Road to the Cross--The Tomb is Empty

Good morning yet again…It is so wonderful to see so many people here this morning. I know even more are joining us online. As a matter of fact, those of you that are joining us online this morning, would you just comment right now about what you are most thankful for this morning. It is such a blessing that we have as a small country church to be able to impact so many people from all over. I know we have people joining us from as far away as Texas (because they are my parents), and as close as Leaf River. I am just so grateful for the technology that we have that allows us to maintain connection with so many people both in person and online. I should take a moment to speak to those of you online this morning and just encourage you that if you do not have a church home where you can physically go and be a part of a local congregation then you really do need to connect with one. If you are in the area here, we would love to welcome you in person on Sunday mornings, but if you are not in the area then we would be honored to help you connect with a church in your region that will be a blessing to you and your family.

We have an exciting month here at LRBC. Next week we are celebrating 20 years in our current location. We are about to enter into the next season of ministry life that LRBC will live. Now, I love TV shows, I enjoy the stories and the fantasy of some shows. The way the TV schedule is made is into seasons, right? So, LRBC has had a Pilot back in 1985 as a group of believers began to pray about what it would look like for a church to be built in Leaf River. Then the church has had many seasons over the last 35 years, so easy ones, and some hard ones. Well, 21 years ago there was a hard season as the church was set on fire and burned down. 20 Years ago a new season started as we moved into this current facility…Now, we get to celebrate the last 20 seasons and get excited about the next season right here in this facility that God has placed us in. As part of that celebration we are planning a lunch immediately following the service. I know we have ham and we have turkey, and we will have whatever else everyone brings in with them. It is going to be a great time. Then we will have our Kids church returning on April 18th, and all of our Bible Studied for adults and kids on April 24th. It is such a great month here at LRBC, so I want to encourage you all to be here every Sunday and join us in all of the amazing things that are happening, and be a part of how God is blessing us as a church and us as a community!

Today is Easter. You know Easter has got to be like the best day of the year. Christmas is a great day becuase it is the day we celebrate the birth of Christ. However, his birth is meaningless without Easter. Then we have Good Friday which is celebrated becuase it is the day that Christ died. You know, sometimes I wonder why it is called Good Friday. Like we have studied over the last few weeks this was anything but a good day for Jesus. As we have been studying in Mark there are truly awful things that happened to Jesus on Good Friday, and on the Thursday before as well. These are the days that Jesus told his disciples that they would abandon him, and they rejected that idea. Then Jesus had an emotional conversation with God in the garden that led to him saying “Not my will, but yours be done”. After that happened, he was betrayed by Judas and arrested while all of his disciples abandoned him. Later he is beaten and tortured and ultimately killed hanging on a cross where he is separated from the Father and cried out “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” Good Friday is the day that Jesus experiences the most excruciating events in all of history. Not just the physical death, but the Spiritual death that he had to experience as part of redemption. That is what we call Good Friday. It is a day that is good for us, but horrible for Jesus. However, even that day is worthless, without Easter. You see, without today, then Jesus dying on the cross was simply another person that was executed.

You see, every other day in history, is completely pointless without today. Every other day in history may have accomplished various good things for the moment, but it is ultimately meaningless, without the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which is what we celebrate today. Why do we celebrate today though? I mean this is a holiday that exist through many countries and for many centuries. This is a holiday that we, at least in our current culture, celebrate with an Easter Bunny and egg hunts frequently. This is a holiday that exist to get lots of candy. You know, halloween candy is running low and kids have to replenish their supply. Isn’t that all that Easter is about to most people? Well, that may actually be true. As a matter of fact, you may be here this morning or listening online and you would agree that really that is what Easter is about. Sure, mom and dad go to church so part of Easter is joining them at church, but really it’s about the family meal and egg hunt that happens this afternoon. I remember as a child we would all go over to one of my uncles houses and we would have this huge family potluck and an easter egg hunt. I actually remember the big deal was that one of the uncles would typically put a $5 in an egg and everyone wanted to find that one. We would eat and enjoy each others company and then we would all go back to our own homes and relax and get back to real life the next day. It was a fun time. The thing is, thats not why we celebrate Easter. Sure, that is fun and thats all good, but that’s not the purpose behind this day.

That is what we are going to look at today. We have been in the book of Mark this year and we are in our final installment of Mark and this is the best passage of the entire book that we are going to look at today. However, the story does not end today. No, as we will see this morning Mark did not intend to finish the story, but we will get to that later. For now, lets go ahead and take a look at some Scriptures together and see what Mark is telling us. Today we are going to be in Mark ch 16 as we close out our study in Mark. So turn with me and lets take a look at

Mark 16:1–8 ESV

When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.” And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

Ok, so as we begin to look at this passage this morning I am going to break this down into more bitesize segments for us to think through. First of all we will look at ...

The Setting (vs 1-2)

These first couple of passages really let us know when and where things are happening. First of all we see that the two ladies that followed Joseph the day that Jesus was buried returned in order to finish the job of anointing Jesus. Now, Jews did not practice embalming, and the funeral spices were a way to help minimize unpleasant odors. You will remember that these were family burial locations, so they will have to come in and out of these caves from time to time. We see that the women went early in the morning as soon as the sun had risen. They were on top of it. However, they would have had to get the spices first in order to go there. The fact that the women went there early on Sunday tells us that...

The women expected Jesus to be dead. You see, the burial spices were costly and these women likely spent the evening on Saturday, after the Sabbath had passed to purchase the spices they needed so that they could get to the grave early on Sunday. They would have wanted to get there as soon as possible in order to honor Jesus’ body and finish preparing him properly. So this was a financially costly endeavor, as a matter of fact the spices that Nicodemus and Joseph would have used on Jesus would be at least $150,000 today. That doesn't include what the women brought on Sunday morning. That is a little less specific as there is an estimation of what would have been used, but I was unable to locate the approximate cost that they would have spent for these spices. However, whether we know exactly what they spent or not, we do know that there was a great deal of money spent in order to bury Jesus. That fact continues to testify to the idea that those that never left Jesus actually expected him to be dead. There were no conspiracies, or other false narratives that they would have bought into.

So now that we have the setting established as these women traveling to the tomb of Jesus early on Sunday morning, lets talk about...

The Action (vs 3-7)

Mark 16:3–7 ESV

And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.”

Ok, so we have these ladies that are so distraught and maybe somewhat preoccupied as it is so early that they didn’t think about getting someone involved to role the stone away from the tomb prior to getting there. Maybe they legitimately just didn’t think about it at all until they were already on the way and assumed that someone would be around that they could ask for help. I know Ive don’t that before. I forgot about some detail and I just kept going as I decided I would figure it out when I got there. Some have argued that because they did not have that question answered before they traveled to the tomb is an indication that this was all a show. However, that is not a very honest understanding of events, or of people’s inclinations. That is a sign that someone is trying desperately to discredit the reality of the crucifixion and resurrection as a way of not having to deal with the Gospel honestly.

Now this conversation leads us to the most miraculous event of the entire Gospel. These women are walking and talking and they come to the place of the tomb and they look and as they are walking up they see that The Stone is Rolled Away. This is huge. It’s not stated in Mark, but the Pharisee’s have gone to Pilate and had the tomb sealed with soldiers there to make sure that no one could come and steal Jesus’ body and continue what they claimed was a false teaching. While this is the best sight for them to see, what they don’t realize yet, but we can see is that the stone was not moved to let Jesus out, but to let witnesses enter. Now, seeing this and then seeing a man sitting there as they entered the tomb caused them to be alarmed. Now, this term alarmed is a distinctly Markan word used only in Mark, meaning “overwhelmed with wonder” or “deeply distressed and troubled” This word is only used other times when there is a divine-human encounter. That is important becuase it really describes what is being experienced here by these women.

But thats not the coolest part yet. So far these women are a bit ski-dish about what is happening. They have been startled, scared, and now they are troubled as they see this random person in the tomb where Jesus is supposed to be. However, there is something different about this person, there is something angelic that they are experiencing now. But look what what this man says,

“Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.” —Man in White

Mark has just confirmed the person that was both crucified, and was buried in this location and has now risen away from this place. By this man saying that they seek Jesus of Nazareth, he has confirmed to the women his angelic origin as well as to the reader who they were looking for. This is really important. You know, at this point there is no physical manifestation of Jesus as there is in other Gospel accounts. However, Mark’s use of the empty tomb is an equally powerful statement to the reader that Jesus has in fact been raised.

As this man speaks to these women he brings up the disciples. The disciples who have abandoned him and are not there with the women to help them honor the body of Jesus. Did they hold off honoring Jesus’ body becuase they believed in the resurrection? No, it is because they were scared about what was happening, and wondering if everything they had been doing was a waste. However, look at how this man speaks of the disciples. Tell them…and Peter to go to Galilee. This is indicating that they, who abandoned him, and Peter who denied him would be restored to their position as leaders in the church. Look at what they are told. They are told to go to Galilee, “Just as he told you.” Now, this statement recalls back to what Jesus told the disciples in

Mark 14:28 ESV

But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.”

I love that some much. You see, there is no accusation of the failures of the disciples. No, there is simply a reminder of a previous promise. You know...I love what James Edwards says,

“If the word of grace from the resurrected Lord includes a traitor like Peter, readers of the Gospel may be assured that it includes those of their community who have also failed Christ.”

You see, this promise that was made to the disciples long before they failed him in his last days, but Jesus remained faithful to those men. That gives you and me hope that even through our own personal failures, Jesus will remain faithful to you and me. However, that means that there has to be some sort of response after an encounter with the divine. So, what is the response of these ladies...

The Response (vs 8-20)

Mark 16:8 ESV

And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

Ok, so this is not the response that I was anticipating here…You see, I was anticipating a response of these ladies being joyful and running to tell everyone that Jesus is alive, and that the tomb is empty. However, what we see instead is this group of women who ran away scared and they said nothing to anyone. Now this does not mean that they forever kept silent. Actually we know that they did tell people, but at the immediate moment, they were in too much shock to talk about what they had seen with anyone.

Ok, so now I need to have a bit of a tough conversation that some may want to question later, and that is ok. You see, it is my job up here to talk about the Scriptures and to share with you what the Scriptures say. We all agree that the Scriptures are 100% authoritative and 100% infallible.However, that does not mean that man is infallible. As a matter of fact there is much controversy around the remaining passages in Mark here. If you will note in your Bible, or in the Bible app there will be some sort of a note that says that earliest and most reliable manuscripts do not include vs. 9-20. What does that mean? Well, that means that most likely vs. 9-20 are not original Scriptures written by mark, but were later added by a Scribe who felt the story was incomplete.

Now, there is alot of evidence to support this. There is the archeological evidence that shows the oldest manuscripts that we have access to do not include these passages. there is also additional archeological evidence that would show that there are various places to end Mark in various manuscripts. There is the literary evidence that shows the remaining verses here are not written in the same way as Mark wrote everything else. And there is additional literary evidence that shows us up until this point Matthew and Luke seems to follow Mark’s writing, but here they leave into their own writing as there is no Mark to follow anymore. Now, I should take a moment to say that these following verses are still true passages, they just maybe don’t fit here. Actually what it looks like is that a Scribe simply took sections of various other books and placed those sections here in order to attempt to answer the question of “Who is Jesus?”.

If it is true that Mark ended his own writing at this point, one must ask why? Did he get ill and become unable to finish and so someone else needed to finish the story for him? Did he die? Or did he intend to finish in vs. 8? It seems strange that Mark would end the story the way that vs 8 ends with the women fleeing in fear and shock. This leaves no room for a happy ending that we come tom expect with the other Gospels. Well, Mark seems to have a shocking way about his writing throughout the entire book. He tends to write in questions and disbelief so that the reader has to address these questions in their own heart and mind. Remember Mark started out the book by telling us as the reader exactly what the point was. Jesus is the Son of God. Then he spent the entire book proving that over and over again. He leaves questions in the readers mind becuase there are personal decisions that must be made. Who is Jesus...Who is Jesus...Who is Jesus. Mark has made his claim. Mark has shown the evidence, but the question must be answered by you and me the readers. This is the same way the question had to be answered by the disciples as they struggled to understand who Jesus was.

So you see, Mark seems to have intended to end his book with vs. 8. That means that what we celebrate as Easter is not the ending of a story, but instead, this is simply the ending, of the beginning. In other words, this is the pilot episode and the question that remains is if you will pick up the story to be finished in your own life, or if you will ignore all that you have heard about Jesus. That is the question that you have to answer this morning. That is the question that you have to answer the moment that you come face to face with Jesus. That is the question that is more important that where the eggs will be hidden this afternoon...

Today we are going to participate in communion. Now I want to encourage you to participate in communion this morning if you are solid in your relationship with Christ. In other words, if there has been a time in your life, when you realized your need for a saviour, when you acknowledged your own sin and accepted Jesus’ death as a sacrifice for your life, then please participate in communion. However, if there has not been that time in your life, then today is a perfect time to make that commitment. If you are not ready, but you are curious, then let me encourage you to reach out to me after the service and lets have a conversation. For now though…let’s pray...