Easter
“And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”
That, believe it or not, is how Mark’s gospel ends. With the first witnesses to the empty tomb fleeing in terror – having been given a mission to tell the news to the disciples of Jesus, they instead are so overcome by fear that they don’t follow their instructions, and they say nothing to anyone. The end, roll the credits.
Except, that can’t be the end of the story, right? I mean, the women must have told somebody eventually what happened on that Easter morning, or else how would we even know about it? And we know from many sources that there were many people who saw, not simply an empty tomb, but the risen Jesus himself. This morning we read Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, written at least 15 years before Mark’s gospel and possibly more, where Paul reminds the Corinthians that they’ve already heard the list of people who said they saw Jesus risen from the dead – including Paul himself. Mark would have known that list too. The other three gospels all tell stories, detailed stories, about encounters people had with the risen Jesus. I would think Mark would have known at least some of those stories. So why end the gospel where he does, on a bit of a sour note?
Well, if you’ve ever watched a TV series on Netflix, you’ve seen this maneuver before. The last episode of the season always ends on some cliffhanger, some unresolved tension, something to make you want to come back for the next season to find out what happens. I’ll date myself with this one – Who killed J.R.? Tune in next fall and find out!
Think of Mark’s gospel as a first-century version of this technique. In Season One we followed our hero Jesus, who caused a sensation in Galilee healing the sick, casting out demons, and announcing the arrival of the Kingdom of God. He attracts many disciples and followers, and they follow him to Jerusalem where he is acclaimed as Messiah and King. But then it suddenly all goes wrong. The crowds turn against him, one of his disciples turns him in, most of them run away. The powers that be aren’t amused and they kill him as gruesomely and publicly and decisively as possible – to make sure no one ever thinks about challenging their authority like that ever again. It’s a shame, a sad story indeed.
And then, after the last commercial there’s just five minutes left in the final episode. As the women come to the grave to pay their final respects, the story suddenly turns. They find an empty tomb, an astonishing message, something they never expected and couldn’t even comprehend – something so overwhelming that they run away screaming. What is happening? What does this mean? What will they do? Who is this Jesus anyway, and was he really defeated after all? Well, come back for Season Two and you’ll find out!
Now, if Mark indeed is setting us up with an unresolved mystery to hook us to follow Season Two, we have just one problem – there is no Part Two to the gospel of Mark. Not like the gospel of Luke, for example, which actually has a sequel, it’s called the Acts of the Apostles. Luke writes a second work to tell us what some of the disciples of Jesus did after Easter, but we have no such thing from Mark. So if Mark was setting us up for Season Two of the story of Jesus, where is it?
Well, I think there is a Season Two to Mark’s gospel, but to know where to find it, you have to pay close attention to this final climactic (or anti-climactic?) scene.
Mark says that, when the women enter the tomb, the women see a young man in a white robe. Who tells them: Don’t be afraid. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, but he is not here. He has been raised. His body was buried right there, but you can see he’s not there now. He has been raised, as he said more than once he would be. Now none of this reassures the women; they are still afraid, still confused, still not understanding what was happening.
So the young man tells them: “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.” Go to the disciples of Jesus, if you can find them – because they fled the moment Jesus was arrested. In particular, go to Peter. Mark tells us over and over again how Peter misunderstands Jesus, and especially wanted nothing to do with any of this talk about a cross. When the crucial moment came Peter wanted nothing to do with Jesus. Me? A disciple of Jesus? You must have me confused with someone else. Never heard of him. A disciple of someone weak and stupid enough to let himself get crucified? I’m smarter than that, Peter said.
Go to these disciples, the young man tells the women, and especially go to Peter. I know they’ve taken off, they’re all probably halfway home to Galilee by now. But go to the disciples, and to Peter, and tell them – what? Tell them that when they get home to Galilee, the risen Jesus will already be there, waiting for them. And that they will see him there, back in the lives that they’ve gone home to. And then perhaps you can try this disciple business again.
In Season One of Mark’s gospel, Jesus went through Galilee calling disciples, but none of them were very good at following him. In the end they all fled and abandoned him. In Season One Jesus fails at getting his disciples to actually follow him, but now that he is raised he goes back and calls them again. In Season One the disciples thought they were done with Jesus because they thought Jesus was done. And at the end we find out that Jesus has only just gotten started.
Basically, Season Two of Mark’s gospel is back in the lives of the disciples of Jesus – any of the disciples of Jesus who have failed him in one way or another. Meaning all of us. So Season Two of Mark’s gospel happens in your life, and in my life. Because the good news of Easter is that, even if we have given up on Jesus, God hasn’t. And God hasn’t given up on you either.
We may have tried to put Jesus in a box – to confine him to his grave, or to the church, or to ancient stories of incredible events that took place in a time and place far, far away from here. And every time we do that Jesus rises up and meets us in Galilee, back where we live, in our actual everyday lives. Where his message doesn’t change: the kingdom of God has drawn near to you, so change your thinking and trust this good news.