No Way to Run a Resurrection

Easter Day, Year B

Mark 16:1-8

The Rev. Joshua Rodriguez-Hobbs

Let’s be honest: Who here thought that our Gospel reading this morning ended strangely? Dare I say inappropriately? You came here this morning to hear about the Risen Christ, and Mark offers you… nothing. That’s the central feature of Mark’s resurrection story: an empty tomb. Nothing. That’s also what Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary and Salome say—nothing. They said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. Isn’t that a bit unsatisfying? Anti-climactic?

You’re not alone if you’re thinking that. Our earliest and best copies of Mark’s Gospel end where our reading did this morning, but two other people—known to us as Matthew and Luke—found this ending so inappropriate that they wrote their own gospels. Later, people added stories taken from Matthew and Luke to the end of their copies of Mark, so that the Risen Jesus meets with the disciples in Galilee. But Mark never wrote those stories. He just ends his gospel with an empty tomb and terrified women.

In a way, I think that’s true to life. Mark doesn’t end things neatly for us because life doesn’t end neatly. There’s no fairy-tale ending for us this morning because that would ring false. None of us were there that first Easter morning. None of us saw the Risen Christ or put our fingers in his nail-scarred hands. Mark, and Mark alone of all the Gospels, places us in the same position as the first witnesses of the resurrection. They don’t see Jesus, either. All any of us have to go on is an empty tomb and a promise.

That’s no way to run a resurrection. If I’d have been in charge that day, I would have paraded Jesus around Jerusalem. I’d have shown him off to the crowds gathered there to celebrate the Passover. I’d have taken him to the Chief Priests and to Pilate, just to rub their noses in their failure. I’d have made sure that as many people as possible saw Jesus, so there could be no doubt that he had risen. But I wasn’t in charge, and that’s the point of Mark’s Gospel.

Christ’s resurrection is not about God overwhelming all our doubts with unassailable proof of God’s existence. No, Christ’s resurrection is instead the ultimate sign of God’s faithfulness in the face of our unfaithfulness.

Mark is the Gospel where the disciples always get it wrong. They are always misunderstanding the parables Jesus tells, or missing the point of what he’s talking about. One time, Jesus tells his disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees—by which he meant their teaching. Mark tells us that the disciples thought he said this because they’d forgotten to buy bread. Another time Jesus predicts that he will die and be raised on the third day. Right after he says that, James and John raise their hands and ask, “When you become king, can we be number two and number three in your kingdom?”

The disciples don’t understand Jesus’ message. It’s no surprise that by the end of Good Friday, Peter and the other disciples have fled. Only the women are left. Only Mary Magdalene and the other Mary and Salome. We might hope that they’ll do better, but they don’t expect to find the Risen Christ on Sunday morning. They’re bringing spices to a tomb to anoint a dead body. They don’t get it, either. They flee, too.

But Christ is in Galilee, waiting all the same. That’s what the young man at the tomb promises. That’s what Jesus himself promised, before he went to Jerusalem, “After I am raised, you will see me in Galilee.” The disciples didn’t understand, but Jesus is faithful and goes to Galilee all the same.

The miracle of Easter is that in the face of all of these human failings, Jesus is still faithful. Jesus still wants to be in relationship the disciples, even Peter, and with all of us. Who could blame Jesus if he’d come back angry and ready to punish the people who’d crucified him or the disciples who deserted him?  But he didn’t. He doesn’t. The relationship holds. Jesus proves that he is faithful, even when we are not.

By human standards, this is no way to run a resurrection. The fact is, however, that the message of the cross and the empty tomb is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those of us who are being saved it is the power of God. God’s ways are not our ways. That is the good news of Easter. The good news of Jesus Christ is that it doesn’t depend on us. It doesn’t depend on us getting it right or being faithful or even, honestly, believing. It all depends on Jesus, who is faithful for us.

This is no way to run a resurrection. This is the only way to run a resurrection. We don’t have proof, but we have a promise. Christ is going before us. Christ will meet us on the way. If you want to find Christ today, don’t come to church (even though I’m happy that you are here today, and hope that you’ll come back). If you want to find Jesus, go out those doors and meet the Risen Christ in the world. He’s there, waiting faithfully. So, let us go forth from this place today proclaiming: Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!