Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearers

Title

God Brings the Outsiders Into the Center

Outline

Cultures in general tend to be fearful of outsiders

In New Brunswick, those not born there are “from away” and continue so all their lives. Their contributions are always under suspicion.

In the USA we have fear of, suspicion of, and even abuse of both Hispanic and Afro-American people, rather than integration and welcome.

In Ambridge where Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry was located we had multiple Catholic churches organized around ethnic lines. Our Afro-American librarian as a child had not found a welcome in the Irish or Italian Catholic schools, but had in the Czech one, although she had to learn some things in Czech. Did the school also welcome her ethnic contribution?

Our readings today have to do with welcoming and embracing the contributions of outsiders

In Acts the church is growing, but still led by Aramaic speaking Jewish leaders and still a minority in Jerusalem

The Greek speaking Jewish members discover their widows are being overlooked - perhaps they could not talk with others and were unknown or perhaps they did not understand the announcements in Aramaic

Faced with the problem the Apostles realized that they either had to study Greek and focus on administration, which was not God’s call, or hand off power to others

They pick 7 men, all with Greek names, members of the aggrieved community, and also men with full spiritual qualifications to be church leaders.

These men would solve the problems of inequality in the present, but they would also lead the church into new areas of culture, even new lands, for they were so equipped.

In Mark Jesus is dead and the leaders of the Jesus movement, the 11 Apostles, have fled

A member of the opposition group - rich, not poor, Pharisee, not a person of the land, Judean, not Galilean - steps forward uses his abilities due to his position to get the corpse of Jesus and bury it properly - did the Apostles ever acknowledge this? Perhaps, because it is in a gospel attributed to Peter.

Some women who at least observed the burial - women who had been in the background of the movement - see that the burial was hasty, so prepare spices in order to make up for what was lacking. Preparation of bodies was normally women’s work. They discover God had beat them to the tomb and had resurrected the one to whom they were devoted. A divine messenger makes them the first to announce the resurrection to the Apostles. And they traveled fast, ignoring customary greetings, for they were trembling with shock and awe. They were chosen by God because they were utilizing their gifts for the one they loved. We know from other accounts that they were also not believed.

Brothers and sisters, God often wants us thinking outside of the box, whether the box be that of sex, ethnicity, religious party, cultural position, or another.

Only by bringing ethnic and linguistic outsiders into leadership was the church able to preserve unity and take the next steps forward into crossing national, cultural, linguistic and ethnic lines

Only by using one of the group that had killed Jesus was God able to get Jesus properly buried (probably with the agreement of the Theotokos)

Only by using a low status group of women who would actually go to the tomb to express their love for their dead Lord was God able to get the news of the resurrection to the Apostle and start the church towards full resurrection faith

Let us ask where there are outsiders in one sense or another that God wants us to call upon in the various areas of our lives, not only for our own enrichment, but for the more effective mission of the church.

Readings

Byzantine Lectionary (Gregorian) 4-18-2021: Sunday of the Myrrhbearing Women or Third Sunday of Pascha

EPISTLE

Acts 6:1–7

6 Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists murmured against the Hebrews because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution. 2 And the Twelve summoned the body of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. 3 Therefore, brethren, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this duty. 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” 5 And what they said pleased the whole multitude, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. 6 These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands upon them.

7 And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith.

GOSPEL

Mark 15:43–16:8

43 Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus. 44 And Pilate wondered if he were already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead. 45 And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the body to Joseph. 46 And he bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud, and laid him in a tomb which had been hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. 47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.

16  And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. 2 And very early on the first day of the week they went to the tomb when the sun had risen. 3 And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the door of the tomb?” 4 And looking up, they saw that the stone was rolled back; for it was very large. 5 And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe; and they were amazed. 6 And he said to them, “Do not be amazed; you seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen, he is not here; see the place where they laid him. 7  But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him, as he told you.” 8 And they went out and fled from the tomb; for trembling and astonishment had come upon them; and they said nothing to any one, for they were afraid.

Notes

Byzantine Lectionary (Gregorian) 4-18-2021: Sunday of the Myrrhbearing Women or Third Sunday of Pascha

SUNDAY, APRIL 18, 2021 | PENTECOSTARION

SUNDAY OF THE MYRRHBEARING WOMEN OR THIRD SUNDAY OF PASCHA

Bright Vestments

Matins Gospel Luke 24:1–12

Epistle Acts 6:1–7

Gospel Mark 15:43–16:8

Our Venerable Father John, disciple of St Gregory Decapolites; our Venerable Father Cosmas, Bishop of Chalcedonia; our Holy Father John, Archbishop of Antioch