When the Ending is Just the Beginning
New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
Mark 16:1-8
16:1 When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him.
16:2 And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb.
16:3 They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?”
16:4 When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back.
16:5 As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed.
16:6 But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him.
16:7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.”
16:8 So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to any one, for they were afraid.
Notes:
- Time once again for the trip to the cemetery with women on the first Resurrection or Easter Sunday. There’s always something here to inspire awe and perpetual gratitude to God for God’s unspeakable gift offered to us through Jesus’ resurrection. What seemed like an ending was just the beginning.
- First, we note the angel made special mention of Peter. Jesus had not disowned or given up on him. When he sat weeping upon realization that Jesus’ foretelling his betrayal was correct, he may have thought that was the end, but no. It was just a beginning of a relationship between God and Peter that would not only be transformed but would be transformative for the world as Peter would go on to live into his position as the rock on which Jesus would build his church.
- A couple of items to note: The angel said go to Galilee which is where most of them were initially called (Mt. 4:19) and mission restated (John 21). But disciples didn’t go immediately. They were met in Jerusalem/ later in Galilee. Women flee from the tomb and didn’t tell anyone in contrast to their instruction to do so.
- Women, like the men, are fallible followers, humans who get things wrong and struggle to fully comprehend the indescribable power of God. Even after the encounter with the angel, it was hard for them to see a “beginning in the ending.”
- Mark’s whole story is the “beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”
- The original ends with an opening: for the women, for the men, Peter, and all of us. What will happen next?
- Stone has been rolled away, but transformation is still ongoing.
- Hope is defined by an empty tomb, not by a physical reappearance. Hope also marked by the promised re-gathering and reunion. Hope is born in the bond established by those who are relying on his promised return then and now. While waiting on that return, we are to work with each other to advance the kingdom of God. But the women respond with inaction. They departed with fear and amazement. Some call this holy awe. Faithfulness takes the form of speechlessness.
- Words become more about what they have seen than about what God has done.
- Silence allows for us to have holy awe.
- What will we do? Want to hang out at the tomb—we’ve been in a tomb for a year, locked down during the Covid-19 pandemic. A tomb is a place to ask questions, to consider what God is doing, or has done. But then, when it is time, we move on. And we talk about what we have seen and heard God do.
- As descendants of the enslaved, we know how some stories don’t end well; not always a happily- ever- after ending. Our ancestors still pressed on in hope and then talked about the way out of no way that God had made for them. We are the beneficiaries of those stories of grace, mercy, and liberation. These are the stories that the political elites of the time did not want told.
- Jesus was killed through the decisions of political and religious authorities and elites of the time who also wanted the story of God’s divine intervention in history to quietly go away. Thankfully, though the women didn’t do what they were told to do initially, praise God that they eventually did! What will we do with story of liberation that we have been given?
- Even when frightened or amazed, we should not keep silent because there is a world waiting and needing to hear what we have seen and heard. When we have faced the end to find out there is a new beginning—after separation, divorce, sickness, death, academic and job struggles, we need to tell someone. God hasn’t given up on us and will continue to give us chances for redemption until we meet him face to face. That will also be an ending to be followed by a brand new, glorious beginning of a story that will never end. Hallelujah!
- In the end, there is a beginning because Christ is risen; He has risen indeed! Amen