Mark 16:1-8 Vindication

Mark 16:1-8 (Evangelical Heritage Version)

When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so they could go and anoint Jesus. 2Very early on the first day of the week, at sunrise, they went to the tomb. 3They were saying to each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance to the tomb for us?” 4When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away.

5As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. 6He said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’”

8They went out and hurried away from the tomb, trembling and perplexed. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.

Vindication

I.

At age 65 he was finally released from a Michigan prison. 35 years Louis Wright spent in prison for a sexual assault. This past November he was released when DNA tests definitively ruled him out as the perpetrator. 35 years is a long time to wait for vindication. The state agreed to pay him $1.75 million for his wrongful imprisonment.

There was much more news coverage it seems for Jeff Titus, who spent 22 years behind bars in Michigan after having been convicted of killing two hunters. He was actually hunting 27 miles away from where the murders took place. Jeff was released in 2023. The state of Michigan will pay him $1.03 million for his wrongful conviction. It was reported that after his vindication he was planning to sue the two detectives who allegedly withheld information that led to his wrongful conviction.

To be vindicated is to be cleared of guilt or proven to be right.

He looked so weak and helpless as he hung there between two criminals, bleeding and dying. If he were all that he claimed to be, wouldn’t God rescue him? If he really were God himself, as he claimed to be, couldn’t he escape this horrific death sentence?

Death on a cross was one of the most painful ways to die. It was also one of the most shameful and disgraceful. Crucifixion was usually reserved for the worst of criminals.

Jesus’ trials were carefully concocted to present the image the Jewish religious leaders wanted. They presented the charge of blasphemy, which under Jewish law deserved a death sentence. Under the rule of the Roman government, these religious leaders had no authority to carry out capital punishment. They needed the political government to agree with them, so they brought other charges against Jesus that would be more appealing to Pontius Pilate, like Jesus claiming to be the Christ, a King.

Eventually Pilate bowed to the pressure and handed down the sentence: death by crucifixion.

The women who had followed Jesus as he dragged his cross watched as he breathed his last—just like every other person who had ever hung on a cross. When it was all over, they watched Joseph of Arimathea take Jesus’ lifeless body down and buried it in his own tomb.

Sunset would mean the beginning of the Sabbath. It was impossible for these followers of Jesus to process everything that had happened. It had all taken place so quickly. Things didn’t look good. As darkness settled over the land, there was silence. The women were left alone with their thoughts.

II.

“Those were the longest hours of my life.” Many defendants have said things like that as they waited for the jury to come back with a verdict. It seems like time stands still.

What was going through the minds of Jesus’ followers during those long hours after his death on the cross? There’s no way to know. They must have felt a mix of sadness, confusion, doubt, and fear. At least, as we read in the Bible about their actions during the hours and days following, that’s what it would seem.

Maybe you can relate. Someone you loved deeply has died. The funeral is over. Your friends and family are on their way home. Darkness settles on the day and it’s just too quite—you feel very much alone. “Lord, I feel so lost and confused. I just don’t understand.”

It’s not just the death of a loved one that can leave us feeling this way. Thoughts of our own death are always lurking in the background. Whether or not we are conscious of it, there is a sense that time is running out. Our bodies are failing or our minds are failing.

It even happens to those who are young. There is anxiety about making the right choices—friends, love, college, career. There are literally millions of possibilities and the time to make the right choices is limited.

Think about how often those choices have been sinful choices for a moment. Mistakes quickly get magnified in our minds. We have let the Savior down. Jesus wasn’t guilty, but we are.

We don’t know exactly what the women were thinking about on Easter morning, but Mark tells us what they were doing. As the sun peaked over the horizon, they were headed to Jesus’ tomb to anoint his body—one final act of love for their teacher. But when they got there, they saw the stone rolled away. Standing there was what looked to be a young man, dressed white. He said to them: “Do not be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him” (Mark 16:6, EHV).

What did this mean? Jesus had predicted his death and resurrections several times. He had spoken very clearly about it. But it all seems to have been too much to process. If the women had expected Jesus to be alive, they wouldn’t have gone to the tomb to anoint his body. “They went out and hurried away from the tomb, trembling and perplexed” (Mark 16:8, EHV).

Soon it would sink in. Jesus would appear to them later that day. He would also appear to Peter, and the disciples walking on the road to Emmaus, and to the Eleven—without Thomas present—who were meeting behind locked doors because of their fear of the Jews. Still later he would appear to the Eleven again, with Thomas present this time; and then to 500 believers at once.

The early reports were corroborated again and again. The good news was true! “Victory” was the headline. Vindication!

III.

Paul also spelled in out in today’s Second Reading. “If our hope in Christ applies only to this life, we are the most pitiful people of all. 20But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:19-20, EHV). If Jesus hadn’t risen, we would have no reason to believe that he was anything more than a fraud—another criminal dead from crucifixion. We would have no reason to think his words of forgiveness carried any weight.

Easter is vindication. Jesus didn’t come down from the cross to prove he was the Son of God. As we said on Good Friday, he couldn’t, because he loved you too much. He wouldn’t, because his work was not complete.

Jesus didn’t come down from the cross to prove he was the Son of God. He did something even better: he rose from the dead! On Easter Jesus was proven right: he is the God-man, the Messiah—the Christ—that he claimed to be.

Jesus did look guilty hanging on the cross. It wasn’t just the sign listing the charge that was nailed above his head, or the criminals on either side, or the taunts of the crowds, that gave that impression. It was also his cry from the depths of punishment: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46, EHV). Jesus did have guilt as he hung there on the cross—but not his own, it was ours. The Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all. God made him who did not know sin to become sin for us. God punished all our sins in Jesus.

Easter is vindication. By raising his Son from the dead, God the Father put the exclamation point on Jesus’ own words from the cross: “It is finished.” Vindication! Those sins are paid for—yours and mine.

IV.

There’s a hint of that forgiveness in the angel’s message to the women: “Go, tell his disciples and Peter...” (Mark 16:7, EHV). Why was Peter singled out in the angel’s message? You remember the last thing Peter had done to Jesus—he denied even knowing him. Jesus’ resurrection means that sin is forgiven, and Jesus wanted Peter to know it. Later Jesus would personally forgive Peter and reinstate him.

Jesus loves and forgives you, too. He forgives you, even for the times you have doubted him, for your sinful choices under pressure, for your fear and despair. “Never will I leave you or forsake you,” he reassures.

Easter vindication is also there for those who have placed their hope in Jesus, like Job of long ago, who said in our First Reading the words we will sing later in today’s service: “As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the end of time he will stand over the dust. 26Then, even after my skin has been destroyed, nevertheless, in my own flesh I will see God” (Job 19:25-26, EHV). Jesus’ resurrection was proof that Job was right. It’s proof for us, too.

Christ has been raised from the dead. Remember that Paul called Jesus the “firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” Firstfruits were a symbol of the whole harvest that was to come. Jesus’ resurrection is the promise of the resurrection of all his people. That day will be our ultimate vindication.

Even now Easter is vindication for us as we live as people judged by this world. There has been a lot of talk about the decline of the Christian church in the US. Fewer people in this country follow Jesus. Church attendance is down. Citizens of this country are becoming more secular. Even Christians sometimes say: “The church is dying.” Is that possible? The Church is the body of the risen Christ. Congregations may die. Christians may fall away. But as long as Jesus lives, so does his Church. We have been proven right. We are vindicated!

This is the feast of victory for our God—not just this day, but this post-resurrection era. Temptations will come our way. We will be troubled and harassed by a hostile world. But we are on a triumphal march to glory. As we go, we testify to the truth, until at last we sing the victory song with all the saints and angels in heaven.

Sin is forgiven. Death is defeated. Jesus is Lord. Christ and his people have been put on trial, and Easter brings the victorious verdict: Vindication! Amen.