That’s no way to end a Gospel!
April 5, 2010
We actually met twice yesterday. Ekklesia hosted the first Easter sunrise service FUMC BA has done in maybe 20 years and it was fantastic. Perfect weather, music, sunrise timing… what a blessing. Then we got back together at 11:00 for something like what we usually do.
Most of our time at both of these were spent answering questions. At sunrise, I asked “what does Easter mean to you?” We got several good answers that ranged from family memories, to “hope right now” – Easter means that Jesus not only died for us, but also overcame death. That gives us hope that God can overcome sin and suffering right here in our world.
At the 11:00, though, we read what I think is the most confusing resurrection story in the Bible. The earliest copies of Mark’s Gospel appear to have ended in chapter 16 at verse 8. (the verses we now find after v. 8 are largely pieced together from Matthew and Luke) The first 8 verses give the story we’re used to hearing – women come to the tomb, find the stone rolled away, then are told that Jesus has risen and they should tell the apostles to wait for him in Galilee. What’s different about Mark is that verse 8 says, “8So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”
THE END. That’s the last word as Mark was originally written.
What? That’s no way to end a Gospel! They were afraid and told no one? Where is the rest of the story?
There are a lot of answers to this (and when I asked the group why, they come up with some good stuff I’d never thought of), but the one we focused on Easter morning was this: Mark doesn’t need to tell us the rest of the story because WE are the rest of the story. Especially for the Gospel’s first audience, they didn’t need to be told that the women eventually told Peter, Thomas, John and the rest because they had probably heard the story from Peter, Thomas, John or even the women themselves. And even those of us reading today shouldn’t need to be told that Jesus is alive and present in the world. We’re the church! This is the story we proclaim every day.
The first time I was confronted with the short ending of Mark, it was a real struggle for me. But it’s quickly become my favorite gospel ending. It doesn’t explain everything for you. It makes you explain it yourself. It doesn’t let you prove Jesus’ resurrection with stories about “doubting Thomas” or even the road to Emmaus. It makes you offer evidence from your own experience: “I know Jesus is risen – that God has overcome and is overcoming the death-dealing ways of this world – because I have seen it myself in ___ ____ _____.”
How do you finish the sentence? Where is the risen Messiah present in your life?
