Only the Beginning Mark 16:1-8 A Sermon by Rev. Bob Kells

Transcription

1 Most people love a good story. Only the Beginning Mark 16:1-8 A Sermon by Rev. Bob Kells Whether it s a novel, a short story, a play or a movie, most of us, I think, enjoy the telling of good stories. Today we celebrate the highpoint in the greatest story ever told: Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, is risen from the grave! - He was dead on Friday. The Romans hung him on a cross to die. - Gone on Saturday. Lying in a grave. - But now, it s Sunday morning. And he s alive! - He s alive because God raised Jesus from the dead to save us from our sins, and to give us the same new life that Jesus has. - All because God loves us. - No other story in human history can lay claim to such a spectacular, audacious, outrageous, life-altering event. As stories go, you can t touch this! But when we hear the Resurrection story through the words of Mark, we re left wondering. Mark s Resurrection story leaves us hanging. All the ingredients for a good ending are there: - It s early Sunday morning and three women are on their way to the tomb where Jesus body was laid. - As they walk along they remember the stone that was placed in front of the entrance and they wonder how they will get into the tomb, who will roll away the heavy stone? - When they arrive, they find the stone is already rolled away. - They go into the tomb and are startled to find a young man (an angel) sitting there. - He tells them Jesus is not here; he s been raised from the dead; and if they want to see him again, they need to go tell his disciples he has gone on to Gallilee where he will meet them. 1

2 - And then the women run away in terror and don t say anything to anyone. Now I don t know about you but as stories go, that doesn t seem like a very good ending. I think I m like most people in that I like my stories wrapped up neatly, without any loose ends. I think most of us are like that; we want to have a resolution in our stories. Mark didn t do that for us. And we re not the first ones to notice the absence of a neat ending. If you look at the last chapter of Mark in your Bibles, you ll notice two other endings to the Gospel. Bible scholars believe these probably were added decades later by the people who made copies of Mark. - In one of them, the women tell Peter about the risen Lord and then, Jesus works through the rest of the disciples to proclaim the Good News. - In the other, Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene, to some other disciples, commissions them to spread the Good News about God s Kingdom, and it ends with Jesus ascending into heaven. These endings tie up the loose ends. They make the ending of Mark s Gospel more like the other Gospels. I can sympathize with the folks who added to the ending of Mark. Years ago, I can remember going to see the first movie in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I was reading the book, learning to love the story, which shows a struggle between good and evil (with many Christian undertones) set in the mythical world of Middle Earth. And I d grown to love the characters. I went to see the first movie with my daughter and when it got to the end we were sitting there like: No! You can t end the story there! Don t leave us hanging like that! When I read Mark s Gospel, I have the same reaction: 2

3 No, Mark! Don t do that to us! Don t end the story like this! The women running away in terror? I want to know more. What happened next? Who did they finally talk to? What did they say? Most of all, I want to see Jesus in this story. Mark takes the story of the Resurrection and leaves us hanging. Today, when a beloved story ends, it can keep on going. Thanks to modern technology and the internet, we have something called fan fiction to add to it. Fan fiction is simply stories written by fans using the characters and settings they love from the original story. Go online and you can find fan fiction about almost any story that has gained a large following. One of the best example is the Harry Potter books. After seven books, eight movies and billions of dollars in sales, it s safe to say that Harry Potter is a global phenomenon. Millions of people around the world fell in love with the characters and the storylines in J.K. Rowling s books. If you go to the fan fiction site for Harry Potter you ll find these amazing statistics: Stories: 83,373 Chapters: 305,637 Authors: 38,213 1 So what do they write about in this fan fiction? As you would expect, some of the stories include the main characters from the books: Harry, Ron, and Hermione. But a lot of them take the stories farther afield. Many of the stories are about the next generations children of the children we met in the original stories 1 Harry Potter Fan Fiction, the story continues, accessed 1 April

4 and the adventures they have in the continuing struggle against the dark forces of their magical world. Thanks to fan fiction, the stories about Harry Potter (and others) don t have to end. They go on because people keep telling new stories, and these stories find a place in the hearts of those who love the characters. My friends, I think Mark had a good reason for ending his Gospel the way he did. I think he left it that way because the story of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is not an ending; it is a beginning. Mark s story isn t just about Jesus winning out over sin and death. It sets us up to continue the story. 2 Like the fan fiction sites on the internet, Mark provides a point of departure for the ongoing, real life stories of how Jesus Christ transforms the lives of his followers. And like the fan fiction stories of succeeding generations, millions upon millions of Christians over nearly 2,000 years have added their own real-life stories to the story of the church. - Some of them are stories of well-known saints like the original 12 disciples, the Apostle Paul, St. Francis of Asisi, or Mother Theresa; Martin Luther King, Jr. These are people who made a difference in the lives of millions. - Others are the stories of lesser-known saints by this I mean any baptized Christian people set apart for God s work. These are the people who share God s love and make a difference in the lives of just a few people. 2 David Lose, EASTER B: Only the Beginning, 30 march 2015, in the meantime.com, article on internet, accessed 1 April

5 Whether the stories are about well-known Christians or not, God has given us the privilege to write the next chapters in the ongoing story of how God is redeeming the world through the followers of Jesus Christ. We need to see Mark s Resurrection story as an invitation to get up and move out to where Jesus is. And where is Jesus? The angel already told us: if we want to see Jesus, we have to go to Gallilee. As people empowered by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, we need to go to the Gallilees of our time the places of utmost pain and suffering. Places of lost hope, addiction, exploitation, loss of love, grief, violence, hunger, poverty, loneliness anywhere lives need to be transformed. That s where we ll see Jesus. What chapter will you write in the story of Christ s church? He is risen! He is risen indeed! He is waiting for us in Gallilee. Let us go and meet Him there. Amen. 5