not appear in Mark’s Gospel until these final moments of Jesus’ life. This is where she shines, pushing past her personal pain in order to serve her Master. I could use more of that in my own life.
The First Day
Then, this verse: “Very early on the first day of the week,” Mark writes. I have written about this in last year’s Easter post here:
I do not know if Mark is saying anything theologically significant here, or whether he is simply reporting the time. John makes more of this in his Gospel, but once you see it it’s hard to unsee it. In Genesis, human beings were created on Day 6. Then God rested. That was the Sabbath day. In the story of Jesus’ passion, he is put to death on the day before the Sabbath, or, day 6. The day of rest is Holy Saturday, and then, on the first day of the week, or, as I like to think about it, the first day of “new creation,” Jesus, the first fruits of this new creation, is raised to new life. And it is not a simple “coming back to life,” and things continuing as they were before. Jesus is not simply resuscitated. He is resurrected! There is continuity with his old body - he still bears the wounds - but he is living an entirely new form of life, a life animated by Spirit rather than flesh, life rather than death, hope rather than despair. A whole new reality has opened up and Jesus leads us into it.
My father used to quip that today is the first day of the rest of your life. How true that is on Resurrection Day!
A Story Left Unfinished
And finally, this ending. All the speculation about the ending of Mark’s Gospel comes about because it reads like it is unfinished. The young man announces that Jesus has risen and will see them in Galilee, and the women flee from the tomb, “trembling and bewildered.” There is no sighting of Jesus, no scenes of forgiveness and restoration, no commission for telling the world about Jesus. The women run away afraid – hardly a satisfying conclusion to the story.
What it does do, though, is invite us to pay attention to our own response to Jesus. All that we have seen and experienced of Jesus over these many weeks has, hopefully, gotten into us. We feel all kinds of things. We wonder about all kinds of things. We have walked with Jesus across the roads of Palestine, sailed with him across the Sea of Galilee, marvelled at his attention to the poor and weak, wondered about his call to deny ourselves and follow him. Then, we followed him as he went to the cross, confused, perhaps, about why he would choose this way, why he was willing to submit to this evil, how he was able to follow his Father’s will even to his own death.
What do you think of such a man as this?
I wonder if Mark has ended his story like Jesus ends the prodigal son story, inviting the older son to come in and celebrate but not telling us what he did – wanting his listeners to respond. Here, Mark tells us the women ran away trembling. Perhaps he is turning to us and asking, ‘And how do you respond to this empty tomb? How do you respond to this word that Jesus is no longer dead but waiting to meet with you?’
This is where the Jesus story as told by Mark comes to an end. I will have some final reflections next week as we bring our prayer experience to a close.
But for now, let’s pray the story, spending some time outside the empty tomb and pondering our response to Jesus. What do you want to say to him? What is your sense of what he is saying to you?
Father, animate my spirit and imagination as I stand here outside your empty tomb, Jesus, on first day of new creation. Open the eyes and ears of my heart, Spirit, that I might receive what you want to reveal to me today.
Prayer: Resurrection
(You can listen to the prayer by itself here. The text follows, if you’d rather read it.)
You haven’t slept. The night, like the day yesterday, seemed to go on forever. You have heard that some of the women are going out to Jesus’ tomb this morning and you feel compelled to join them.
You meet them outside in the cool night air, a glimmer of light on the horizon. The air is cool but you can already feel the warmth emerging.
You walk slowly. Mary and Salome lead the way. They saw where Jesus was laid so you know they know the way. Everyone is lost in their own thoughts. Someone asks in a whisper, “What will we do now? What will become of us?”
“Shhh, sister. There will be time for that later. Let’s concentrate on the task before us.”
You walk in silence, gentle footfalls on the path. A morning bird in the distance, the gentle rustling of leaves in the breeze.
“We have the spices,” someone says eventually, “but how will we get to the body? Didn’t you say Joseph closed up the tomb with a stone?”
You had heard this report as well. You’re surprised, now, that no one thought about this before. You have seen these stones in graveyards. They are usually very large – and heavy. How are you going to move it?
“Should we go back and get the others?” someone asks.
They barely get their words out when you turn the final corner in the garden to see the tomb straight ahead of you. The massive stone is rolled to the side and the tomb stands open.
Your step quickens to get to the entrance, but then, caution, as you think perhaps graverobbers are nearby. You look all around. No one.
You step closer. The entrance to the tomb stands open, inviting you to draw near, to come close. Mary goes in first. You follow her.
You are startled to see a young man sitting there, bathed in white, calm, reassuring somehow.
“Don’t be afraid,” he says. “I know you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He is not here. He has risen! See the place where they laid him.” At this, he moves his arm across his body, motioning toward the obvious emptiness. “He is not here.”
“You are to go now, tell his disciples, and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’”
You stand speechless. How do you respond to this news? What do you feel? What do you imagine saying to Jesus when you see him?
Spend some time with all you notice.
Amen and amen. Thanks for praying.