(Editor’s note: This is an encore presentation of a previous WORDLINK.)

WRITING THE REST OF THE STORY 

Oh, the irony!  As we heard throughout the season of Epiphany and a few times in the season of Lent in the Gospel of Mark, after miracles or healings, Jesus would exhort those who witnessed the miracle or were healed to tell no one what he had done until after the resurrection.  So, here comes that glorious day when Jesus rose from the dead, the angelic figure instructs the women at the tomb to go and tell Peter and the disciples that Jesus is risen…and Mark tells us “they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”  You can almost hear God and Jesus doing a Homer Simpson “Duh.” 

The resurrection account according to St. Mark is a very mysterious account.  The women head to the tomb very early on the first day of the week after the Sabbath was over.  They had obviously been witnesses to the burial of Jesus for they knew that a large stone had been placed over the entrance to the tomb and they knew that Jesus was buried in haste (see Mark 15:42-47).  That is why the women were heading out that morning with spices to anoint the body of Jesus and why they worried about how they were going to move the stone Joseph of Arimathea had placed over the entrance. 

With the exception of worrying about how they were going to move the stone, what the women were thinking as they went to the tomb Mark does not tell us.  Biblical scholars warn that we should not speculate, but work with the text as it is.  However, as human beings we know something about death and what it means to bury a loved one and see one’s dreams die.  There is no doubt that these women were in mourning.  They had followed Jesus and heard his message of hope, forgiveness, service toward God and neighbor, acceptance, truth and unconditional love. They would confess that Jesus was the promised Messiah of God, but now Jesus was dead. 

I believe the women went out to the tomb that morning out of love.  They probably felt that Jesus had failed.  This hope, this dream, had died with the one who proclaimed it.  Just like everyone else, Jesus died.  Just like every person with a dream for a new reality, Jesus’ life was cut short by an assassination of sorts…a trumped up charge, false witnesses, a rigged jury, and the sentence of death.  Crestfallen, love still compels them to give Jesus a decent burial. 

However, when they arrive at the tomb, it is already open.  They entered the tomb expecting to see the body of Jesus, but instead they see “a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side.”  Needless to say, they are alarmed.  The young man, no doubt an angel, reassures the women as angels usually do, “Do not be amazed.”  But, this time the words do not reassure.  This is unusual.  Something is going on here but Mark does not tell us.  It is a mystery. 

The angel tells the women to report the resurrection to the disciples (please note that in all the resurrection accounts women are the first preachers of the good news!  You go girls) and direct them to meet Jesus in Galilee. 

What happens next is really a mystery.  “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.”  (Verse 8).  That’s it?  It seems so.  Again, it is a mystery, but in some ways I think I have come to understand the women a little better. 

In December, PLU learned that it had been awarded a nearly 2 million dollar grant from the Lilly Endowment for the purpose of helping our students explore the concept of vocation in their lives.  I was a part of the grant leadership team.  We decided early on that we didn’t want to do what many other colleges and universities did with the dollars, which was simply to hire someone and put them in charge of the “vocation program.”  We wanted the issues of vocation to be an item of discussion and learning for the whole university.  We wanted faculty and staff to be trained in the issues of vocation and theological reflection.   We wanted students to begin thinking about vocation right from orientation.  

We met many times including a weekend retreat to design a broad, far reaching grant proposal.  We were proud (as much as Lutherans can be) with what we had designed and we sent it in.  As I said, one day in December word came to President Anderson we had been awarded the grant.  Hugs and “high fives” abounded for quite some time but then we looked at each other and a hush came over the celebration.  We suddenly realized that now we have to do the ambitious plans we had made. 

When the women heard the announcement of the resurrection, I wonder if that is what happened to them.  They went out to the tomb expecting the ordinary and were awed and shocked by the extraordinary.  Jesus is risen, that means that everything Jesus had said was true!  It meant that every command that Jesus commanded was true and expected!  It meant their lives had changed in ways they never even dreamed of.  Jesus is the Messiah, the chosen One of God. 

Now most Bibles end with verse 8, however your Bible might have the two alternate endings which are in some ancient manuscripts (the oldest end with verse 8).  It seems there were some scribes or Christians who didn’t care for the abrupt mysterious ending of Mark’s Gospel so they wrote their own.  I kind of like the mysterious ending because what it means to me is that we must write the rest of the story with our lives.  The women had to write their own ending with how they responded to the resurrection of Jesus.  It seems as if some time later they did tell the disciples because we know they did go to Galilee and they did see the resurrected Jesus. 

Now it is our turn.  We must write our ending to the announcement of the angel.  With the announcement we are told that all Jesus has said and done is true.  Jesus is the Messiah.  Jesus is living.  So how are you writing the end of the announcement of that Good News?  That is the question of this festival of the Resurrection of Our Lord. 

Link to the First Reading

I chose the Acts text for the first reading because it tells us a bit about how Peter wrote the end of the story.  This text is from the story of the encounter of Peter with the gentile Cornelius.  I like to call it the second conversion of Peter.  This is why:  Peter was among those early Christians who believed that one must become Jewish before one could be a Christian.  That meant circumcision and the adherence to some of the Jewish law.  In fact Peter and Paul argued over this issue.  However, when Peter was about to encounter Cornelius, a gentile who loved God and Jesus, God came to Peter three times in a dream and told Peter not to declare “unclean” that which God consider to be “clean.”  What we have here is Peter’s speech after those three dreams.  This is how Peter responded to the Good News and wrote his own ending to the Gospel announcement. 

Link to the Second Reading

I chose the First Corinthians text for the same reason.  This text tells us a bit about how Paul wrote the end of the story in his life.  It deals with the announcement of the Good News and how Paul had to respond to the living Jesus by becoming an evangelist among the Gentiles.   

You will remember that Paul’s name was originally Saul and he was a persecutor of Christians.  Then one day on the road to Damascus, the risen Jesus appeared to Paul and his life changed.  The resurrection has the power to do that not only in the life of Paul but in your life and in mine too. 

Questions for Discussion

1. When you hear or read Mark’s account of the Resurrection, what is your initial reaction? Are you comfortable with the mystery or do you want a more complete ending?

2. Why do you think the women said “nothing to anyone, for they were afraid”? What would they have to be afraid of?

3. Can you think of other people in Christian history whose life was changed after an encounter with the risen Jesus?

4. Read the entire chapter of Acts 10. What do you make of Peter’s “conversion”? How is Peter freed by this dream God gives him?

5. What does the resurrection of Jesus mean to you? How are you writing the rest of the story?