josephholubsermons
April 12, 2009
Easter
Mark 16:1-8
An Inauspicious Ending?
I dare say you may have never heard Mark’s version of the resurrection read
on this day. You have likely heard John’s version with Mary Magdalene
encountering Jesus near the tomb that will be read in most
churches today;
or perhaps Matthew’s version of the two Mary’s bumping into Jesus while
running to tell the disciples the tomb was empty; or Luke's version
where two disciples encounter Jesus on the road to Emmaus.
Mark concludes his gospel:
“...so they went out
and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them, and said
nothing to anyone."
It seems like an
inauspicious and abrupt
way
to conclude a gospel.
But of the four gospels, I most
identify with Mark’s ending.
I am of the opinion that the stories of the resurrection are best
understood in a more-than-literal
way - a metaphorical way. The
gospel stories weren't written down until decades after Jesus, some
40-50
years after Jesus.
For decades they existed only in the oral story-telling tradition of
the early Jesus communities, and the stories were passed down from one
generation to the next. What
we have is the
end result of decades of
spoken story-telling. The
resurrection stories are extraordinarily diverse, which strongly suggests
each story was crafted by the Jesus community from which it came and shaped
by the meaning they experienced in Jesus.
The stories are not literal historical accounts, but
testimonies to the
spiritual and theological meaning
Jesus had for their lives. I
think the most relevant question to ask is
not,
“Is this
how things
actually happened?” I
think a better question is, “What
do the stories
mean in telling them the way they did?”
So, as inauspicious as it appears and abrupt as it certainly is, let's take
Mark's ending for what it is. Let’s look at it with wide-eyed expectation to
uncover the message Mark
is proclaiming, not only for his faith community in the 7th decade of the
first century, but for us in the first decade of the 21st century.
One thing Mark has in common with the other gospels is the role of women in the resurrection. In many of the gospel stories, women were behind the scenes - always there, always faithful - but always behind the scenes. Mark draws them out of anonymity and identifies three women by name who ventured to the tomb, and I might add at great risk. (Mary Magdalene, Mary, Mother of James, and Salome)
Jesus was
crucified as an enemy of the state, and it was
a dangerous thing to be associated with him, as the imperial powers that be were
attempting to stamp out the movement that had formed around him.
For a moment, these women stepped away from their fear to risk
visiting the grave of Jesus. Their risk is made even more dramatic by the
realization that the men were nowhere to be found - laying low - hiding out
– paralyzed by their fear.
When I think of these brave women who ventured to the tomb, I think of
other
women who have stepped away from letting fear rule and placed themselves at
great risk. I think of the
Mothers of the Disappeared in Latin America who, in country
after country, were the ones who - when things were at their worst, when the
violence of military-rule was most grotesque - came out time and time again
and stood alone before the
military and before the world, testifying for their loved ones, and for the
truth.
This replayed in many places: El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and
Argentina, as well as Northern Ireland. When things got
rough, when things were at their
worst, when everyone else had fled or was in hiding,
it was women who stood up first,
made themselves vulnerable to the risk of torture and death, following the
example of Jesus staging non-violent protest in the face of oppression.
The culture of biblical times was strongly male-dominated and patriarchal,
but yet even so, Mark and the other gospels
elevate these women,
mentioning them
specifically by name - and in so doing
stand these women
tall alongside the other male disciples as
equal servants and witnesses to the good news of the Kingdom of God.
Mark's gospel portrays Jesus’
vocation as the bringer of the Kingdom of God;
the kingdom that erases conventional political, economic, social and
religious boundaries that suppress and oppress entire classes of people; the
Kingdom of God that restores dignity to any and all who are oppressed and
subjugated; the Kingdom of God that presses for their liberation. Mark and
his community experienced
something extraordinary in Jesus that elevated
women in a culture that subjugated them.
But yet, even so, a tragic legacy of church history ever since has been the
attitude to subjugate women and suppress the role of women in the life of
the church. It took until 1970
for two major Lutheran denominations to ordain women and many Christian
expressions still do not.
The naming and elevation of these women was a courageous thing, especially
when surrounded by a legion of cultural, religious and social prejudices to
do otherwise. It certainly
raises a pertinent question for contemporary
stewards of the Kingdom of God about those in our time, especially our gay
and lesbian colleagues, who are subjugated
and suppressed from playing a full role in the life of the church and
society?
It's a question that
explodes from the heart of the resurrection
story, for Mark wants us to know that resurrection for the oppressed means
their liberation!
As stewards of the Kingdom of God, we are called in the
resurrection to be advocates of liberation for all the subjugated and oppressed and to
empower the last and least of this world to stand tall alongside the
powerful and mighty.
But let’s move on
to Mark’s abrupt and inauspicious ending.
The young man in
the white robe, representing the divine presence, said to the women.
"He is not here, but tell the
others he will meet you in Galilee."
Mark says they then
fled in terror and amazement.
Well yes, I'm not surprised!
If I visited my mother's grave at
Scandinavian Cemetery in Rockford, Illinois, and all I found was hole in the
ground and some character standing there telling me that I am to meet her in
Chicago, I just might flee in terror and amazement myself.
Again the question is: What is the
message and the meaning Mark is proclaiming
here? I take Mark's abrupt ending as
an invitation;
and on the bottom of that invitation is an
R.S.V.P. It's an
invitation for us to complete the story.
Will we?
Mark’s story ends abruptly because he wants us to know
the story is
not over - the ending is yet to be written.
It's an invitation for us to complete
it. For the early followers of
Jesus, resurrection had
little
to do with afterlife and
more to
do with living in this life-living a transformed life.
It seems as if we have turned that completely around.
We think of it as having mostly to do with afterlife and scarcely
anything to do with living in this life.
What’s unique to Mark is that Mark offers no
"proofs" of the
resurrection for his community of faith; that is no stories of
Jesus-sightings or Jesus-encounters.
For Mark, that’s not
the point or place to look. The
young man in Mark’s story says, if you want to see the risen Jesus then
look in Galilee.
Does he mean we need to log on to Travelocity.com and get our
flights booked to Galilee as soon as possible?
I don’t think so.
Metaphorically and symbolically Galilee, for
me, represents history yet to be written.
Galilee is to move beyond where I am and as a follower of Jesus to
put his teachings of the Kingdom of God to work.
For me, and it may be different for you, resurrection is not something
I believe in first and
then go into the world equipped with the message God’s grace, compassion and
justice.
It doesn’t work in that
sequence
for me. For me, it is taking
the grace, compassion and justice of the Kingdom of God out into the world
first, and somewhere along
the way, surprise,
Jesus comes alive – Jesus occupies the present with me – resurrection
becomes real. That’s the
sequence
for me.
It’s like love. I cannot really know the truth and fulfillment of love,
until I give myself away in love - then it becomes real.
Where is Galilee?
Jesus said, “If you do to it
the least of these you do it to me.”
Galilee is the suffering of my neighbor.
Until I embrace the pathos of one of the least and last on this
planet, I cannot know if Jesus is present and alive in that experience or
not; not until I go there first and find out.
So, to go there is an act of trust.
Where is Galilee?
Jesus said, “Love your
enemies.” Until I love my enemy in some concrete and tangible
way, I cannot know if Jesus is present and alive in that experience or not.
So, to go there is an act of faith.
Where is Galilee?
Jesus said, “Turn the
other cheek.” Until
I refrain from striking back in commensurate retaliation and put myself at
risk for love’s sake, I cannot know if Jesus is present and alive in that
experience or not. So, to go
there is an act of trust.
Where is Galilee?
Jesus said, “Take up
your cross and follow me; those who would protect their lives will lose
them; and those who give their lives away
for my sake will save
them.” Until I take
up my cross and follow me in such self-emptying way, I cannot know if Jesus
is present and alive in that experience or not.
So, to go there is an act of faith.
Is the resurrection real? All I
can say is go to Galilee and
find out for yourself.
Mark’s abrupt ending is a call for us to complete the story; a call
to take a risk of love; an invitation into trust.
“Tell them to meet me in Galilee ...so they went out and fled from the
tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them, and they said nothing to
anyone."
Is it an inauspicious
ending? That’s up to us!