Easter – 04042021 – 10:00 A.M.
Mark’s Gospel leaves people hopefully “wondering,” and “longing for more.”
The Tomb is empty.
Jesus is nowhere to be seen.
The three women (Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome) are greeted by an “unknown messenger…”
Early in the morning…the darkness still lingers…and persists…darkness has really truly been a strong theme during these last three days…
The huge stone has already been rolled away…
They are given a message…
They are said to be filled with terror and amazement. They are more than alarmed, scared, frightened…
For all intents and purposes – they are on emotional and mental OVERLOAD.
The actual Greek words that are used are “tromos” and “ecstasis” …from which we get the words, trauma, and ecstasy.
They are more than “afraid” at what is happening all around them. Terror fills the air.
Jesus is gone. GONE WHERE?
WHO rolled the stone? WHO are you?
They are attempting to wrap their heads around ALL of that…at once.
They are mentally distracted by the stone being rolled away, by the surprise unknown messenger…and by HIS unexpected words to a group of women…
The Greek words suggest they are displaced, in a trance-like-state, traumatized, distracted, astonished, emotionally upset, anxious, afraid, and left wondering…at WHAT IS GOING ON…What is all of this?
Should they be AFRAID for their own lives and safety?
WHAT ABOUT Jesus? WHERE is he? WHO took him? WHO removed his dead-lifeless-body?
Already there IS and HAS BEEN a sadness, a void, a moroseness, and emptiness, a huge deep prevailing sense of loss…they are in that stage that is beyond grief.
And now, all this added CONFUSION and these STRANGE WORDS.
They had finally made it to their DESTINATION and now they are being told to LEAVE.
What ABOUT the spices? What should they DO with the spices? Those spices were expensive. They came to complete the burial process.
They are more than a little confused by these events. They DO NOT KNOW what to make of any of the craziness of the past few days…and it obviously continues on…EVEN NOW.
All they wanted to do was to ANOINT the body and now they cannot even do that much. DO NOT BE alarmed? Seriously?
He has been raised. Raised WHERE?
LOOK there is the PLACE “they” laid him. They looked. They saw. They DID NOT understand. NOTHING would register. Nothing would sink in…
How CAN he go ahead of us?
How is he GOING to Galilee?
How do you know WE WILL SEE HIM in Galilee? Where IN Galilee?
How do you know … WHAT he told us?
In the end, they DO as they had been INSTRUCTED. But they were probably uncertain, as to WHY….
Mark tells us that terror and amazement had seized them. They said nothing to anyone for they were AFRAID. Is it any wonder? Their lives were literally turned upside down.
There are no bold “Amens” stated.
No “Alleluias” proclaimed.
No Christ is Risen!
He is Risen indeed.
There is none of that.
Just feelings of fear and foreboding. Astonishment and anxiety.
What?
Who?
When? WHERE?
How?
Instead, they are TERRORIZED.
I would venture to say that none of three REMEMBERED the return trip back home. It would have all been a blur.
Their minds were doing summersaults and backflips…minds spinning, racing out of control…
And the gospel ends…IN SILENCE. But obviously, they did say SOMETHING to someone. They did TELL his disciples and Peter. They did CHECK IN. They did REPORT BACK. And they did GO to Galilee to see, God only knows WHAT.
In the Gospel of Mark, the gospel closes not with a BANG but with a small whimpering cry of uncertainty…and FEAR all around.
You wonder…
And you definitely long for MORE…
Happy Easter, everybody!