Where do we go looking and expecting death only find the tomb is empty. The story ends here making us come to terms with the lack of death in our own way. We don't expect instant answers, sometimes we have to ponder it for quite some time before we see the impact of resurrection.
Children's sermon idea: make empty tomb muffins
Wrap a marshmallow inside breakfast dough. (be sure to seal as well as possible) bake the muffin - the tomb will be empty when you open it.
Steve Hermes
Cascade MT.
16:8 So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone.
Still wondering!!! The women received the proclamation, yet they continue to be afraid. They flee from the tomb and they remain in fearful silence.
How does their silence and the silence of the tomb speak to new life?
tom in ga
I've been given the "honour" of preaching on this passage at our Easter Vigil Service at 9pm on Holy Saturday. It's probably the most important service of the year at our Church, an Anglican "liberal catholic" London church. Even with ten years' preaching experience, I feel pretty terrified at the prospect, particularly as this passage appears to have nothing of the wonder and excitement of the other resurrection narratives, Matt28.8..."great joy", no meeting with Jesus. It ends rather obliquely, with terror and amazement and saying nothing to anyone.
I'm also feeling rather empty about it all because for the first time ever I will not be at my own church for Holy Week. I'm a Church of England ordinand (currently a licensed Reader as well) and Holy Week is the date for the Residential School in Canterbury for the part time training I'm undergoing. Although the opportunity for a week's residential training will be great, missing my own quiet time at my own church with members of my congregation is a sadness. So I related to Tom in GA's emptiness. I always read your postings very avidly, Tom, I always find them inspirational. I'm hoping you will answer your questions and provide inspiration where it is sorely needed!
In the passage I find the women's silence and terror rather overwhelming. But perhaps when a cataclysmic change occurs, for some of us silence and fear are the first reactions. They are still confused and heavy hearted about their loss, can we expect them to react with joy and hopefulness if they have not been given the advantage of a resurrection appearance. Is this an echo of Thomas's later reaction of feeling afraid to believe unless there is positive proof, a positive sighting?
On a smaller and less important scale, is this something of what I'm feeling, in hanging on to my feelings of loss due to not being able to be at my own church for Holy Week? Should I not be reaching out and welcoming a new Holy Week experience at Residential School rather than seeing it as loss of my usual Holy Week routine of prayer and meditation. Perhaps new life is always painful and terrifying.
Joy in London.
Joy in London,
Your thoughts drove me to my bookshelf to uncover one of your own, Jack Dominian's Cycles of Affirmation. Dominian is a Catholic psychologist is England. Beginning on page 141 there is a chapter on grief. I will read it and get back to you. Here is a sampling of what he says:
"The apostles did not understand his pending death. Why should they? They were living in the midst of a remarkable life, captivated by the teaching and actions of Christ. Losing him was as far removed from their immediate expectation as is the loss of our own dear and loved ones in the primacy of their lives. (P. 147)
The gospels do not give clear evidence of the protest-denial, despairing resignation and detachment of the mourning process. Nor should this be expected because the event of the resurrection is still extremely close to th initial disturbing phase of Christ's death." (P. 148)
I think we will find something here. Let me see whatelse I may be able to find in this treasure field!
tom in ga
The only Easter event narrated by all four evangelists concerns the visit of the women to the tomb of Jesus. They witness an angelophany and before anyone claimed to have seen the risen Lord there was already the oral proclamation that he had triumphed over the grave. It was this very Jesus who was born in Nazareth (only Matthew and Luke have him born in Bethlehem), was crucified in Jerusalem, and now was risen from the dead. Confirmation of the proclamation comes from the ocular proof that the tomb is empty. Thus the women are not just eyewitnesses of an empty tomb which by itself could be explained in various ways, but also earwitnesses of the Easter message.
The women's task is both specific and limited. They are to go and proclaim the Easter news to a specific audience, the disciples and Peter.
One of the most endearing things about the Gospel according to Mark is that it does not spare the disciples from the searchlight of honesty. Though Mark goes out of his way to stress the faithfulness of the women disciples at the cross and at the burial, he does not spare them when he recounts their shocked and fearful reaction to the angelic presence in the tomb. Sometimes it is possible to see some of the figures in the Gospel story as supermen and superwomen of faith, but Mark never allows us to indulge that illusion. Indeed, our first century forebears in the faith were not naturally superior (or inferior) to us. Neither did faith and discipleship come any easier for them. Yet despite all, they went on believing and laid the foundation for us. Just so, and it reminds us that even our Gospel role models are all fallible sinful human beings, with the exception of Jesus. This Gospel warns us time and again about idolizing the early Christians, placing them on some sort of pedestal they can only fall off of once we look at them more closely. We can appreciate their witness and their moments of strong faith, but we are not called upon to imitate all their mistakes and sin. Sometimes their lives cry out "Go and do likewise," like the story of blind barTimaeus, but sometimes their lives cry out, "Go and do otherwise," like the story of Peter's denials of Christ. But lest we judge the women at the tomb too harshly, we would do well to ask ourselves: How would we have reacted to a close encounter of the first kind with an angelic being in a place where all we expected was death and honoring the dead?
It is interesting that the present ending of Mark's Gospel places us in most respects in the same position as the women (with the possible exception of the angelic presence). We can go and experience the empty tomb where perhaps Jesus was and we can hear the proclamation that he is risen and gone before us, but it still lies in our hands as to how we will respond to such evidence. Is the visual evidence enough, is the oral testimony enough to convince, convict, and convert us? Or do we as well need to have an encounter with the risen Lord? I would suggest that Mark is telling us that the empty tomb and the oral witness are necessary, but by themselves are insufficient to create faith. A real encounter with the divine is required.
The Gospel of Mark, and especially its ending, tells us to expect the unexpected from God. In the place of death the women found the harbinger of life as well as the word of life. And they were surely never the same thereafter. Hopefully this may be said of all of us. The great thing about this good news is - it never ends. Not even death or the malice of human opposition of supernatural evil or even the misunderstanding of believers can stop it. Thanks be to God for his incredible gift of his crucified and risen Son.
Some more paraphased thought of Jack Dominion:
The disciples didn’t full understand our Lord’s impending death for they lived in the midst of this remarkable life, captivated by his teaching and actions.
The women, experiencing the loss of one they held dear, were filled with grief and sorrow and in the process of relinquishing him which would find closure when they would embalm the body. They felt the full extent of their loss. Now they would be denied his physical closeness at the tomb.
Faith is the evolving/deepening response to God, a living contact with the Trinity, internalizing the meaning of revelation.
Only through death can we join in the triumph of the resurrection. The life of faith has to be buildt on the natural order, where pain, suffering, distress are concrete experiences. <Jack Dominian, Cycles of Affirmation, London, Darton, Longman, and Todd, 1977>
tom in ga
Joy in London,
I also found the following by Father Hans Urs von Balthasar:
This fearful trembling remains in their bones even at the resurrection (MK 16:8; LK 24:22, 27). They do not have the slightest preunderstanding for what a resurrection — not “on the last day” but in the midst of their own time — could be. That Jesus himself in his suffering has “finished his business” with the world, and also with the future of the world which for him is the Last Day, while the disciples still abide in time, took quite some time to dawn on them. And still more difficult will be to understand that the whole life of the church was from then on supposed to be stamped by the two-in-one event of cross and Easter. To understand this, even more to live it, the disciples had to become partakers of the Spirit of Christ which is at the same time the Spirit of the all-planning and all-accomplishing Father. <Hans Urs von Balthasar, The von Balthasar Reader, New York: Crossroad, 1982, page 154>
tom in ga
Mark, more than any other gospel account of the resurrection, seems to attach a deep sense of mystery to it. In the face of this perplexing situation the women are awe-struck and silent. Maybe Easter would be even richer for us if we approached it with silent awe first--standing speechless before such an unimaginable miracle--to let it really sink in. I like the way Charles Rice put it: "Perhaps we are never closer to the Easter celebration than in that fearful, hopeful, vulnerable time in which we wait in silence and awe for God to move the stone which is too big for us." Mark's open-ended story also invites us into the story--how will we respond finally? God's messenger not only addresses the women but us: "Go and tell others." Mark seems to deliberately leave it unfinished for us to finish.
GB in MI
I have been given the awesome responsibility of preaching on Easter Sunday for the first time this year (I am an assistant). I am trying to make some sense of the story in Mark, and here are my fist thoughts. I am struck by the idea that the absence of Christ is the beginning of faith. The young man at the tomb tells the women "Jesus who was crucified has been raised. He is not here." Then the women flee, just as the disciples had, and don't tell anyone. But the gospel of Mark begins with the statement "The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ." So even though the story seems to end with Jesus dead -even his body is missing - and the disciples gone, we know that the story didn't just end there. In fact, the story of the faithful community only just begins there, and we ourselves are witnesses to that fact centuries later. Any ideas out there to help me flesh this out?
Thanks. boz in CA
While the reading of this passage may strike us with its barrenness, remembering the perspective from which it was written is helpful. Mark is writing a life of Jesus for a community that is ALREADY proclaiming him risen. Mark can leave us with the terrified and silenced women because all evidence points to the infectious truth of the message. Indeed the story has been told!
Overcoming death is always a stark reality. I have been contemplating using some of the wonderful pictures at the NYtimes website on the War to point to the juxtaposition of hope and dispair, of grief and rejoicing. The goodness of the gospel message only really comes to me after I've annointed the beloved's dead body with tears. We can't overcome death without death.
Many do Easter with pastels and joy-joy. I always think it is best to keep the cross front and center.
Q in CT
Just a few thoughts on Mark's resurrection account here.
First, this is quite fitting for Mark. He begins with Jesus appearing full-grown on the scene (no birth narrative) and then racing around the countryside teaching, healing, teaching, healing. Then he's arrested, killed, buried and... GONE! Almost like he's too busy to stick around for the women! :-)
I preached this text once based around the idea of "Easter Fear": Fear that the promises of our future resurrection (based in Christ's resurrection)may not be true; and *then* fear, because, What if it IS true? Serious implications for the here & now!
Rabbi in IL
Thank you all so much for your postings. I'm feeling more inspired now and ready to "enjoy" (if that's the right word)the Canterbury experience. Thank you very much (as always)especially to Tom in GA.
A happy and blessed Easter to you all.
Joy in London.
An After Thought:
Three times Jesus predicted his crucifixion and resurrection, but I don't think anyone understood what he meant that "he would rise again." After all where in their history had this ever happened before? It was a totally new concept. Sure some of them had a belief about the resurrection on the last day, but not in the way Jesus was speaking. The only experience in scripture that comes closest to the kind of resurrection that our Lord was speaking of was the appearance of Joseph to his brothers!
Since the concept was unknown, and experience was lacking, what words would express this mystery. I am convinced that the reason we don't see something is because we don't have words to discribe the experience. Okay, what if the angel/young man said he had gone before them to Galilee, that he was risen, that they were to tell the disciples ... what really would they tell, they had absolutely no idea what any of this was or meant. (and none of them had gone to seminary!)
tom in ga
I think I may use the Gospel of Mark this year instead of the John text printed on our bulletins.
The Angel proclaims that the One who had been crucified has been raised and then he sends the women and the disciples to meet Jesus in Galilee.
The Gospel of Mark is a "Loop" and the ending takes us back to the beginning.
I'd like to try to do something with the "Loop".
Pr.del in Ia
I'm taken with the reference to Salome - at the cross (Mark 15:40) and going to the tomb in the Easter Gospel. I'm wondering if this could be the traditional Salome who danced for Herod and demanded the head of John the Baptist. If so, this is a bigger conversion story than that of Mary Magdalene with whom she comes to the cross and the garden tomb. Any ideas, folks??
Steve in Western Australia
I'm taken with the reference to Salome - at the cross (Mark 15:40) and going to the tomb in the Easter Gospel. I'm wondering if this could be the traditional Salome who danced for Herod and demanded the head of John the Baptist. If so, this is a bigger conversion story than that of Mary Magdalene with whom she comes to the cross and the garden tomb. Any ideas, folks??
Steve in Western Australia
they said nothing to anyone---- maybe they did, after all they may have spoken to other women.... Nancy-Wi
Joy and Tom,
Maybe these thoughts from Fred Craddock in Christian Century will help. "Mark did not need an apearance of the risen Christ to affirm his faith in the resurrection. Faith can be expressed by adding an appearnce after death and burial or it can be expressd by remembrance of Jesus'repeated promise of a resurrection." He speculates on possible reasons for Mark's leaving out a personal appearance. Then, he says,"Mark's gospel is full of Good News. To disciples who had abandoned him and to Peter who denied him, Jesus'word was,'I will meet you In Galilee. There we bagan together; there we will begin anew."
As to the women's silence, we know they broke it, or we wouldn't be preaching on Sunday. To go from terror to telling is a powerful witness. I'm calling the sermon "Shock and Awe."
Max in NC
Joy,
In our congregation's Easter vigal service, we use a series of readings of the great salvation activities and promises from the Hebrew Scriptures. It strikes me that Holy Saturday seems to be a day that historically disappears. We know nothing of that day that the Lord of Life lay in death's tomb. That is a great mystery.
There is not much to say about the state of Jesus or the activities and thoughts of his followers.
On Holy Saturday there are only past actions of God to remember and promises to cling to.
Pr.del in IA
I believe that fear and ecstasy (my translation) stupefied the women at the tomb - stunned them into silence for a while. And their stunned silence sends us right back to the beginning of the gospel according to Mark asking, "Who is this Jesus???"! - Ponderin' Pastor in IL
Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, simply states that the resurrection does not depend on witnesses! What more needs saying. It is almost time for the A-word!!!!
tom in ga
"..and they said nothing to anyone."
I like the loop where the beginning of Marks Gospel in fact proves that they did say something. I'm not trying to be funny or smart here but just think for a moment... when have you ever known a woman to say nothing. Women always have a lot to say about everything and they do not let us down here. It may have taken them a little while to get over the "..terror and amazement had seized them," but we have this story that only they could have told so they must have done as they were commanded. Maybe we have done it wrong all these years... maybe we should tell believers to say nothing about Christ.. hehee... and see what will happen.
KB in ks
KB in ks, I like it!
Shh! (stage whispered)The tomb is empty, Christ rose from the dead. But don't tell anybody!
it's tough to keep a secret!
Fun idea. I may play with that.
Still kicking around the idea from something that was mentioned last week, about chocolate bunnies typically being hollow. Thinking of keeping one on ice and then smashing it to show it's hollow (handing out pieces after the service), and then playing off of the "empty" theme. Something like, "The best things at Easter are empty. I mean, of course, the tomb!" Just a wacky idea from
Rabbi in IL
Not much action in the 1 Cor 15 page but if someone could help me with this translation question I would appreciate it.
15:2 through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to
you--unless you have come to believe in vain.
I am wondering if this word, vain would be translated similar to vanity. Nancy-Wi.
Dear Nancy:
The word translated vain is eike (last e is a long e like ay). It is an adverb with the following meanings:
1. pertaining to there being no cause or reason, without cause, like the footnote to Mt 5.22
2. pertaining to being without success or result, to no avail, like Gal 3.4 (for nothing), Gal 4.11 (wasted).
3. pertaining to being without purpose, to no purpose, like Rom 13.4 (in vain).
4. pertaining to being without careful thought, without due consideration, in a haphazard manner, like 1 Cor 15.2 (in vain, here meaning 3 is also probable).
a word with the same root is eikaiotes, a noun meaning the state or condition of lacking seriousness by engaging in triviality, silliness
Shalom: Tom in Ontario
You guys have convinced me to go with this passage instead of the John passage. I am sticking with my original topic because it relates equally well to this text. Last Sunday, I preached on the topic, "The Thrill of Victory and the Agony of Defeat." (Borrowed from ABC's Wide World of Sports opening line) This Sunday's topic is "The Agony of Defeat and the Thrill of Victory." When we look at the cross from the resurrection backwards, it obviously is not a symbol of defeat; but that was the assumption of everyone but Jesus on Good Friday. Whereas we need to avoid triumphalism over the victory in Irag, this is one victory where the only one defeated is Satan. Everyone else is invited to the victory celebration. Can we have a victory celebration when the victor does not show up, i.e. no post resurrection appearance of Jesus? That may be a stretch for those who want proof or evidence of the resurrection more than an empty tomb. Yet, if we are honest with ourselves, the testomies of a handful of bewildered disciples does not make for proof. Having faith would mean believing even if we only have an empty tomb as evidence. At that junction, we all must have our own version of the "Road to Damascus," encounter of the Risen Lord. TN Mack
I was pretty sure what I was going to preach about - something about how confused the disciples were, as depicted consistently by Mark, and how dependent they were, as are we, on God's grace and illumination. How a real relationship with the living Christ changes everything from apparent death to technicolor Resurrection. But, after reading some marvelous ideas, especially the notion of approaching Easter with our own awed silence, to contemplate the emptiness of the tomb, I hope to deliver a richer sermon than I on my own would have written. Thanks to all of you! And Happy Easter, He is risen! LDonLI
Two things…
First, I can not help comparing the silence that follows the command to “Go tell…” to the blabber mouthing that followed Jesus’ repeated commands to, “Tell no one…”
The other is that I would like to add Rhoads and Michie’s comments concerning how this passage can be heard, from “Mark As Story:”
The “…reader travels the journey with Jesus, like a disciple who understands the way of God when others do not, accepts Jesus’ teaching when his disciples resist, and arrives in Jerusalem prepared to go to the death with Jesus. In a sense, by staying with the story, the reader remains faithful to the end, staying awake at Gethsemene, being present at the trial and crucifixion, and afterward following the women to the grave. Based on Jesus’ earlier prophecies, the reader expects the grave to be empty but does not expect the surprising flight and silence of the women. This abrupt ending, which aborts the hope that someone will proclaim the good news, cries out for the reader to provide the resolution to the story. The reader alone has remained faithful to the last and is now left with a decision…” (pg.140)
Just another Tom
tom in ga - as always, insightful, thought-provoking posts. And you got me to thinking of an article that ran in the AJC a couple months ago. It was about African American quilts - not the kind we've all come to know and love, with patterns of, say, flying geese pointing to which way the slaves should escape. These are quilts made of the scrappiest of scraps, purely utilitarian, called "ugly quilts," that people had used for throw rugs and horse blankets. They're now quite valuable and highly (dare I say it) exalted by collectors - not for their eye-catching beauty but because they represent the beauty of the refusal of the human spirit to succumb, or die. There's only a few places where these kinds of quilts were made, the poorest of the poorest people, in rural, isolated communities with almost no resources.
I recall reading about a quilt that a woman used as a throw rug that now hangs in some fancy museum and is probably treated as delicately as any artifact. But the fact remains: *it is a throw rug!!!*
It's not that we can distill the resurrection into a "one person's junk is another's treasure," nor whether beauty or value is in the eye of the beholder, but that the women who made these were simply living out the resurrection - in a way no one but them knew until lately.
Granted, they thought their quilts had no value, but I'm convinced that the very fact that they'd resurrect a few patches of fabric from an otherwise worn-out shirt or dress and make something new out of it was their way of living the resurrection. And they said nothing to anyone.
And the women are amazed and (rather than terrified) amused that their "ugly quilts" are so valuable. These now-elderly women fill commissioned orders for the quilts to earn money today. I have a hunch that before too long, the quilts will start taking some form and not be so "ugly," and a new quilt genre will begin.
It's precisely because the beauty in the ugly quilts was unintentional that their beauty was revealed.
Sally in GA
The real experience of the Risen Christ is not an empty tomb, it is an encounter with Christ as we go through our day to day lives. Galilee was the epitome of everyday life, after crucifixion, disciples returned home, back to their "former" life. Good news of Easter is that the Risen Christ will meet them there. We can celebrate the empty tomb in our Easter worship, but the reality won't sink in until we experience him in our own Galilees.
Tom in TN
Sally, thank you so much for the ?ugly quilt? idea?that?ll preach! As in past years, I?ve started out planning to preach on John, but get drawn into the honest truth of Mark!
Rebecca in MD
For Steve in Western Australia
SALOME. Mother of James and John, ?Matt. 27:56?, with ?Mark 15:40?; ?16:1?. Asks Jesus to promote her sons, ?Matt. 20:20?, ?21?. Present at the cross, ?Mark 15:40?; at the sepulchre, ?Mark 16:1?, ?2?.
Swanson, J., & Nave, O. (1994). New Nave's. Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems.
WJC in TN
These days, WMD stands for "Weapons of mass destruction." A reporter said early on that the "Where's Saddam?" question was a Weapon of Mass distraction. I plan a WMD message of my own--a Weapon of Mass Deliverance. The One who entered Jerusalem a week ago to offer true liberation has delivered on His promise, His offer. lkinhc
I am thinking about Hollow Easter bunnies and Solid Easter bunnies, using this plus the cor. passage.
Easter is about faith and belief. Some only come on Easter and Christmas and miss the filling between. Kind of like eating a hollow bunny. The fullness the richness of the inner most core of faith, missing. I would call it empty faith. Today I thought about the empty tomb, sort of like the hollow bunny, until you find the missing contents the core of faith, the reserrection is missing. Nancy-Wi.
"For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all,..." (Titus 2.11).
Words from Titus remind us that God's salvation is for all. It is a crucial message for worshipers to hear, and it is also a crucial message for worship leaders to remember at Christmas and Easter.
Many preachers and regular worshipers may feel as if Christmas and Easter are a time to scold infrequent worshipers about their laxity. Resist the urge. These days are times to celebrate everyone's presence (much as families may also do on these days with the return of those they haven't seen for a while). Words and gestures of a gracious welcome are the order of the day. After all, that's what God has already done for us!
Shalom
Folks have already mentioned that Galilee was a pretty ordinary place compared to Jerusalem, yet that's where Jesus agreed to meet the disciples. How about Sunday? It was the day after the Sabbath for the Jews -- the Monday morning rush hour. How's that for ordinary? MTSOfan
Here are a couple of thoughts I'm playing with. In addition to many of the same ideas some of the other contributors have posted (Mark's telling of the story shifts the focus to how we will now respond) I'm also wanting to work in the message of promise. I'm titling my sermon, "Left with a Promise," referring to both the angelic figure's promise that "he is going ahead of you...and you will see him" and Jesus' own promise/prediction of his resurrection. As one commentator pointed out, all of Jesus' other predictions (betrayal, denial, etc) were fulfilled, so too with this one. The angelic figure says, "...just as he told you," referring back to Jesus' own words. Like the women we are left with an empty tomb and a promise. The story is open ended but the promise is sure. How will we live now? Can we trust this promise and let it change our lives they way the women and the other disciples (eventually) did? In these days of warfare and economic struggle, can we live the promise? "You will see him," the angelic figure says. In the experience of the Living Christ, the promise will be fulfilled. Where will we see him? Not in the places of death, not in the past. But ahead, in Galilee, in a place both familiar and yet now forever changed. Paul, in the 1 Corinthians 15 passage never mentions the empty tomb. For him the confirmation of the resurrection was in experiencing the Living Christ. This is where Easter will come true for us as well. Yes, the times are grim and terrifying, as they were for the women at the cross and the tomb. But Jesus goes ahead of us, just as he said, and we will see him. And we will never be the same.
(Three years ago when I preached on this passage I used the illustration of walking in my father's footsteps in deep snow. Because he walked ahead of me, if I followed, placing my feet where his were, I could go where otherwise I would not, as a little girl, have been able to travel. The same is true with Jesus. He goes ahead and makes a way for us).
Blessed Holy Week and Easter to you.
JGC in MA
Jesus is not here. Jesus is on the loose. If you want to find him, you must go outside the box, live outside the box, search outside. Jesus is on the loose - and we are on the loose. It is only as we understand Jesus to be on the loose in our world, that we understand that we are to be on the loose.
Peter in Ohio
In order to be true to the quilt story, I am compelled to come back and correct a few details...
It was only one community, Gee's Bend, located approx 200 miles South and West of Atlanta. It's surrounded on three sides by the Alabama River.
Most of the quilts got totally worn-out and burned as trash, having been made with an attitude of disposability. According to the AJC, only about 1,000 of the 100,000 made remain. The women made many quilts a year in their spare time.
Because of the geographical and cultural isolation of this community, the art form has remained pure, and can be traced back to the West African designs and patterns.
The article ran in the Atlanta Journal Constitution on Sunday, Feb. 2, 2003. E-1, E-6. Website (though I don't know if you can still find the original article) is www.ajc.com
It's a positively inspiring article.
While the interviewer was observing them, they sang a hymn quoted in the article ...
"Look where he brought us from/ Look where he brought us from/ He brought us out of darkness/ Into the marvelous light/ Just look where he broughyt us from.
The article ends quoting Nettie Young, reflecting on the lost art of quilting. The young peoples' success means not having to quilt. "...their easier lifestyle has left them lacking the necessary threads of thrift and perseverance that marks her artwork. 'They can't get the same soul,' she said."
Sally in GA
Who was that white-robed man sitting at the side of the grave? In Mark's gospel, we don't see the risen Christ in person, so I'm not so sure it's NOT about the empty tomb after all.
It's about an empty tomb and the proclamation of v. 6 & 7, "He is not here, he has been raised ... go tell his disciples to go to Galilee and he'll meet you there."
Sally in GA
"The disciples followed full of amazed fear (MK 10:32) . And this fearful trembling remains in their bones even at the resurrection (MK 16:8; LK 24:22,27). They do not have the sightest preunderstanding for what a resurrection - not "on the last day" but in the midst of their own time - could be." Hans Urs von Balthasar
The Empty Tomb is a revelation itself (without the presence of the angel). The one thing it proclaims without difficulty is "He is not here!"
Such news must have turned the women's world upside down for they witnessed the crucifixion. There is such a disconnect between his death on the cross and his absence in the tomb. It would take sometime before the women could understand the meaning of their experience and the words of the young man; it will take us sometime as well to understand that this resurrection is not simply an event that took place in history so many years ago, but is the very dynamic of our own lives in Christ.
tom in ga
In light of the terror that seized them I am playing with this phrase, "Scared to death." First of all I'm wondering where the phrase came from and why is is so popular to say? Are we so scared that we think we or our loved one will die? Are we so scared that the only thing more scary is death itself? Usually when I am "scared to death" I am consumed with fear. Fear takes over my thoughts and actions. I wonder if it is easier to say "scared to death" rather than "scared of death." Anyway, I'm wrestling with these thoughts because I know that the wonderful Easter message can shine some hopefilled light on those times when we are scared to death. I would love to any thoughts you might have on this phrase or on the way in which the Easter message might address this phrase. Thanks!
Keith in WI
I like the New Jeru. translation of v. 8 - something like - they were frightened out of their wits and fled the tomb. It is also striking that often in his healing in Mark, Jesus told folks not to say anything, but they went a told anyway. And here the women are told to speak, and they don't (perhaps just not right away).
Anyway, sermon-wise, I am going in this direction - the disciples had given up and these women, in their sadness, were about do one last small act of kindness for their teacher that early morning in going to the tomb to give him proper burial. All appeared to have been lost. The shock of the empty tomb is that the bad news they were ready to settle for was null and void. It was too low, too small an expectation. Now that God's love prevails, larger than they imagined possible, it calls them to live larger. We are called by the victory of the resurrection to not settle for less than faith and trust in the gooodness and possibility of real life. This victory of God's love makes demands on us, calls us to live anew, awake, in many ways. .....still thinking. JIm in CT.
I don’t buy the idea that Easter is suppose to be greeted with joy and triumph, and there is something wrong with Mark’s ending because the women respond with terror and silence. Mark’s the gospel that got it right!
There is nothing more terrifying then death, and almost all cultures harbor an instinctive fear of the dead returning. Ghosts, zombies, vampires, ghouls, are all examples of this. How many modern horror films revolve around the theme of someone dying, and then coming back to seek revenge and mayhem?
So…Jesus is back? What’s he going to do with all of us folk who abandoned him, denied him, and betrayed him? Is the plot going to unfold like “Night of the Living Dead?” Or maybe (since it’s early morning) “Dawn of the Dead.” (A good Markian Easter sermon title, don't you think?) Of course the women are terrified. And of course they’d tell nobody. Who would believe a story like theirs?
And maybe that's the big surprise of Easter. We live with terror when our fears are groundless.
Easter has turned death from a thing to fear, to a conquored foe. Yet, we are we still afraid to talk about death. We still stand in it's presence afraid. Like the women, we just don't get it.
DR
All Very interesting reflections. Some thoughts and reflections as I finalize my preparation for the Sunday
1. This year I asked my congregation to decide whether I preached from John or Mark. Mark won.
2. I too am struck with Tom Troeger's reflections on the Mark passage. He stated in one lecture,"The function of stablizing us torugh crisis and grief may be distorted by blinding us to te potential of God using that crisis and grief to grow in ways we otherwise never would consider and may block our undertaking th mission to which the Spirit calls us now." I know as I retire God has Resurrected something in me that I fear. I want to run away like the woman.
3. I suspect the congregation I serve is being called to a new ministry which they have no desire to undertake. I am not the one called to lead them now, so I have no say in it. I sense they would rather give than accept. God is taking them to the accepting place. Jesus said "And a little child shall lead them." On Sunday, (and I had nothing to do with this) the church school is having the children act out "the rolling away of the stone." Wow, God's awesomeness is beyond any shock and awe we can produce!
Shalom
pasthersyl
My sermon title is... "I'll Meet You There!"
pulpitt in ND
A late posting, nevertheless. I loved the story abou the quilts. Please do not think that 'ugly quilts are made by one community near Georgia. I is a tradtion that is throughout African American families. I have slept under many a patchwork quilt of fabric coat linings and tossed away clothes in Maryland and Arkansas and St. Louis.
Whether Mark ends his gospel with emptiness, or mystery, or being scared to death, the truly amazing thing is that the church exploded across Asia Minor to eventually bring its spiritual influence to bear on the world. And why? Because of our profound faith that Jesus Christ is indeed risen! Hallelujah! It is this faith that a woman and her three children will be able to celebrate the life of a husband and a father tomorrow while a church and community and friends and colleagues join them. He was a minister of our denomination and dropped dead at the age of 55 this past Monday. When I visited the church this afternoon, the Easter faith of the family was strong in the midst of the loss of one who was truly loved. The faith that will be shared tomorrow is what comes out of the emptiness, the mystery and being scared. A blesed Easter to you all. Rev. Tim, Ontario, Canada
Hi,
I could not bring myself to plan the Easter Sermon until after I preached at the Maundy Thursday service our church planned. Now my attention is on the resurrection story of Mark 16:1-8. I am drawn to the concepts of “the stone” and to the social interaction of the women. The heavy, cold, hard doorway of death rolled away on one side of my mind, and on the other side I have the clutch of women planning an anointment, wondering who would move the stone, walking together, astonished together, and running away together.
The outline I am planning for the sermon is:
From v. 1-2, Go together as Christians to do the task set before us.
From v. 3, Even when we know we will need help because we are not adequate for the task, we should go, anticipating that God will provide a solution.
From v. 4-6 When they saw the stone had been moved aside, they accepted that act was done, the act they benefited from. They then looked into the tomb. We need to accept the acts done on our behalf graciously and with appreciation.
From v. 8. When we realize that God has acted, it can be unsettling. The presence of the Almighty, the acts of God are frightening. We approach the throne with fear and trembling. The women, who first came to the tomb, fled and were afraid.
And, from v. 7 we see that God will give us a task, and that Jesus will go on before us in that task.
The stone that blocked the tomb was removed; Christ came out and brought life to all. There may be some large, cold, heavy object that is blocking your life. Give your problem to God he will remove it. The large, cold, heavy matter of death stands between eternity, but we can trust Our Savior who has gone on before us to take us to eternal life.
Leon<>< from NC
