Sermon (Myrrhbearing Women) Mark 16:1-8 April 30, 2017

Transcription

1 Sermon (Myrrhbearing Women) Mark 16:1-8 April 30, 2017 At the end of Mark s gospel, we hear that the myrrhbearing women flee from the empty tomb in fear and astonishment. And because they are afraid, they say nothing to anyone about Christ s resurrection from the dead. Here is a curious thing. The women disciples of the Lord might be afraid when they leave the tomb. But there is no fear on that first Easter Sunday when they arrive at the tomb. The end of the gospel this morning is a surprising one. There is an unexpected twist in the final verse. Verse 1: the women go and buy spices. They put their money into the game. Spices aren t cheap. They aren t rich. They are women, travelling alone. Easy prey for thieves. The risk does not matter to them. Verse 2: they arrive early on Sunday morning. The sun is up, says Scripture. The Sabbath ended at sundown the night before. The could have used the darkness for cover, to avoid the thieves or to sneak around the guards. But with boldness they march on the tomb at daybreak. Verse 3: they have no idea how the stone will be moved the tomb. But this is no deterrent. They will solve that problem later. The details do not matter. Verse 4: The get to the tomb, and the tomb has been vandalized. The stone has been rolled away. Perhaps by grave robbers at work in the night. But in verse 5 it is clear that this does not matter to them. It s like watching a scary movie. You know the house is dangerous, and that the college kids should stay away, but they always / go inside / anyway. Same thing. At the tomb this morning -- all kinds of alarms are going off -- no soldiers, no stone, and it is clear to them in fact that someone is still in the tomb moving about. But this does not matter. They desire to see the Lord, and so they enter the tomb. Verse 6: it is not a thief but an angel who greets them. Thieves are bad enough, but angels are pretty scary too. But the women don t budge. They stand their ground. And finally verse 7: the angel tells them the good news of the resurrection and instructs them to tell the other disciples. In fact, specifically they must tell Peter, the cowardly one who abandoned and denied Christ. They must speak truth to the weak leaders, and bring them comfort. 1

2 And through all of this, the women keep pressing forward. *** It is not until the very end, until the final words from the angel, that things change. It is then they flee from the tomb. And they say nothing to anyone, for they are afraid. This is quite a change. And it is puzzling. 7 verses of fantastic courage. 1 verse of fear. What explains the change? For seven verses, these are bold, single-minded women. They don t care about the Pharisees, or the Sadducees, or the high priest. Roman governor and soldiers mean nothing. The tomb is unsealed, and they walk right in. An angel greets them, and they don t blink. These are women who do not care about anything else except one thing they only care about Christ. They only care about seeing the Lord, and taking care of his body for burial. The crucifixion has robbed them of so much. Jesus is their master, their beloved teacher. He gives them hope and joy. But now he is dead, and lying in a tomb. But the women do not care. They still desire to see him. They desire to honor him in the only way now possible: as myrrhbearers who bring spices to anoint his buried body. And nothing else matters. The synagogue may expel them. The soldiers may arrest them. The apostles may be 15 miles away in hiding by now, useless to everyone. But this to them is irrelevant. Like a laser beam they are focused on one thing: they desire to see the Lord, one last time, even though he now lies lifeless in a grave. *** But the scene is crushing: Jesus is not there. The one thing they want, they are denied. The crucifixion was devastating enough, watching Jesus die was hard but even the last kiss is now taken away from them. All the courage that carried them to the tomb is now melted into sorrow: You may not see the Lord now, says the angel he is not here. *** But though he is not here, says the angel, he is waiting for you. Go to Galilee, and there you will see him. 2

3 Indeed the Lord waits for you, says the angel, but not here as a lifeless body inside of cold stones. He waits for you in Galilee. You will see the Lord, says the messenger, and he will not be hidden beneath burial garments and sweet spices. You will see him once again face to face. You will see the Lord, and not just see Him but you will hear him, and laugh with him, and share a meal with him. You will see his smile and be warmed by his embrace. You will once again sit at his feet and hear the words of life. Go to Galilee, and there you will see him, as he promised you. Jesus is waiting to be seen, but Jesus is a moving target. THIS is what liquefies the courage of the myrrhbearing women. This is what turns the seven verses of fearlessness into a final verse of great hesitation. The Apostle Mark writes that the women are filled with trembling and astonishment. The Greek here is powerful. It says that the women are filled with tromos and ekstasis. The words of the angel at the same time bring trauma and ecstasy. The Lord is not in the tomb and this is traumatic. It shakes and crushes the spirit of the women who love Jesus so much. But the Lord is on the move and now waits for them in Galilee, and this is a message of ecstasy. Speechless fear is mixed in with piercing joy. Jesus is no longer a dead body in need of spices. He is not without life, awaiting burial. Jesus is on the move. He is the living Lord whose death destroys death, and now He races them all to a new destination. To a place of new life, and to a new beginning. *** Brothers and sisters, what did you come to see today? What did you expect to see when you arrived at church this morning? Did you expect to see what you always see? Did you expect to greet those you always greet, and to be greeted by them in the usual way? Like the myrrhbearing women, did you expect to see the same Jesus you saw the last time you were in church? Did you enter the Church with a list of chores on your mind? Like the myrrhbearing women, were you thinking about the giant stones that need moving? Were you waiting to greet the Sunday morning routine? The routine of waking up your children and 3

4 packing up the car? The routine of lighting candles and finding your seat? The mental check list needed to sing in the choir, or serve in the altar? The responsibilities of checking mail or teaching church school? I wonder if there someone who will help me roll away the stone? Or did you enter the church with either home or work or school on your mind? Maybe Church this morning is not a place to greet Christ. Maybe it s a place to forget at least for a few minutes the frustrations of the rest of life. Like the myrrhbearing women, maybe you are fed up, just like they are fed up with the all other disciples who abandoned their places and ran away. Which Jesus are you hoping to see today? The dead Jesus of old stories that seem like part of the past? Or maybe you expected to kiss the face of Christ on the icons because, well, that s where he always is. Where else are you going to greet and kiss the Lord? He s always here, right? Still and unmoving in a giant wooden box, waiting for us to come back and take care of him. Brothers and sisters, the message proclaimed to us this morning is the same message proclaimed by the angel to the myrrhbearing women. Perhaps we seek the Lord, but Christ is already on the move and is waiting for us in the places he promised. The God we worship is a moving target, not stuck in a tomb. He is running before us into a world that needs His love. Jesus is a surprising Savior. He is not in the routines and the list of chores. He is not in the familiar faces and the usual seats. Jesus is not waiting for my kiss to wake him up. The Lord has already lit his candles and warmed up his voice. He is already praying, already singing, already leading a procession into the Kingdom. This morning in Church, Galilee is not your favorite pew. Galilee is not the social hall and that first cup of coffee with friends. These are nice things. But this is not the Galilee Christ speaks of. Galilee is not the familiar routine of buying and lighting candles. Galilee is not that feeling of being done and driving home. And Galilee is certainly not an afternoon on the couch or a Sunday BBQ before the work week starts up again. These are nice things. These are blessings. But these are far from the Galilee where the Lord promises to see us. 4

5 *** This morning, in Church, the chalice is our Galilee. Christ comes to us in the bread and the wine that He himself blesses and serves. It is to the Chalice that we must run on Sundays. It is there that we will see the Lord. Each Sunday, the Liturgy is our Galilee. It is the place where the Lord once again offers himself to us in love. And once Liturgy has ended, there are ten thousand Galilees in the world around us. Ten thousand places where Christ promises to see us and meet us. Where there is loneliness, the Lord is there. The loneliness of our neighbor is a Galilee where Christ now stays. A Galilee to which we are called as well. Galilee is the friend who doesn t know where to turn for help. Galilee is the family member who angers and frustrates you. Galilee is the victim of another person s greed or rage. Galilee is the person who is told they don t matter because they don t look like everyone else. Galilee is the place for the forgotten and the abused and rejected. And this morning, Christ calls us to those places. He says to us that I am already there waiting for you, no less than I am waiting to greet you at the chalice. *** For the myrrhbearing women, the news of the resurrection brings them tromos and ekstasis -- it is a moment of trauma and ecstasy. The Lord is not where they expected. But with overwhelming joy they now make their way to Galilee. And we are called this morning to flee with them from the empty tomb filled with fear and astonishment. We are called to all the places in this world where the risen Lord now goes goes. 5