“He Has Risen; He Is Not Here!”

Mark 16:1-8

Easter Vigil, Year B

April 16^th, 2006

Mark 16:1-8

[Mk 16:1] When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, so that they might come and anoint Him. [2] Very early on the first day of the week, they *came to the tomb when the sun had risen. [3] They were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” [4] Looking up, they *saw that the stone had been rolled away, although it was extremely large. [5] Entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting at the right, wearing a white robe; and they were amazed. [6] And he *said to them, “Do not be amazed; you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen; He is not here; behold, here is the place where they laid Him. [7] “But go, tell His disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see Him, just as He told you.’ “ [8] They went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had gripped them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

Mark 16:1-4

Mark’s “Amazing” Closure

Before we go on to comment on this closing piece of Mark’s gospel, we should note that the book of Mark itself ends in controversy. Verse 9-20 were attached to this Gospel as a closure, but the writing is so evidently unlike Mark’s style that most people believe it was added perhaps up to 200 years later.

It seems most likely that Mark’s Gospel ends as it began: Hurried, immediate, and with one of his favorite words; Amazement [v8]. It is as though right in the middle of penning the last verse someone broke into Mark’s room and he had to hide his papers before they were taken. According to Thomas Fox, Mark was dragged to death behind a chariot by the people of Alexandria at the festival of their idol Serapis. Who can know the last days of Mark’s life and the last events before he finished penning this “immediate and urgent” Gospel? What we do know is that—whatever the circumstances—Mark never lost his immediacy for sharing these words of Jesus Christ.

None of us wish for our lives to be ended in violence, but all of us hope to end our lives well. Everything about Mark’s life tells us that he ended with the same exuberance as he began the Gospels:

Mark 1:1

¹The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Here is the “the ending” that I would give to the good news of Jesus Christ through Mark. “I was allowed to live to praise him and I was privileged to die praising him. Glory to his name.”

Could there be any greater tribute to a life lived so well, so enthusiastically, and so passionately? Our question is “how can we make our lives more like that every day?”

Will the hallmark of our lives be our enthusiasm to share such great and awesome news—even to the moment of our death? We can only pray.

Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome

Could there have been a motlier crew of the rejected gathered around someone’s grave? Jesus had gone from a following of thousands to three unknown women in a period of days. Although Nicodemus supplied burial spices and Joseph had provided a tomb; where were the people who laid their coats upon the ground in worship? Where the people who were healed, fed, and forgiven? Where were the twelve who walked beside Jesus constantly for three years?

When our Lord’s body was beaten and stretched upon the cross what really died was those people’s image of a messiah: What they expected a messiah to be in their own private world. Do we walk away from the Messiah when he stops being about my needs and focuses instead on the world’s needs?

What happened that morning was not the result of a group of true believers (they came to properly bury Jesus—not to await his resurrection as Jesus prophesied), instead we have a small group of broken women whose love for their friend was even greater than their expectations of him.

They came thinking the stone would still block their path. They came because Jesus had loved them even though the world had lost faith in him; they just came to love him back, to give dignity his broken body as he had given them dignity and pieced together their broken lives. It is those women who loved Jesus beyond expectation who were given the gift of seeing him most clearly.

Do I love Jesus like that? Do I love him even when my promises seem unanswered? Do I love even when my life seems to be falling apart? Do I love him enough to go wherever he is; even when that place may be a tomb of death and decay? Is my love for him even greater than my expectations of him?

The resurrected Jesus tells Peter that to love him is to feed his sheep. Will my love for Jesus take me to where prayers seem unanswered and lives are falling apart? Will my love for Christ’s sheep supercede my false expectations of others and even lead me to the places of death and decay in my own community?

On the first Sunday morning of a dawning eternity, this is what the church looked like; three broken woman whose love was greater than their expectations, greater even than their faith. Perhaps the church has never been so pristine in purpose. Is that the offering I will lay before the altar this week?

Mark 16:5-6

[5] Entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting at the right, wearing a white robe; and they were amazed. [6] And he *said to them, “Do not be amazed; you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen; He is not here; behold, here is the place where they laid Him.”

“Do not be amazed...”

As the women approach the tomb they become concerned—not so much about the guards placed there—but the boulder sealed in the entrance. Their concern is neither for their lives or their reputations (as it was for the apostles at that time) their one concern was, “How do we get to Jesus?”

What a blessing it would be if that were the passion of our day? If all we thought about each morning was, “How do I get to Jesus?”

What we see is that Jesus had already removed every obstacle. Sitting on the stone—we can only imagine that he awaited these women with an ear-to-ear smile—was a “young man” dressed in the purest white. In fact, the word for white [GSN3022 leukos] really means “dazzling light.”

The women don’t have to worry about “how to get to Jesus,” because Jesus already removed the obstacles and left a messenger for them. Similarly, we don’t have to worry about obstacles if all we want to do is “get to Jesus.” All we have to do is go to where his body is most broken in our community and we will be amazed by what we see.

The word “amazed [GSN1568 ekthambeo],” means to be “inspired beyond reason.”

Does that sound like me? Am I amazed in my faith? Am I dazzled by the light? Am I chatting with smiling angels? Do I sound that unreasonable in my delight over the risen Jesus? I am supposed to! I am supposed to be inspired beyond reason!

If that doesn’t sound like my life than there can only be one reason; I must not be in the places where amazing things happen. If I want an amazing spiritual life then I need to go to the places where amazing things happen. A mundane faith is the result of a mundane life. Let’s go where we can be amazed!

Sound scary? Remember these three women; their desire to love Jesus was far greater than their fear of the guards. Which emotion rules my life: love or fear? Only one leads to a dazzling, inspiring, spiritual life.

1 John 4:18-19

[18] There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. [19] We love, because He first loved us.

“He has risen; He is not here...”

Here is a question we must ask ourselves constantly; “Has my Jesus risen yet?”

If so, is my life dazzling and inspiring? Am I like the heavenly messenger waiting atop the removed obstruction between Jesus and his people? Am I someone giving heart to those trapped in cycles of lifeless sorrow: “He has risen; He is not here.”

Could any grander words ever be spoken? These women came expecting to find nothing but decay and death. Instead, they find the message of the ages:

Isaiah 60:1-2

[1] “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.

[2] “For behold, darkness will cover the earth and deep darkness the peoples; But the LORD will rise upon you and His glory will appear upon you.”

Here is the word “risen” in all its marvelous glory: Jesus has risen, our light has come, his glory is upon us, and darkness has no more power.

What are we waiting for; isn’t there someone we know who needs to hear that message?

Mark 16:7-8

[7] “But go, tell His disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see Him, just as He told you.’” [8] They went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had gripped them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

“But go, tell...”

“Go, tell...”

Here is the essence of the Gospel message; it is never meant to be good news “just for us.” Once we “get it,” we are commissioned to “give it.”

The joy of the Gospel grows as we give it away but diminishes if we withhold it:

Matthew 5:14-16

[14] “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; [15] nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. [16] “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

And read these verses closely because the way that others see the glory of God is in our “good works.” Do my “good works” reveal God’s glory? It isn’t the good works that lead to salvation but salvation that doesn’t lead to good works is questionable indeed.

The good news, “He is risen,” always results in the commission, “Go, tell.” Am I going to share the great news about Jesus through my good works today?

“His disciples and Peter...”

Why the disciples and Peter?

There are two ways of interpreting this statement; but first we must remember who is telling the story. Remember that Mark’s gospel is really Peter’s gospel passed on to us. Mark learned his Gospel at the feet of his mentor, Peter. It is Peter who tells us that these women had to be directly told to go to Peter as well. Why?

It could be that heaven considered Peter “outside the fold” at that time because Peter had denied Jesus:

Luke 12:8-9

[8] “And I say to you, everyone who confesses Me before men, the Son of Man will confess him also before the angels of God; [9] but he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God.”

It could also be that the women would shun Peter because of his denial.

Whichever is the case, the most important point is this: Jesus had instructed the angel to “make sure Peter is included.”

That is such awesome news to us. Though Peter had excluded Jesus at our Lord’s loneliest time; Jesus had included Peter in the Apostle’s time of greatest need.

This is the kind of Savior we have. This is the Christ who rises on Easter morning. Not a God who nitpicks and counts our sins; but a God who goes out of his way to even instruct the angels: “Make sure Peter is included!”

“Trembling and astonishment had gripped them...”

These poor women, who could blame them for not racing back to the upper room with the angel’s message? How incredibly confusing that entire week must have been to them. At times, it looked as though Jesus was untouchable; there was the triumphal entry into Jerusalem and the assertion of Jesus’ authority over the temple. Then there were times of horror and sorrow; the arrest and torture of Jesus, the forced march to Golgotha, the brutal crucifixion and rushed burial. Think of how confusing it must have been.

Mark tells us how the women feared reporting what they had seen, but the other Gospels tell us that they were eventually faithful in their commitment. It is in Luke’s gospel that we learn another reason for these women’s reticence to follow the commands of the Angel:

Luke 24:8-11

[8] And they remembered His words, [9] and returned from the tomb and reported all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. [10] Now they were Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James; also the other women with them were telling these things to the apostles. [11] But these words appeared to them as nonsense, and they would not believe them.

In Luke’s version, the light of the Gospel is first given to these women; they are the first ones who are commissioned with the good news of resurrection! It is the male followers of Jesus who reject these women’s claim. “After all,” they apparently thought, “Jesus would come to us—the men—first!”

So, these men ridiculed the women: “These words appeared to them as nonsense, and they would not believe them.”

It is but one or two hours into the first Easter Service and already one group is being ostracized for their faith, why?

1. “We are the authorities (males) here; Christ would obviously speak to us first.”

2. “We didn’t see or experience this; so how can it be?”

Regardless of these men’s responses, the women were bravely faithful to their commission. It is not their commission to make the men believe, it is not their commission to ridicule the men in return. It is their commission to share the good news regardless of how it is received.

Most of us have been on one side or the other of this story at different points in our lives: Laughed out of the room because of our faith or putting down others because they don’t have our experience or authority. The key question however is this: On which side of the room would Jesus reside?

I have to honestly admit that I find the gospel of Jesus more tangible and transparent in a homeless shelter or prison than I often find it in a Sunday message in many of our churches. Is that how these women felt as they feared their commission to carry out their commission to “the church” that early Sunday morning?

Here is the question for us who are “in” the churches or “in” authority (as the Apostles considered themselves that morning): “How do we make ourselves a place where the outcast would feel free to share their story?”

Just as the angelic messenger removed every barrier between these women and their Lord; what will we do in kind? Are we a sealed rock to an empty tomb or an angelic messenger removing every obstacle?

This is the question that the sudden ending of Mark’s gospel leaves us. We are given both a commission to share the good news regardless of how it is received and a challenge to remove any obstacles between those who love Jesus and the object of their faith. Are we ready?

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