Where will YOU Run?
Easter sermon based on Mark 16:1-8
by Rev. Randy Quinn
They closed the store a
couple of years ago. It was a small town general store that had been in
business for over a hundred years, first as a “dry goods” store then as
a “drug store.” It had been in the same family since 1926, when Grandpa
bought it from its founder.
When Dad died
unexpectedly, none of the children were interested in keeping it going –
nor were any of their children. So they closed the store. There was a
“going out of business” sale that really was a “going out of business”
sale since the building was sold separate from the business. (The store
building on the main street of Colfax is currently divided up into
smaller professional offices.)
One of the daughters told
me that before the sale she spent eight straight days during Spring
Break cleaning out the basement of the store.
It was funny, because even as an adult she had some fears about one of
the corner rooms in the basement.
As a child, she used to
play in the basement with her cousins. When she cleaned it, it still
had the wooden floor she remembered as a child – which really makes it
sound better than it was. The flooring was rough 2 x 8’s laid down
across the dirt. In places it was so uneven that even as a child she
remembered seeing the boards go up and down as she walked along them.
But in the corner room,
there were no lights. And the boards were particularly squeaky. Once
in a while the children would venture inside, but they rarely got past
the doorway before running out in terror.
During Spring Break she
went in with a flashlight. She knew there were some boards stacked up
in the corner and she knew there was something behind them. But she
wasn’t sure what she’d find until she faced her own fears.
Even as she got close to
the door, her heart began to beat rapidly. Old fears are hard to
conquer. Childhood fears live with us for most of our adult lives in
one form or another. But in this case, she knew she had to face her
fears and find what was in the corner.
I suspect Mary Magdalene
and Mary the mother of James and Salome had similar fears. They didn’t
like the idea of going into the tomb. That may explain why they hadn’t
consciously thought about it until they were nearing the garden, but
they had no plans for moving the stone from its entrance (Mk 16:3).
Maybe their subconscious
fears kept them from making a workable plan so they would only approach
the tomb and not actually go inside. They would weep at the stone and
not actually touch the dead body of the man they had grown to love.
Instead, they were forced
to face their fears.
And just what are those
fears? The same fears we all face, the fear of the unknown. It’s the
fear of change expressed at its most basic level.
You see, we like to know
what to expect. We like to be in control. And if there is change, we
like to be the ones directing the change, not responding to it.
Small children love to
play with a “Jack-in-the-Box.” They enjoy the element of surprise when
the clown pops out of the box. Even adults enjoy turning the cranks and
watching the head pop up. But I never did enjoy playing with one of the
“Jacks-in-the-Box” we bought for Melissa a few years ago. I didn’t like
it because the clown doesn’t pop up at the expected moments. Unlike
most “Jacks-in-the-Box,” the mechanism that releases the clown isn’t
connected to the music, so you can’t predict when the clown will pop up.
The fact that I don’t like
to play with it is an indication that I like to know what’s happening.
I have only seen pictures
of it, but I believe my favorite sculpture is a bronze piece by Paul
Granlund entitled Resurrection. “The figure of Christ is shown
bent over, knees and head nearly touching. The arms are outstretched in
a position of crucifixion. The figure is bound on three sides by slabs
of the tomb and on the fourth by the earth. Close examination reveals
holes in the top and in the right side-panel where the arm would have
protruded when the panels were tightly closed around the body. The
outstretching of the arms and the propelling tension in the legs
emphasize the surging strength of this Christ as the lid of the tomb is
thrown off.”
The sculpture reminds me
that Jesus in the tomb is more than a story about a ‘Jack-in-the-Box’ –
even though I’m convinced we would rather have a God-in-the-Box who
doesn’t come out until we lift the lid. But like Melissa’s
Jack-in-the-Box, just when we think we have everything “under control”
and perfectly planned, out pops God, bouncing in ways we simply cannot
anticipate.
The women come to the tomb
and find the stone has been rolled away and rather than a dead body
lying down they find a young man sitting up! It is totally unexpected –
even though Jesus told them this would happen on more than one occasion
(Mk 8:31; 9:31; 10:34).
When my friend looked in
the basement storage room of her father’s store, she found things that
her grandfather had put there when he first bought the store. There was
an old oak display case with beveled glass doors. On the shelves were
hats – brand new hats that hadn’t been on display since the 1920’s!
(The glass case was sealed tight enough that there wasn’t any dust on
them either!) There was an unopened delivery box with shoes in it from
the turn of the century. There was a machine to put buttons on boots.
It was an incredible find!
In that dingy dark corner
of the basement, there were unimaginable treasures, treasures that she
would loved to have played with as a child but was too frightened to
approach.
Facing her fears brought a
tremendous reward.
The women at the tomb,
however, run away from the news they find. They run out of terror.
They run in fear.
I have come to believe –
along with many scholars – that this is where Mark intended to end his
gospel. Most modern translations at least provide a footnote to
indicate the primary reasons for coming to that conclusion, so I won’t
go into detail. Suffice to say that there is reason to believe the
original Gospel of Mark ended at verse 8 with the women running away
from the tomb in shear terror.
That ending fits with what
I believe Mark has been about from the beginning of the Gospel. You
see, I believe Mark writes as if this is a mystery. Mark knows who
Jesus is, Jesus knows who Jesus is, the demons know who Jesus is, and
Mark makes sure that the reader knows who Jesus is. At the same time,
most of the characters in the story don’t understand.
So we – the readers –
stand outside the story wanting to scream at the people in the story.
Why can’t they see what is so obvious to us? This is Jesus, the Christ,
the son of the Living God (Mk 1:1)!
Part of the reason it’s so
obvious to us is that Mark has told the story well. It’s a mystery to
everyone in the story, but not to us. And because we know who Jesus is,
we aren’t surprised by the empty tomb. Instead, we’re surprised by the
silence of the first witnesses of it.
I believe Mark ends it
that way to create a reaction on our part. I believe this story demands
that we find our own response.
·
Will we be like the women and run in terror of the
unknown?
o
Or will we stand outside the tomb and point to the
incredible evidence at hand?
·
Will we keep silent about what God has done?
o
Or will we shout from the rooftops what we know to be
true?
·
Will we resist the change that resurrection brings to our
lives?
o
Or will we respond to resurrection by living our lives
differently?
·
Will we allow our own fears about how resurrection will
change our lives to keep us from acting?
o
Or will we enter the tomb and experience the rich rewards
of the new life Christ offers to us?
Mark leaves the response
up to each of us and to all of us.
Mark invites us to peer
into the tomb ourselves. Mark invites us to confront our own fears and
allow God to work within and among us. Whether we are afraid to face
our own addictions or our own broken relationships; whether we are
afraid to walk in our neighborhoods or to acknowledge how we have
contributed to a declining environment; whether we are afraid to become
involved in conflicts or poverty; the invitation is to face our fears.
The good news is that
Jesus goes before us. If we will act in faith, we will meet him where
he sends us. We will see signs of new life and resurrection all around
us. We will meet him in the grocery stores and in the office. We will
meet him at the restaurant and in the classroom. We will meet him in
the “Galilee” of our lives, the everyday places we frequent and the
places we know so well (Mk 16:7).
But if we run in fear, we
will never see him at work. If we keep looking in the tomb, we will
never find him. If we close our eyes we will never find the treasures
God has in store for us.
The women eventually told
the story or it would not be written.
But the question still
remains, how will we respond? Which way will we run? This is not a
story we can just read and ask, “Isn’t that a nice story?” The way Mark
tells it demands a response on our part. We must complete the story.
What we do today and the rest of this week will be our ending to the
story.
I can’t tell you how to
respond. I can only invite you to face your own fears and allow God to
lead you.
I can, however, promise
that if you take the risk of change in your life, that God will go
before you and be with you wherever you go. You don’t need to be
afraid.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.
