Easter Day, 04/08/2012

Sermon on Mark 16:1-8, by Carl A. Voges

The Passage

"When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome bought spices, so that they might go / anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And they were saying to one another, ‘Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?' And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back - it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. And he said to them, ‘Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen, he is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.' And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid." [English Standard Version]

"Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures; he was buried; and he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures." [1 Corinthians 15.3-4]

In the Name of Christ + Jesus our Lord

There is no question about it - today is the most significant and overwhelming Day of the entire year! The Day started building this past Thursday when the Lord God transformed the Passover Meal into the Eucharist for the lives of his baptized people. It continued on Friday when we were drawn into the ferocity of the Lord's crucifixion. Last evening we were brought to the edge of this day as the Lord created and flooded the world, as the Lord freed his people from their bondage in Egypt, as the Lord promised to draw his people into his presence, as the Lord calls us to repentance while plunging himself into the world's suffering. There is no question about it- today is the most significant and overwhelming Day of the year!

The Day's impact on people is staggering! People whose minds have been clouded, whose hearts have been broken, whose spirits have been flattened, such people are now restored by the actions of the Lord God. They enter this Day with the grace, confidence and warmth that is unique to those persons who have had their lives crossed by the Lord God. What is even more staggering is to realize this is what happens when the Lord God runs his Life into the lives of his parishes and people, and through the Scriptures and Sacraments overhauls them from world's life to his own!

This Day first got underway with its participants having no idea of what was about to be unleashed. Even though the spices weighing nearly a hundred pounds had been packed around our Lord's body on Friday afternoon, it was still necessary to replenish those spices to offset the body's decay. So early on a Sunday morning, three of Jesus' friends (the two Marys and Salome) set out to take care of that detail. As they make their way, their primary concern is the rolling away of the tomb's stone. But when they get there, the stone has already been rolled back!

They enter the tomb and a see young man in a white robe seated to the right side. They are struck with alarm (their expectations are being crossed!). The man tells them there is no need for alarm. He recognizes that they are looking for the Jesus who was crucified, but he states that Jesus is not here. He goes on to say that Jesus has risen, showing them the empty place where his body had been laid. The man tells the three women to go and inform the disciples that Jesus is heading before them to Galilee. It is in that place where everyone will see him, just as he promised he would.

Mark reports that the women come out and run away from tomb. They are gripped by trembling and astonishment! In addition, because they are afraid, they say nothing to anyone! Although Mark's account of the resurrection startles us with this shocking ending, it obvious that the non-speaking did not last long because word of the resurrection quickly spread into the rest of the Day.

There are two primary realities to notice in this passage. The first one is the empty tomb; the second one is the geographic area of Galilee.

Let us turn to the first reality. The announcement of Jesus' resurrection takes place inside a tomb; his victory is made known in the place of death! As the account of Jesus' Passion unfolded in Mark's Gospel, we saw that Jesus was too weak to carry his own cross. We also heard the desolation of Jesus' cry from the cross to his Father. But it is here, where weakness and desolation was run into death, it is here where the women find out that Jesus has been raised!

Earlier in Mark's Gospel, remember that Jesus' proclamation of the kingdom had often been a hidden one. Remember how Jesus would tell people not to say anything when his kingdom impacted on their lives, whether it was his teaching, healing or forgiving? Remember, too, how Jesus described his kingdom in the world like a seed buried in dark soil, like a seed enclosed by its outside covering like tomb, like a seed cracked open by a mysterious life and power?

Such descriptions show why an egg is a symbol of the Lord's resurrection - the shell appears to close everything in, snuffling out life, but the Lord's Life is stirring inside and pushes out through the shell, cracking it in many ways as Life emerges. There was a hiddenness in Jesus' descriptions of the kingdom. His persistent orders to not say anything were expressed because he wanted his teaching, healing and forgiving to be directly connected to his crucifixion and resurrection. Otherwise, people would have stopped with him being only a smart teacher, a powerful healer or a deeply compassionate person. On Good Friday we descended into the numbing ferocity of Jesus' crucifixion, but this morning we are brought into his tomb to see the full meaning and impact of that death!

Now let's look at the other reality in this passage - the man in the tomb sending Jesus' followers to Galilee.

Recall that this is the geographic area where the proclamation of the Gospel got underway, where Jesus' words and deeds started to take on the realities of sin, Satan and death, where Jesus' ministry was carried out until the last week of his Life. This was the area where (because it had been vacated by Israel's ten lost tribes) the faithful Jews in Judah and Jerusalem considered the remaining people to be inferior (remember the attitudes expressed in the Gospels between the Samaritans and Jews?)

Jesus, who had been able to hit at Satan in course of his ministry in that area, was hit back by Satan on Good Friday and apparently defeated as he suffocated on the cross. But the tomb is now empty, signaling that Satan is the one destroyed (permanently!) and that Jesus, the apparent defeated One, is the triumphant One (permanently!) It is this victorious Jesus who is waiting for his followers in Galilee!

Thus, Galilee is more than a geographic area in the northern part of Israel, it is that entire world where all people are born, live and die. Galilee is that world where lives are mistakenly centered on themselves, where the gods are demanding and false, where suffering is never far away and where affliction is unbearable. Galilee is also that world where everything looks good on the surface as it draws people in before the surface cracks revealing how nasty and brutal its life honestly is.

Because of the Lord's crucifixion and resurrection, we, his marked sons and daughters, can stride into that world with the reality of his stunning and dominating Life. That striding is possible because the Lord God is always over-hauling the lives of his parish communities as well as the lives of the people belonging to them. This over-hauling steadily occurs when people confront the Lord's Baptism, the Lord's Scriptures, the Lord's Supper and the Lord's Forgiveness. At first, this over-hauling is shocking and mysterious. But later we begin to understand that it is in those four holy places where the Lord God breaks down the life given us by the world and restores us to the Life given us by him.

This breaking-down is not easily done. We can get thrown into intense, long and unsettling conversations with one another. The conversations often deal with the concern, alarm, trembling, astonishment and fear in our lives. The conversations, because they are framed by the Lord's holy places, reveal how the Lord breaks down the life given at birth and re-sets us in the Life splashed on us at Baptism.

It is because of what the Lord God has done in the crucifixion and resurrection of his Son that this Day is the most significant and overwhelming Day of the year! Understood this way, it is not strange that the two Marys and Salome, at first, said nothing to anyone.

We, who know what it is like to be caught in the grasp of sin, Satan, death and then rescued, can have our mouths shut too! The rescue crosses our expectations so much that we, at first, don't know what to say. But then thanksgiving begins to emerge and we start pointing to the Lord God who pushed into our lives so we could be marked as his daughters and sons.

This is the Lord God who, in the past years, has been running his Life into the lives of his parish communities so the lives of all the people who belong to them can be overhauled.

When he works those lives over, two realities emerge - first, we are sinners; second, we are rescued sinners! When the Lord God works the lives of his people over, he frees them to reflect his Life to the absorbed and suffering people of this world.

This Day is the most significant and overwhelming Day of the year because the Lord's crucifixion and resurrection is slicing into the lives of people who are trapped and absorbed, confused and centered!

Now may the peace of the Lord God, which is beyond all understanding, keep our hearts and minds through Christ + Jesus our Lord.

Pr. Carl A. Voges
Columbia, SC
E-Mail: cavoges@bellsouth.net

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