April 5, 2015
Easter Sunday - 10:30am
Mark 16:1-8
1st Corinthians
15:1-11
(prayer)
If you were part of the
early Easter service at 8:30am this morning, please bear with me because I want
to lay the ground work for this later service’s ‘message’ with some similar
words I was used two hours ago - but you don’t need to start reading your tweets, I will take things in a
different direction in a moment or two.
//
//
There is a fair bit of variance between the different
gospels. A few parts of the story of
Jesus have been preserved in all four gospels - some things were retold by two
or three gospel writers (mostly because they copied from a common source). Although, in several cases, they disagree on
some details. And there are many parts
of our basic story that are unique to only one New Testament writing.
That does not have to demolish our faith - worried that
God is giving us mixed messaged for some reason. Let us always remember that - although we
find holy truth and the touch of God in these ancient writings - they come to
us from human hands… with all of the diversity and poetic license that
different authors employ. Even when they
share a common source, we can see each writer’s style, theology and worldview
in the precise words they choose.
//
One of the areas in the gospels where there is a lot of
overlap is... in
the stories of Jesus’ passion - the Holy Week stories do vary from gospel to
gospel, but there is basic narrative that we see over and over.
Especially, when it comes to the discovery of the empty
tomb. They all talk about women going to the
tomb early on the Sunday morning and not finding Jesus' body there . How many women were there, what were their
names, why were they going to the tomb, did they see the stone rolled away or
just discover it that way? Those details
vary, but they all report that the women found the tomb empty and (in three of
the gospels) that they saw a brightly-clad angelic visitor (or two in Luke and
John) who told them that Jesus had been risen from the dead and (except in
John) to go tell the other disciples that they will see Jesus when they return
to home to Galilee.
It is after the women leave the empty tomb
where the real variety in the gospels telling of the Easter story begins.
Each gospel seems to have its own accounts of people encountering
the risen Jesus (resurrection appearances).
ÿ Talking to Mary Magdalene
in the garden by the tomb.
ÿ With two disciples on the
road to Emmaus;
ÿ With his disciples in
Jerusalem;
ÿ On a mountain in Galilee
being told to baptize the nations.
//
The
most unique Easter narrative is also thought (by scholars) to be the first one
written down.
Not
many people (even regular churchgoers and bible readers) realize that Mark’s
gospel originally ended without mentioning any resurrection appearances.
We
know this because archeological discoveries have found versions of Mark that
end at chapter 16, verse 8.
Others
have been found with an additional eleven verses that seem to be a short
summary of resurrection stories that we can read in the other three gospels.
And
there are some discovers that have different verses 9 and 10 from the longer,
most familiar ending of Mark.
[okay, 8:30am folk, we’re back on track now]
//
This morning, we heard the version of Easter morning from
Mark’s gospel that ends without seeing Jesus raised but only being told that He Is Risen.
This brings a challenge
into the faith of the followers of Jesus - that existed from the second
generation of Christians on:
Can we believe in Jesus’
resurrection if we haven’t seen proof of it for ourselves?
Is it enough to simply be
told the message?
I wonder how the early
church that read Mark’s original draft of his gospel - So the women went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and
amazement had seized them.
No story of Jesus appearing
to Mary or Cleopas or Peter or Thomas or anyone. Just an mysterious messenger saying that
Jesus was raised and they will see him, but not here.
I wonder how did the church
respond to that?
I mean, I am guessing that
there were ‘resurrection appearance stories’ floating around. What about that angelic promise that the
disciples would see Jesus risen in Galilee, did that happen? Why doesn’t the gospel say anything about
that?
More so, Mark must have really confused his audience even
more with his last line: And the
women said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
If they said nothing to
anyone, how do we know any of this?
Think about it. It is an odd detail to add to a story about
an event that (obviously) had spread. I
can offer only one guess as to why Mark would include such a confusing statement: that the story they all
knew so well was not told by
the ones who first heard it.
That must be how it
happened. Why would he make up such an
out-of-place detail?
Forget about
any story of the Risen Christ being seen for a moment. Assume the oldest version of Mark is all you
have.
The women did not hear the
angel’s promise (of a Risen Jesus on his
way to Galilee) and then find
it inspiring or hopeful or faith developing.
It did not lift the shroud of their grief - it confused them and left
them more afraid than ever.
So much so that (for a
while at least), they didn’t want to talk about it at all.
After being
told, they didn't run out and start preaching that the Lord is Risen. They were too afraid to know what to believe.
//
//
I had occasion to watch the
movie Killing Jesus on the National
Geographic channel the other day. I will
openly (and proudly) admit that I am not generally a fan of Amercian political
pundit and Fox News Network star, Bill
O’Reilly, but I found the movie version of his take on the story of Jesus
kind of refreshing - the movie is based on O’Reilly’s novel (which I have not
read).
I liked that the movie producers cast a muslim
actor to play Jesus - the authenticity of his look and his accent
was very good and
effective. I liked that the miracles and healings of
Jesus were portrayed not so much as ‘magic’, but as great ‘turns of
events’. The movie (like Mark) did not
have any resurrection appearances - it ends with an empty tomb and Peter
catching a boat-load of fish - but no Jesus seen in the flesh - not even an
angel telling them what happened.
The one thing that
disappointed me was the reaction of the disciples in the empty tomb. When they discovered the linens in the grave
without any sign of Jesus’ body, their confused looks only lasted a few seconds before
they began to
smile and say hallelujah - indicating
that they knew Jesus was raised almost instantly.
//
As sojo.net pointed out
this week: Jesus is on TV a lot these days.
There are conversations being held about what we can say about Easter
from an historical and from a faith perspective.
//
In spite of Bill O’Reilly’s
movie ending, what I get from reading Mark, chapter 16 (ending at verse 8) is
that faith in the resurrection does not necessarily happen instantly or easily.
And... it is not like seeing the Risen Christ makes that 100%
easier. Next week, we will read about
Jesus appearing directly to his disciples on the first Easter evening and how a
week later, they were still huddled behind locked doors too afraid to live out
what they might have been beginning to believe.
Earlier this year, I preached about a few
curious words in the last section of Matthew’s gospel. In chapter 28, (which tells about the
post-easter Jesus meeting his disciples on a mountain in Galilee) it says that
- even there, in the very presence of the Risen Christ - “some doubted”.
Easter faith (from the very
beginning) has been a progressive
faith more than it is an instant one.
//
If that was true for those
who were supposedly there and saw and experienced things first hand - how can
it be any less true for us - two millennia further down the road.
//
The real ‘mark’ (lol)
of faith out of today’s gospel reading is going to be defined by 'what can we do' - 'what will we do' - after being told.
//
I actually
find the reaction of the disciples in Mark's gospel quite encouraging - that it
is not unusual or unexpected to have times of confusion -- even fear.
As I said
earlier, faith, for most people, is a
progressive endeavour. Confusion can
evolve into deeper clarity.
I like the way
the early Christian author Paul describes his experience. When he first heard the Christian gospel, it
outraged him. He saw these followers of
a 'Risen Messiah' as corrupters of faith, rather than practitioners of it. From the book Acts, we are told that Paul
enthusiastically helped the Temple authorities round up the so-called
Christ-ians. By his own admission, Paul
was a persecutor of the church, not an Apostle.
And yet, he
points to key moments where he progressed toward a different belief. Paul never describes this turn around
directly in his letters other than to claim (as we heard from First Corinthians
fifteen) that he had his own mysterious experience of the Risen Jesus.
In retrospect,
as he writes this letter, Paul sees all of this... as acts of grace from God -
his faith (and the ministry he has because of what he believes) is a gift from
God.
Paul is
sharing his faith with the hope and promise that - by the Grace of God - it
might help advance the faith of new generations of believers.
//
We have been
told. We may not have seen, but we have been told that God's love and
grace (embodied in Jesus) is not so frail as to be stopped by any moment in
time... even a moment of defeat or death.
The love and
the grace of God endures beyond all attempts to quell the call to love our
neighbours and to erase the lines between the welcomed and the outcast.
Eventually,
the terror and amazement that
greeting the first Easter morn evolved in a faith that would be shared in city
squares and country roads.
Grace can be
infectious.
//
The last
prayer offered at the Good Friday was:
When we cannot
see,
when we do not
listen,
when we remain
silent,
when we harden
our hearts,
when we fail
to act...
God, you love
us still.
//
The promise of
Easter begins with God's enduring grace and compassion enveloping us, even if
we are not quite able to respond in kind.
Hallelujah,
for God is patient.
Hallelujah,
for God is good.
Hallelujah,
for Christ in risen!
//
Let us pray:
God of new life, hear our joyful cries
of hallelujah, for we need no longer
look for you in death, the tomb is empty. We need no longer seek you in the
empty tomb, you are alive. We witness you in life: abundant and bountiful life.
Hallelujah! Amen.
***OFFERING***
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