Easter 2024 - False Alarm (Mark 16:1-8)

Death and the surreal

Our passage today ends in a really weird way. Mark doesn’t spend a lot of time giving details about the resurrection of Jesus. In fact, the main feature of what happened that morning is what isn’t there: Jesus. Instead, we have his best friends at the tomb and it’s anything but a celebration. In fact, his friends are acting like they are confused.

How many of you have had that experience when there is the death of a close loved one or friend and you feel like everything is surreal? Like it just can’t be happening. Put yourself in their shoes. That morning was less than 72 hours after their best friend had been arrested, put on trial, convicted (kind of), and executed. They had watched him walk on water, feed 15,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish, heal blind men, and even raise the dead. All that, and Jesus dies the death of a criminal. How does that happen?

And they come to where Jesus was buried and their heads are still swimming. Everything is tunnel vision. Surreal. They can’t seem to focus. And it’s now obvious, that they haven’t been paying attention, even when Jesus was walking on water and healing people.

They bought spices.

Mark goes out of his way to tell us that Mary Magdalene, Mary who is most likely Jesus’ mother, and Salome.. most likely Jesus’ aunt. These three ladies buy spices before heading to the tomb. Spices of course, is what you do for burial. Usually this would have happened before the body is put in the tomb, but the rapid speed of Jesus’ death and burial apparently left no time for the spice application, especially since a Sabbath was involved, and that kind of work would have been prohibited on the Sabbath.

They asked the question: Who will roll away the stone?

But then there’s the question… the only question in this paragraph:

Mark 16:3 They were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone from the entrance to the tomb for us?”

This would be like showing up to the building and forgetting your keys. They apparently didn’t think about bringing along some strong guys to roll the stone from the tomb so that they could get in there and put the spices on the body. But between the spices and this question about who is going to roll away the stone, Mark wants us to see that they are still not thinking clearly. 3 times in Mark’s gospel, Jesus says “I’m going to die, and then on the third day, I’ll rise from the dead.”

They still don’t believe it. They are still operating from all of human nature’s fallen presumptions… when someone dies, they stay dead. You’ll need to spice them up because decomposition starts quickly. They expected to see death. Death is all they know. Death defines their world. In their world, death has the last word. These women were at the cross. They saw their friend, their son, their nephew die… a horrible, humiliating death. And They still expect that death to be their reality because that is the rhythm of the world.. you live, you die.

They see. They are alarmed.

Mark 16:4 Looking up, they noticed that the stone—which was very large—had been rolled away.

Sight is a big deal in this paragraph. Seeing or some variation is mentioned five times. Almost as soon as they are finished asking the question about who will roll the stone away, the question is answered. And it’s not answered anywhere near what they were expecting. “Looking up”. Their eyes move from each other and their plans and their dreams and there is a new reality already at work to impose itself into their lives. They see that the stone has been rolled away.

And they see a young man or an angel sitting where they expect to see the body of Jesus. Things are escalating quickly. The spices are forgotten. The surreal is expanded exponentially. Seeing the empty tomb does nothing to alleviate their anxiety and fear. Mark says “they are alarmed”. This is fear upon fear. The death of their loved one was devastating. That empty tomb is collapsing their world.

They hear the Gospel: Don’t be alarmed. He is risen. He is not here.

And into their confusion the angel speaks.. God speaks through the angel. And the angel is speaking the Gospel. Pure Gospel:

Mark 16:6 “Don’t be alarmed,” the angel told them. “You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here.”

This is grace. This is love. God does not leave them to figure it out. This is the interpretation of the empty tomb. This is the Gospel: Jesus was crucified. He was buried. He has risen. This is the story of Jesus. This is the story defining what they see with their own eyes.

They are commissioned to Go and Tell (the Gospel)

But this Gospel isn’t just for themselves. This is for the whole world, beginning with the rest of Jesus’ best friends:

Mark 16:7 “Go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you to Galilee; you will see him there just as he told you.’ ”

Go and tell. Go and tell that Jesus was crucified, died, and was buried. And He is risen. Go tell your friends that there is great news… Jesus has risen. Your sins are paid for.. God has made good on his promise to defeat sin, death, and the devil and rise again to give you eternal life. Life is not over. Life will never be the same because Jesus has risen for you and your salvation.

This is the exclamation point of the Gospel coming from the mouth of the Angel. Everything begun by Jesus in his ministry continues. It goes on… not because there has been a death but because there is a resurrection. Life and salvation and discipleship and relationship and mission not only continue but they are now energized and fueled by the ultimate life.. life that has conquered death. Death is no longer an identity. Life is the identity. Jesus is the identity. His bodily resurrection changes everything we think we know about life and death. Go and tell that Jesus is alive.

And that’s not all. Go to Galilee and you will see. The bodily resurrection of Jesus is something to be seen. You came looking for death. When you see Jesus you will see your Life and your Salvation living and breathing FOR YOU. Even our sight is transformed by the Resurrection. Time and space have been forever altered. Seeing the very living Jesus in real time and real space will turn their world upside down. Seeing for them isn’t just believing, but radically alters what they think to be true about all of life.

We have no clue about how much death defines us. We live in bodies that suffer and die. The sight of the resurrected Jesus puts a crack into that perspective. This is not the end. This is not all there is. Someday everything will be different.

You would think that this would put an end to their fear. But Mark is always going for the unexpected. Mark is going for the ironic. This is the time to break out the party. Break out the kazoos. Make some noise. Jesus is risen. Instead there’s this:

Mark 16:8 They went out and ran from the tomb, because trembling and astonishment overwhelmed them. And they said nothing to anyone, since they were afraid.

Their response to the gospel is anything but faith in the gospel.

They run in fear. They are speechless. They are alarmed.

We didn’t see that coming. Or did we? Through the book of Mark fear is a running theme. Every time the creature is confronted with the fact that Jesus is more than human, that he himself is the Creator, the God of the Universe there is fear. Fear dominates the book of Mark. The sinful creature is forced to reckon with something that is not normal.. the very God who owns time and space, who is more than man brings heaven to earth. But if they thought walking on water or giving sight to blind people was cause for fear, this resurrection is something else entirely.

Mark uses the word for alarm here. They are alarmed. The empty tomb is alarming. The Gospel message is alarming. And for these friends, it is more than they can digest. All of the fear in Mark’s biography lands here. Because there is something very human about being confronted with the miracle of all miracles… where what cannot be explained invades time and space and forces us to reckon with our humanity. We are faced with our inadequacy. We’re used to be in charge. Not being in charge is cause for alarm.

They run. They are speechless. They are alarmed. But the alarm is false.

The false alarm

From time to time I hear this… why is it necessary, why do we meet every week? After all, I can have Jesus anywhere. And while that is true, it is only partly true. There is a way that Jesus meets us here every week that he doesn’t meet us anywhere else in our lives. There is something here in our gathering that only happens here. We have no clue how much we are affected by sin and death in this world. We are a forgetful people. We hang on to our spices. We live our lives as if sin and death have the last word. We begin to think this is all there is. And we act like people who are alarmed by the radical notion that Jesus who was once buried is physically alive.

And so we come here, where Jesus is making good on his Promise to give us His life, again. Into our forgetfulness Jesus speaks. The reason the alarm is false is because Jesus rose from the dead and made good on his promise. A promise that we hear here every Sunday.

Jesus Promised.

We skipped over one of the most important details in the Angel’s Gospel message. the Gospel that alarms us is the Gospel we need. Here’s also what the angel says:

“You will see Jesus in Galilee, just as He told you.”

All along Jesus has been giving his promise. 3 times in Mark’s biography that He would die and rise from the dead in 3 days. Yet here his friends are spices in hand, looking for someone to roll away the stone. That’s unbelief. Our unbelief.

Here’s what Jesus had said, over and over again:

Mark 9:31 “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after he is killed, he will rise three days later.”

We tend to treat those statements of Jesus as predictions. These statements aren’t simply predictions, as if Jesus is gazing into his crystal ball. These statements are promises. Promises to be believed. Promises to stake our lives on. And now, on that morning, the angel is saying they will see Jesus, just as He Promised You.

That’s a Promise Jesus keeps. In the verses that follow, the word “appear” is used 3 times. Jesus appears to these women. Jesus appears to his disciples. Jesus appears to all of his followers. Jesus is always making good on His Promise to be life and salvation for us.

And that’s cause for celebration. It is why we come here and gather weekly. Jesus is making good on His Promise that He will be seen in Word and Sacrament. Jesus making good on His Promise to forgive and give us his Resurrection Life. Jesus making good on His Promise to make us resurrection people. Again.

So yes, by all means.. break out the party. This isn’t all there is. Death and sin do not define us. The cross and resurrection give us our identity. There was a song in the 80s… don’t you wanna be the life of the party? That’s the problem. We’re not the life of the party. The Risen Jesus is always and ever the life of the party for those who find themselves alarmed by life. We celebrate Jesus because His Resurrection is FOR US. Easter isn’t about eggs or the Easter bunny. Easter is about Jesus and His resurrection a resurrection that raised all of us from the dead and is the Promise that someday we will all rise from the dead just as Jesus did. So let’s celebrate Jesus.

Let’s Pray.

The Table

The women went looking for a body and they found the tomb empty. Just as Jesus promised. And that Promise is here for us at this Table. Without the resurrection, Jesus’ death is just another death. There is no forgiveness of sins. There is no life to be received. And yet, here we are… where Jesus gives us forgiveness, life and salvation because he rose from the dead.

Benediction

Numbers 6:24–26

May the Lord bless you and protect you;

may the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;

may the Lord look with favor on you and give you peace.