Just Beginning: April 1, 2018

Year B, Easter                                                          
Mark 16:1-8                                                             
            

            I like happy endings.  If I learn that a book doesn’t have a happy ending, I don’t read it.  If I accidently read a book that has a bad ending, I feel betrayed and angry.  I want a neat and tidy ending.  I know that life is not like that.  Our problems aren’t resolved in 250 pages.  Sometimes they are never resolved, which is why I need it in my books.  Therefore, I have always found it strange that I am so fond of the ending of the Gospel of Mark.  The last line is: “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.”  If you read this in Greek, which was the language in which it was originally written, the last sentence is incomplete.  Mark didn’t even finish the sentence.  It’s like his pen ran out of ink or he decided he needed a snack and just forgot to add the conclusion.  It’s that abrupt.

            In the other three Gospels, Jesus appeared in bodily form to the disciples and the women who came to the tomb.  In the Gospels of Luke and John, Jesus shared a meal with the disciples.  He even did a little fishing.  In Mark, we end with an empty tomb and a strange man telling the women that Jesus had been raised and was going to meet them in Galilee.  But no one actually saw the risen Christ. If that was not bad enough, the last line said the women ran away and said nothing for they were afraid—which means that they never told the disciples.  They never shared the good news. 

            For centuries, people have struggled with the ending of Mark.  In the earliest translations, there is no evidence of verses that come after verse 8 (which is where we ended today).  However, within less than 100 years of the writing of Mark, there is evidence that additional verses were added. The theory is that people were uncomfortable with the ending because there was no real conclusion. It essentially ended on what we would now refer to as a cliff hanger.  If it was a TV show, you would hear a voiceover that said, “Did the women ever tell anyone about the tomb?  Did Jesus show himself?  Was he really resurrected? Find out next week on the Jesus Story!”  Yet there was no next week.  The story just ended. 

            Because that was such an unsatisfactory ending, someone added a few verses. That is why if you look at most Bibles, there will be an option for a shorter ending and a longer ending. There is an additional 12 verses that uses text from the other Gospels to fill in the gaps and show Jesus Christ risen and interacting with his disciples.  What this proves is that even the earliest Christians were desperate for a good ending—which is completely understandable.  The early Christians were building a movement. They needed something that they could lift up, a narrative that would provide hope for those Christians who were being persecuted.  An empty tomb and people running away scared isn’t exactly a rallying cry. 

            But what if we look at it a different way?  Instead of it being an unsatisfactory ending, what if it is an opportunity for a new beginning?  To try to put an ending on this story…to edit the story so that it could be more palatable, is a mistake. Because this is not our ending to control. We don’t get to decide how this part of the story is told.  What we do have, is an opportunity to be a part of the new beginning.

            One of the awesome aspects of the Gospel of Mark is that it is a Gospel of expectation, of what is to come.  That is what our church is about. When we look at the church calendar, we see many beginnings.  Advent, which is the season before Christmas, is the beginning of the church year.  It is a season of expectation for the birth of Christ.  Lent is also an opportunity for new beginning.  We talk about the need to repent.  Repentance is not just saying “I am sorry” and moving on, it’s about a complete change of orientation.  It’s the act of turning around and starting over.  Then we have Easter, where Jesus defeats death and comes back to life, for a new beginning.  After Easter we enter the season of Pentecost which marks the coming of the Holy Spirit and the beginning of the church.  Every season of the church offers a chance for a new beginning. 

            Some people criticize the church as being stuck in the past or being overly concerned about guilt and judgment.  That could not be further from the truth.  Yes, we honor the past and hopefully we learn from the past.  We also admit our guilt in our confession every Sunday.  But those things are only part of the story.  If the story of our faith ended with guilt and condemnation, that would make for a horrible ending.  But it doesn’t, because with every season and every Sunday, we have an opportunity to start over.  Our faith is a faith marked by new beginnings.

            When the women saw the empty tomb, they were understandably confused.  There was an angelic visitor there who told them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.  He has been raised; he is not here…But go, tell the disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.”  It’s odd that he mentioned Peter by name.  The angel told the women to go tell the disciples.  Peter was one of the disciples.  Why did he have to be specifically named? 

            One theory is that he was mentioning Peter because there was a very real chance that Peter felt bad about the fact that he had denied being a disciple of Jesus.  Peter might have thought that he had ended his relationship with Jesus because of his denial.  Perhaps he thought that if Jesus really was back from the dead, he did not want to see the man who had denied him.  That was what I would have thought if I was Peter.  That is why the angel specifically mentioned Peter. Jesus had not just risen for a select few…a select few who deserved to see him again.  He rose for everyone.  This was a new day and a new beginning. 

            Maybe you are here today for the first time in awhile and feel a little uncomfortable about that. Guess what? We are all starting over, so you are not alone.  It is never too late to come back to faith or rekindle your relationship with God and the community of faith.    Jesus rose for you.  He lived, died and was resurrected for every person here, even those who do not deserve it, which is everyone by the way.  No one deserves God’s unconditional love, but he gives it anyways.

            As I said at the beginning, I like the way Mark ends.  However, I am not sure I would have if I was hearing it told in the first century and if I had not heard the other Gospels.  I would have liked some certainty and clarity.  While it might not be the ending we want, it’s the ending we all need.  Because it forces us to enter into the story, be part of the ongoing story of Jesus Christ.  We aren’t just reading the story, we are participating in it.

          We have an opportunity to live in the promise Mark made so long ago---the promise that we will meet the risen Christ.  Remember, the angel said that Jesus was going ahead of them…ahead.  That is why we continue to move forward and sometimes start over.  We do that so we too can meet the risen Christ.

Easter: Finish the Story.....April 5, 2015

Year B, Easter                                                            
Mark 16                                                                                              

            I have always really appreciated the Gospel of Mark.  For one thing, it is the shortest.  If you only have a limited amount of time to experience the story of Jesus, read Mark.  I also have this feeling as though I know Mark.  He was the guy who wasn’t concerned with what people wanted to hear.  He wasn’t worried about making the disciples look good or making the church appear to be triumphant and successful.  His prose was not particularly formal or pretty.  He did not need to impress the people who might be hearing his words.  There were no good transitions between stories.  His only real transition tool was to use the word “and” or “immediately.”  Everything always happened immediately.  There is urgency in his writing that was not emphasized in the other Gospels.  It probably never occurred to him that we would still be reading his words today.  Since his was the first Gospel that was written, he did not have to compare his writing to anything.   He was not trying to be anyone else.  He was writing the truth, from his perspective.  For that reason, some people believe that Mark’s Gospel might be the one that is closest to the real story.

One of the other things that makes Mark so unique is the ending of the Gospel, the text that I read today.   There is no resurrected Jesus.  Jesus never appears to the women or Peter or the beloved disciple.  He never walks through a door or eats fish with his disciples; nor does he give a final speech and then ascend into the clouds as his disciples watch on.   In Mark, Jesus’ last words were, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” The last time anyone saw him, he was dead.  Sure, he had told them that he would be resurrected and return after three days.  He told them that several times, but they really did not understand him and can we blame them?  It might seem obvious to us now because we know the end of the story; but they didn’t.  All they knew was that their friend who they had come to believe was the Son of God, was dead.  Not only that, but not one of the 12 disciples remained with him until his last breath.  There were only a few faithful women who watched from a distance.

It was these same women who returned to the tomb.  They were there so that they could anoint the body.  This is normally something that you do before the body is wrapped and placed in a tomb, but this was not a normal death nor was Jesus an ordinary man.  So the women returned three days later.  When they were walking there, they were not contemplating the possibility that he might be alive.  It never seemed to occur to them.  They were concerned about the details.  How would they get into the tomb with a huge stone blocking it?  That was their concern…how to move the stone. 

As soon as they arrived they realized that the stone was no longer their main concern.  The stone was moved and a strange man sat at the side of the tomb.  As you can imagine, they were a little freaked out.  They did not know this strange man and all of a sudden he was telling them not to worry….that Jesus, the man they were looking for, had risen.  The tomb was empty. The strange man then told them to go tell the disciples that Jesus is not in the tomb, but is going ahead to Galilee to meet them.  Then the man added, “just as he told you.”  Just in case they were confused, he reminded them that Jesus already told them that all of this was going to happen.  When Jesus says he is going to do something, it happens.

If Mark was like the other three Gospels, or any good movie, then the women would have leapt with joy and run as fast as they could to spread the good news that Jesus is alive…just like he told them he would be.  But according to Mark, that is not what happened. The very last line is, “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.”   That is a horrible ending.   It’s like a bad movie where you get to the last 3 minutes and it looks like it will all wrap up the way you expected…but before that can happen, the credits roll.  It is over and there is no closure.

This is not how it should have ended.  These are the women who stayed with Jesus until the end.  They were not supposed to run away.  They were supposed to return to the disciples and tell them all that Jesus was back from the dead and they needed to get to Galilee immediately because that was where he was headed. Then they were meant to tell everyone so that 2000 years later we at St. John’s would remain grateful with the knowledge that we know about the resurrection because these women believed and shared that belief with others.  But that is not how the story ends.  It ends in terror and silence.

This ending of Mark made people so uncomfortable that they added alternate endings later on that sounded more like the other Gospels.  In these alternate endings, the women told the disciples just like they were asked.  Jesus appeared to them and eventually ascended into heaven.   But Mark did not end it that way.  He left the story open.  He left us, the readers, hanging.  We assume that these women must have shared and Jesus must have fulfilled his promise and appeared to his disciples. Otherwise, how would we know?  But that was not how Mark ended it.  Mark ended his Gospel with a challenge, a challenge for each one of us. 

You can do what these women did.  You can go home and eat a big meal.  You can talk about how pretty the flowers were and how nice the music was, which is all true.  And then you can take a couple of Sundays off because you know, Easter is over.  And that’s ok.  No one will get hurt.  Life will remain just as it is.  But that also means that the message never leaves this building.  It means that your faith, your relationship with God is an unfinished story.   If this is it… if we don’t keep working on our faith, committing ourselves to prayer, worship and a community of faith…the story never gets out.  Finish the story.  Don’t let it end here today.  It’s a beautiful story.  It’s more than any one of us can hope for. 

That is why as a community of faith, we live the story together.  While it is beautiful, it is challenging.  It is terrifying at times because we do not always get the closure we want.  It does not always make sense.  But we keep praying.  We keep studying, talking and praising God. Then one day when our personal story (our life) comes to an end, we will find that it has really just begun.  You see, there is a twist at the end.  Just when we think it is over, it starts again.