March 31, 2024 (Easter Sunday)

Sermon title:  “The Empty Tomb”

Scripture:  Mark 16:1-8

(Other lectionary suggestions include Acts 10:34-43, Psalm 118, I Corinthians 15:1-11, and John 20:1-18.)

Mark 16:1-8

The Resurrection of Jesus

1When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. 2And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. 3They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” 4When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. 5As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. 6But 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. 7But 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.” 8So 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.

          Once again, good morning, and Happy Easter! Of all the Scripture lessons we have at our disposal, this is the strangest. Did Mark purposely let his Gospel end this way, or are a couple of pages missing? Scholars have different opinions on the subject. Perhaps Mark knew that his readers would KNOW what had happened, and so there was no need to provide an ending. Maybe. As you have heard before, Mark is the shortest Gospel and also the first one written. How interesting that there are three other Gospels with ENDINGS to them, endings which Mark doesn't have! Maybe Mark was trying to say that the story of Jesus is a NEVER-ENDING story, and it's personal for each one of us! Again, maybe. Perhaps the clue is in what the young man at the tomb said:  He's going ahead of you to Galilee. Perhaps a point is that Jesus is always one step ahead of us, if not in Galilee then someplace else. One place he is NOT is at the cemetery! One place he is NOT is at Golgotha, where he was crucified. Is this story just another way of saying, HE LIVES?

          Do you DOUBT what we celebrate on Easter? That's okay. As we know, Thomas doubted. As a religion professor of mine in college said, “Dead bodies don't usually rise up.” It is easy to get discouraged. Especially if we face this proclamation ALONE. The Lutheran minister Carolyn Coon Mowchan, whom I quoted in an earlier sermon, says being ALONE is the problem. She says, “Intellect alone, feelings alone, scripture alone, prayer alone. Actually, nothing alone and no one alone can come to mature faith.”

          So, congratulations! You came this morning to be with those who believe or WANT to believe! Remember during Jesus's earthly life when he said, “Where two or three are gathered”? He wasn't kidding then, and it's all the more true now:  we NEED each other! “Alone, we are often too afraid to trust the nonrational,” she says. “Alone actually, we have a hard time these days trusting that anything is true. But, if with all our hearts we truly seek him, sooner or later we will have to seek him among the living, among believers, among disciples, among those sent by the Spirit into the world to be the mouthpiece, and the message, the hands and the feet of the risen Christ.”

          Is THAT why Mark's gospel ends so abruptly because he's telling us that we must not wallow in grief at the cemetery but get up and BE the Body of Christ? I don't know. I'm just supposin'. One of the reasons I'm a minister is that I believe this life is not the end! And one of the reasons I believe that is the resurrection story, or STORIES, to be more accurate. That's not the total reason for my faith. As you know, I love the Old Testament, and Psalm 23 says, “I shall dwell in the house of the Lord FOREVER.” Not simply a few days or weeks, but FOREVER.

          Don't I ever doubt? Well, of course - but early in my adult life it occurred to me that even if all this Resurrection stuff is not true, it is still better to live a life full of compassion instead of resentment. Besides, even before the time of Jesus there are some wonderful passages in the Old Testament that stir my soul. Read Isaiah 6 sometime; it talks of Isaiah's vision of God in the Temple. For some reason, I am also moved by a passage in the book of Job in which God rebukes Job for questioning him. The passage is something like, “Where were you when I created the heavens and all the stars sang for joy?” It's okay to question God, by the way, but that Job passage still moves me.

          So why do I believe? I'm not sure, other than by the grace of God. I was blessed with great parents, who first brought me to God. But why did that experience of God “take” with me and not others in my extended family? Also, I was blessed with great ministers along the way. So, PEOPLE encouraged and enriched my faith. What did I say earlier about Jesus saying, “Where two or three are gathered....”?

          It's Easter, and I do need to say something about hope. The apostle Paul says in one passage that if Christ is not raised, we are of all men most to be pitied. That's true, isn't it? We really need the Resurrection accounts to give us hope! Not necessarily hope for Eternal Life, although that's not something bad to hope for! I mean that we need hope to save us from despair, to save us from the idea that the Wrong always wins. Do Pilate and Putin always win? The Resurrection stories tell us NO, GOD is in control! One hymn we sing has this line..... “and though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.” That hymn is called, “This is My Father's World.” The Resurrection reassures us that it IS our Father's world. Do you believe that? I usually do. But what solidifies my faith is the knowledge that all the disciples - even Thomas! - came back to proclaim that Jesus was alive! Maybe he was alive in a different way, but he was there, and they recognized him! What solidifies my faith is the knowledge that these scaredy-cat disciples - who had deserted Jesus in the hour of his need - were now back together proclaiming that he was alive. And all of them (with the exception of John, perhaps) paid for their faith with their lives! I think that fact does it for me. How about for you? Is it Mark's gospel ending with the Empty Tomb, or is it something else for you? Remember that guy Jesus met when Jesus healed his child? He said, “O Lord, I believe. Help thou my unbelief.” I think that could be me, too:  “O Lord, I believe. Help thou my unbelief.” The proclamation is, “Christ is risen! Alleluia!” Can you affirm that? I hope so! Amen.

Pastor Skip