Easter Sunday / Year B
Pastor Gayle M. Pope
Made for a
Last Friday night, at the end of our Good Friday service, we
were supposed to leave in silence. The service had been dark and somber, as we
remembered how Jesus died on the cross, and were confronted with the bad news
that our sin helped to put him there.
We were supposed to keep silent, but I couldn’t. I followed Cecelia Harry out the door and said,
“Can you come back Sunday morning when it will be joyful again?” I like the Maundy Thursday and Good Friday
services, but wouldn’t it be awful if the story ended there?
It can’t end there in that sealed tomb. Everything within us yearns for a happier
ending. We crave light and joy and hope for a brighter future. And God delivers!
Death is NOT the last word.
Jesus was RAISED from the dead and so shall we be raised. “Thank you,
Jesus! I needed that.”
Amen.
Gotcha!
That can’t be the end of the story either, can it? Whew!
I’M SAVED. Thank you, Jesus. That’ll be all now. I’m glad you didn’t stay dead. I’m glad I’m not going to stay dead. Amen.
End of story.
Did you know that the gospel reading we heard today is the
real ending to Mark’s gospel? Did you
hear the last verse?
After the women had found the tomb empty and been told by a
man sitting there in a white robe: “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of
After all that, Mark’s story ends like this: “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.” The end.
Again, we have the same reaction. That can’t be the end of
the story. In fact, we know it’s not the
end. They HAD to have gone and told
someone. They must have gotten past their fear, because, after all, how would
we know the story today?
Eventually, someone DID write another ending for Mark’s
gospel. In fact, there are two other
endings – a shorter one and a longer one that includes resurrection appearances
and a commissioning by Jesus. But none of the earliest manuscripts include
these endings and the style of the writing shows they were written at a
different time and probably by a different person or people.
What we have from Mark’s hand is simply the story that the
women said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. Mark, of course, KNEW that wasn’t the end of the
story, but the truth IS, the story STILL has not ended. So WHY NOT just leave it opened ended?
If you turn to the very first sentence in Mark’s gospel, it
reads, “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” At first, you might take that to be the
beginning of Mark’s account of the good news. But when you consider how his account ends,
the possibility arises that what Mark really meant is that his whole account is
just the beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
The story is still being written, because the Word is still
being spoken. The
So, now, the question becomes, for us, how is OUR part of
the story being written? How will our chapters
end?
Those of us studying Rick Warren’s “Purpose Driven Life”
during the 40 days of Lent were taught that we are “Made for a Mission” – that
the fifth purpose for which God created us is evangelism. Now, that’s another
often misunderstood term like the other four purposes: worship, fellowship,
discipleship and ministry.
What evangelism means is that we are simply to tell others
what difference knowing Jesus has made in our lives. It means being a witness. A witness is someone who testifies to what he
or she has seen or heard or experienced.
It means telling your story – not telling someone else’s
story – not spouting doctrine and theology and Biblical scholarship – unless
those things are part of YOUR story. It
means telling what you KNOW and what you BELIEVE. It means sharing your faith.
In John’s gospel, we read of a blind man that Jesus had
healed on the Sabbath. The Pharisees
were all upset about this and were questioning the man relentlessly, telling
him, “Give glory to God, we know this man Jesus is a sinner.”
The blind man wasn’t about to get into a theological debate
with the Pharisees. The gospel tells us
that he answered, "I
do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was
blind, now I see." That is evangelism.
1 Peter
If you feel like you don’t know the Bible well enough to
explain your faith, well, there’s nothing stopping you from GETTING to know it
better!
But, in the meantime, you still have your own story and you
are the expert on that.
For example, when someone says, “How did you get through
that?” You can just say, “It was hard,
but I got through it because of my faith in Christ and the prayers of my
friends.”
Or if someone says, “I really don’t have any interest in
going to church. I just worship God in my own way.” You might say, “Well, for me, I need church
because I need to hear God’s promises to strengthen my faith, and I need the
encouragement of the others there. And I
like encouraging the kids.” Or whatever
your reason.
You don’t have to tell someone else why THEY should go to
church, you can just tell them why YOU do.
We’re not going to be perfect at this evangelism business. There
are days when the chapter of the gospel that I’m writing with my own life might
end like this: “She passed by the young man who could have really used a word
of encouragement and said nothing, for she didn’t even notice him there.”
Or, “She went out hurriedly and said nothing because she
didn’t have time.” Or, “She sat there
and said nothing because she was afraid someone might think she was weird.”
We have hundreds of reasons to keep our mouths shut about
the Good News that Jesus rose from the dead and is alive in our hearts, giving
us HOPE and a reason to live.
We are bound to miss the mark, but Mark’s gospel can give us
some encouragement here, too.
After all, even the women who were with Jesus and saw him
die and saw the empty tomb with their own eyes, said nothing to anyone, at
least in the beginning. But they must
have gotten another chance! And so will we!
And there’s more encouragement. The message to the women
was, “He is going ahead of you.” The
living Jesus is going ahead of us, too. He is preparing the way and preparing
the hearts of those to whom he wants to send us. We are not alone in this. When we speak about Jesus, our words carry
the breath of the Holy Spirit. We can
trust the Holy Spirit, even if we don’t trust ourselves.
And, finally, the messenger said, “There you will see him,
just as he told you.” When we do go to
Which will just add all the more to our witness. I know this
to be true because I have experienced it time and again.
Then, we will be able to say, like Mary Magdalene in the
Easter story from John’s gospel: “I have seen the Lord!”