P.S. There’s More: From Fear to Love

Mark 16:1-8

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

That can’t be the whole gospel reading, can it? The women find the grave empty, hear he has risen, and flee from the scene saying nothing to anyone?

We know the gospel of Mark is short, fast paced and makes sudden turns, but this ending is — is missing the ending! At the end of verse eight we are left wondering if they do what the angel told them to do — whether they look, go, tell, and see Jesus in Galilee. 

The other gospel resurrection stories give us a glimpse of Jesus. We witness the Resurrected One and can confirm that this is not the end. He is alive and the news begins to spread, from friends to followers to foreigners — and further still. But Mark. Mark’s good news is that of an empty tomb and the pregnant pause of women filled with every emotion, too startled to speak a word of it to anyone.

There are plenty of people who don’t like this Easter account —  it leaves out so many details we love: 

Mary recognizing Jesus when he says her name, two disciples racing to be the first witness, an earthquake, a gardener, and guards scared away, an angel with muscles rolling back the stone, news spreading and Jesus sightings, always with the familiar refrain from the One who took down our biggest fears: “Do not be afraid.”

Here in Mark, we are left to decide whether it’s ending abruptly or if the rest of the story is still unfolding, still unwritten. The women have spent the last three days caught in between what they’d hoped for and what they’d gotten instead — 

the promises of heaven and what they knew to be possible on earth.

Everything about life with Jesus had disrupted their ordinary. Just when they would get comfortable in one place, Jesus would pack up and say, “Come on. Let’s go over there. To the other side. Let’s talk to her, pay attention to that, eat and drink with them, love like this.” 

And Jesus’ knack for disruptions did not end with his death. Even now, in the early morning light, while they carry spices and run through the logistics of moving the stone, his absence disrupts their plans! 

Because you can’t roll away a stone that’s already been moved. And you can’t rub spices on a dead body that isn’t there.

But Jesus doesn’t disrupt just for the sake of it — to make a mess or to cause drama. No, when Jesus disrupts it is a holy unfolding, a reshaping of the landscape, a new vision of love, a glimpse of God’s dream for what could be instead. 

Thank God for the messenger, who tells them they do not need to be alarmed. 

This is good news! Look, Jesus isn’t here because this is a grave for the dead. 

And Jesus isn’t dead anymore. Death could not hold Love and Life this big! 

He has risen, just like he told you he would! 

Go and tell the disciples and Peter. Give them the good news and then travel to Galilee. He promised to meet you there and when Jesus says he’ll be there, he’ll be there. 

With this word, this bold and busy word about victory and life, the women are given something new to do. Something that does not require the spices they brought. Perhaps it takes a little time to set down what is no longer necessary, to realize they already have everything they need to Look. Go. Tell. See. 

This disruption asks them to tell the disciples AND Peter, to reconcile the lost, those who loved him and failed him, for even Peter’s three-fold denial is not the end of the story. The resurrection news is holistic, all inclusive, and complete. 

Jesus has risen for everyone!

Maybe this is the right gospel reading for us this year. We know a thing or two about endings that aren’t really endings, about carrying around the tools we thought we’d need but don’t, about the difference between ordinary disruptions and holy ones, that sometimes the mess of coming undone makes room for miracles.

We know that sometimes, when you are in the thing, you don’t yet have words for it, but you trust that, someday, you will. When the words are ready, they’ll come. And they won’t be any less true for the wait.

I think about the women and the spices every year. I wonder if they set the flowers and tinctures down and washed the scent off their hands.However beautiful the smell, it would remind them of death.And the angel said this was about Life. I imagine they opened their hands and looked at their palms — 

empty and yet filled with possibilities.

Their hands, our hands, are like the empty tomb holding space that makes the story bigger, in which disruptions are holy and Life finally wins. The tomb, the hands; a quiet sermon before the words. 

Remember that the story of God made flesh began with another woman who was quiet while shepherds and magi came with prophecies and presents. There was plenty to say, but she simply listened. She treasured what she heard and pondered it in her heart. 

When there was a song to sing, she sang it. When there was a maternal nudge to give, she gave it. 

Perhaps these women — quiet, treasuring, pondering — will do the same. Perhaps we will, too.

Friends in Christ, this morning we are startled and surprised, afraid and amazed, by the good news once again: 

God loves us to death and back again. So do not look for Jesus among the dead. He is alive and he is going ahead of you, to make the impossible true, disrupting the world to reconciling people pulling us all into the only story that never ends. 

May your faith open like — tombs and palms — at the good news that Jesus lives and this is only the beginning.