The End of the Story
a sermon based on Mark 16:1-8
by Rev. Rick Thompson

I like to read. And, when I read for relaxation and enjoyment, there’s nothing I enjoy more than a good mystery.

It’s hard, but I try not to look ahead at the end. I try to sort through the clues, evaluate the evidence, and identify the killer before the author reveals the culprit at the end of the story. And, usually, I’m surprised, fooled by the red herrings the author tosses my way. Without the ending, the story would make no sense and I would be a disappointed reader.

Imagine yourself as a mystery reader, trying to resist peeking ahead to the ending. You’ve absorbed the clues, sifted the evidence, formed some conclusions. You think you know whodunit. You’re hot on the trail with the detective, about to nab the murderer. Your own heart is racing as you get caught up in the story. You just can’t put the book down, and it’s well past your bedtime. You turn the page…

And the last chapter is missing! SOMEONE has ripped the pages out of the book! Frustrated and agitated, you fling the book across the room. WHAT HAPPENED? HOW DOES THE STORY END?

That’s the kind of experience we have with reading the end of Mark’s Gospel. It doesn’t really end—unless you can call the middle of a Greek sentence an ending. It leaves us with more questions than answers. It leaves the story unresolved, incomplete.

Some of the women who had seen where Jesus was buried go to his tomb, early on a Sunday morning, to anoint his body. They worry about moving the large stone that seals the tomb. But they discover that the stone has already been rolled away. Who could have done that? Gingerly, carefully, they peek inside. They see someone sitting there—dressed like a heavenly messenger—who stuns them with an unexpected announcement: “Jesus has been raised from the dead. He is not here…Go, and tell his disciples that he is going ahead of you into Galilee, as he promised. There you will see him…”

The women don’t know what to make of this! Would you? Wouldn’t you find it disconcerting, even terrifying? Their world has been turned inside-out and upside-down: nothing is as they expected it to be. The women run from the tomb in fear and amazement. They are speechless. They don’t deliver their message.

And, according to Mark, that’s the end of the story.

What kind of ending is that?

Where is the belief, the joy of Jesus’ followers? Where are the familiar stories of Jesus, alive, appearing to the disciples, to give them encouragement and hope? Will the messengers ever get around to delivering the message?

Why would Mark stop so abruptly? “…they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”

THE END.

Isn’t that odd? Through much of the Gospel of Mark, Jesus has been performing miracles. And, consistently, he cautions witnesses, “Don’t tell! Don’t say a word until I’ve been raised from the dead!” And, of course, people can’t contain themselves. You know how gossip is, “Did you hear that cured a woman who has been bleeding for 12 years? And he healed a blind man and a leper—touched him, even? And cast out demons, and made a paralyzed man walk?” Reports about his powerful deeds spread like wildfire, despite Jesus’ warning to keep silent.

But now, when the greatest miracle takes place, when Jesus has been raised from the dead, when he wants people to spread the news, the messengers run off in fear, speechless!

What kind of ending is this?

Well, it strikes me as pretty real. Just like our lives, it’s not neat and tidy. There are few answers, and lots of questions. Likewise, our lives are often incomplete, unresolved, and ambiguous. Sometimes we do great acts of faithfulness; often we don’t. Sometimes we succeed in carrying out our good intentions; often we do not.

We want to worship more faithfully, but our careless worship habits are hard to break. We resolve to pray more often, but we can’t—or we don’t—set aside the precious time prayer requires. We long to be more generous with our time and money, but it seems we’re always short of both. We desire to be more compassionate and fearless champions for peace and justice, but we so easily run out of energy and commitment when the going gets tough. We want so badly to be more Christ-like and loving toward others, but our patience so often wears thin.

Just like Mark’s ending, the story of our lives is so often ambiguous and unresolved. We are held so tightly in the grip of sin. We are so profoundly dominated by death.

But there’s one thing, in the midst of it all, that is certain and sure!

You see, even if those women were speechless when they left the grave of Jesus, somebody told the news! Someone’s fear was quashed, someone’s tongue was untied, and somebody eventually got the word out: Jesus is alive! Christ is risen!

That’s what’s certain and sure. That’s what brings us here today. We’ve heard the story—an incredible, yet true story—and we’re here to celebrate again the end of the story of Jesus.

And this is the end of the story:

Sin might get the best of us, but it could not get the best of Jesus! He has done battle with sin and stripped it of its power!

Satan could not conquer Jesus, either. Jesus Christ has crushed Satan and left Satan defenseless against the awesome power of God.

And not even death could defeat Jesus Christ! He has swallowed up death in his own death, and risen to new and glorious life!

The end of the story is not death. The end of the story is LIFE—ABUNDANT, ETERNAL LIFE!

Jesus Christ has defeated Satan, and destroyed the power of sin, and disarmed the terrifying enemy Death.

Yes, Jesus Christ is alive! He is NOT to be found in a tomb; instead, he is on the loose in the world!

That’s just what he promised before he died, and that’s what the angel told the women: his followers would see Jesus again, in Galilee, where they do their day-to-day living. Right there—right here!—Jesus is ALIVE!

Jesus is alive, and he lives in us. He lives in us, and we are alive in Christ now, and for all eternity!

And we go out from here to live in the power of his endless life.

You see, I think Mark’s Gospel ends the way it does so that we will be drawn into the story. Like the women, we hear the news that Jesus is risen. And, like the women, we are commissioned, and commanded, “Go and tell! And remember—Jesus goes before you!”

Mark wants us to think long and hard about how we would write the end of the story.

So, how will you write the end of the story? Will it end with fear and silence, with sin and Satan and death maintaining the upper hand? Or will people read your life, and see in it the power and love and life of Jesus Christ at work?

Will you go and tell?

And how will Holy Shepherd write the end of the story? Will we be faithful? Will we follow Jesus into the world, discover where he is at work, join him in his work, and point to Christ so others can see, too? Will we go and tell the good news to our friends and co-workers and neighbors—the news that Jesus Christ is risen, alive, and on the loose in the world? Will we tell that news, or will we run away, afraid and silent?

Will we follow Jesus? Will we go, and tell the good news?

In about 1930, a communist leader spoke to a large crowd in a Russian city on the subject of atheism. For an hour, he railed against Christianity, hurling argument and ridicule against the faith. At last he was finished, and looked out on the crowd, certain he had put to death any faintly-burning embers of Christianity in the city. “Are there any questions?” the speaker demanded—confident that no one would dare to challenge him and the power of Stalin whom he represented.

One solitary man dared to come forward, and was given permission to speak. He mounted the platform, and stood next to the communist leader. The audience was breathlessly silent, not sure if the man was brave or just a fool, as he surveyed the crowd with his gaze, drawing them all in. Finally, he spoke. He didn’t ask a question. He raised his voice, and shouted the ancient Christian greeting, “Christ is risen!” And the vast assembly arose in unison, and responded with a thunderous roar, “He is risen indeed. Alleluia!”

In our culture, there is not that kind of outright hostility to the gospel of Jesus Christ, but there is great indifference. And there is, and always will be, a deep hunger and thirst in the human soul which only Christ can satisfy. Many, many people—right here in our own community—are waiting and watching as we write the end of the story. Many are waiting to hear and see the truth about Jesus Christ.

So what will we ending be?

Will we run from the tomb, silent and afraid? Or will we follow Jesus? Will we follow Jesus into the world, and declare to all with our lips and with our lives, “Christ is risen. He is risen indeed! Alleluia!!”