Surprising Murphy

"Surprising Murphy" Mark 16:1-8 Pastor Ted Weis Easter Sunday, April 4, 2021 Little River Congregational Church Little River, Kansas 1 When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, 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, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. 3 And they were saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?" 4 And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back-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 alarmed. 6 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. 7 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." 8 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. Has this ever happened to you? It happened to me recently. You're not having a good day. You're having a great day. I didn't wake up tired. I woke up refreshed. When I took my dog Micah out for our morning walk, we didn't have a tug-o-war-because he had to stop and sniff every tree. He walked like a dog show champion. When I went to Sterling College to teach my two Bible classes, all my thoughts rolled off my tongue with ease and creativity. Students were attentive and engaged. After class, I ate lunch at Sonic. Have you ever had their onion rings? Hmmm, so good! The weather that day was so delightful-the wind calm, the sun warm-I sat outside and watched the Sterling College women's soccer game. Then, I watched the Sterling baseball team. In the bottom of the ninth inning, they won the game on an exciting play at the plate. It was a great day. As I was driving home, this thought came to mind-"Lord, I'm so blessed. I have a loving wife, good kids, a great church. You've given me so much." And then I said this: "Lord, I don't know what will happen tomorrow, but I just want you to know, today, I'm so thankful." I know God heard my prayer. But I also think someone else was eavesdropping. You might know who he is. His first name is Murphy. His last name is Law. Murphy's Law. Murphy's Law is the idea that "anything that can go wrong, will go wrong." After I prayed my prayer of thanks, the very next day, at 6:30 in the morning, I got a call from my daughter Valerie. There was a quiver in her voice: Valerie-"Daddy, I'm driving to work and I just hit a deer." Me-"Oh honey! Are you OK?" Valerie-"I'm OK, but the car is not." Me-"Hang tight, sweetheart. I'll be right there." When I arrived, sure enough, the car's front end was a smashed mish-mash. Unfortunately, the car's future is a junk yard grave yard. Murphy's Law. I'll bet you've met him before. You're in a crowded store. There's two check-out lines. The line you pick takes forever. The one you don't pick has six people sail through. Sometimes, Murphy toys and teases you. But other times, Murphy is heartless and cruel. One problem gets quickly followed by another. First, a relationship goes sour. Next, something breaks down. Then, there's a sickness. Recently, I heard one person say, "Last year, my family had three deaths." Do you know Murphy? When life is going well, we don't think much of it. We know that life has its challenges, but we expect circumstances to eventually work out in our favor. But, when the problems pile up, life gets us down, and nothing seems to get better, we start looking for reasons. We look for someone or something to blame. Now typically, people point blame in one of two directions. Blame Murphy. Or, blame God. Which leads to a puzzle that I've wondered about and invite you to ponder with me. What if we could take Murphy's Law and God, put them into a boxing ring, and have them duke it out? Who would win? When we have problems, who gets the blame? Do those circumstances ever get better? Or, do they just get worse? What happens when Murphy's Law faces off with God? Out of the Scripture passages we've heard this morning, the one we're going to focus in on is Mark 16:1-8. There, we read in verses 1-2 that when the Sabbath was past, three women-Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome-bought spices. Bright and early, they went to the tomb, so they might anoint the dead body of Jesus. Jesus is dead because 72 hours earlier, Jesus met Murphy's Law. First, Jesus was betrayed by Judas, one of his own disciples. Then, Jesus' enemies ganged up on him and seized him. The religious authorities put Jesus on trial, but the outcome was rigged-guilty. Meanwhile, Peter, one of Jesus' most loyal disciples, denied ever being associated with him. Later, when Jesus stood before Pilate the Roman governor, he didn't want to get involved. He gave the OK for Jesus to be killed. Then, the Roman soldiers mocked him, whipped him, and crucified him. Jesus hung on a cross for six hours. Near the brutal end, Jesus cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" For Jesus, it was one domino followed another. After all that, Jesus died. That's why the women went to the tomb. Jesus met Murphy's Law. At verse 3, the women were talking to one another about their own problem. Who will roll away the stone from the tomb's entrance? To get inside the cave tomb, the women needed help. But then, turning from each other and looking up ahead, verse 4 tells us the women saw that the large stone was already rolled back. That's a bit strange. But apparently, someone else also had the same idea. Who could it be? Who moved the stone? But, no matter who, problem solved. At verse 5, the three women arrived at the tomb. To get inside, it was necessary to bend over and lower your head. So instead of your eyes looking straight ahead, they're down, looking at your feet. So, after the women entered the tomb and raised their head-lo and behold, someone was inside in the tomb! Not dead, but living. It was a young man, dressed in a white robe. What a shock! What a surprise! The end of verse 5 sums up their emotions: "and they were alarmed." Then immediately, at verse 6, this young man speaks to the women. For a moment, come with me. Let's go inside the tomb. Squeeze in and stand alongside the women. Let's hear what he has to say. The young man declared, "Don't be alarmed." You're kidding me, right? Don't be shocked? We were expecting to see a dead corpse. See our burial spices? Instead, we're looking at you. And, and, look at your strange dress! Don't be surprised? Really? At this point, I imagine the young man started to smile. He's knows something good that we don't, and now we're about to find out. He said, "Don't be alarmed. You're not in danger. I mean no harm. In fact, I'm here to tell you good news." Verse 6. The young man says: "You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him." Jesus is what? Risen? You mean once dead, but now alive? That can't be. Don't you know Murphy's Law? When dead people die, they don't come back to life. We're in a tomb. Where's the body? I see the place where they laid him, but where's the body? I don't see it. Where did he go? In verse 7, the young man tells the three women that Jesus is going to Galilee. From Jerusalem, the region of Galilee is north, about 60 miles away. It's a walk of about two to three days. Jesus will meet the rest of the disciples up there. The man tells the women, tell all this to Peter and the disciples. Go, tell them. Again, put yourself in the shoes of the women. They came to the tomb expecting to find a dead man. Instead, they meet some unknown stranger. The body of Jesus is gone. They're told that Jesus has risen-whatever that means-and is taking a road trip. Friends, take away everything you know about Easter. Go back in time 2,000 years. Stand with the women inside the tomb. Try to make sense of all that! And that's the point-it doesn't make sense. It all looks like a cruel hoax. It's bad enough that Jesus died. How can get it any worse? But alas, here comes Murphy's Law! Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. The tomb gets violated. The body goes missing. And now, a bizarre young man declares that Jesus is raised and will meet you later, somewhere else. What a cruel hoax! How wicked and dastardly and mean is Murphy! And now you know why, at verse 8, we read the women "fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to no one, for they were afraid." But. I wonder... Is this tomb scene really another episode of Murphy's Law? Or, is it possible, that something else is going on? Let's look again at this story. If we look closely, like detectives, you'll see that this narrative left behind some fascinating clues. First, when the women come to the tomb, it's very early. Mark says, "when the sun had risen." Ahh-light. Light is an archetype. Light is a universal symbol of something revealed. You know, "Light is about to be shed on a situation." Second, the women go to the tomb wondering who will roll away the stone. But, when they look up, they find the stone has already been moved. So, who did that? You know what coincidence is? God working anonymously. Next, the women are surprised to see inside the tomb a young man. Who is he? What's his name? We're not told. What we are told is he's wearing a very white robe. That garb of his. It must have had a glorious glow. This isn't merely a human being. This young man is an angel. And then, listen again to the angel's proclamation: "He is risen. He is not here." Jesus is not dead. He is alive. This is Good News! This is a proclamation of God's divine power. Ladies and gentlemen, this moment at the tomb is not another sad episode of Murphy's Law. Instead, this is a God moment of shocking surprise. Jesus Christ did not remain dead! He is raised! And he is alive forevermore! So, in verse 8, do the women go and faithfully pass on to the disciples the message of the angel? No! Instead, they fled from the tomb. "And they told nothing to nobody. Because they were afraid." Really? Are you kidding? Murphy's Law strikes again! But in all likelihood, this is actually how Mark ends his Gospel. What kind of an ending is that? Well, honestly, it's a rather odd ending. As a matter of fact, when the Gospel of Mark was being hand copied, in the succeeding years following the 1st century AD, several scribes looked at this ending and decided Mark's Gospel cannot end this way. At the end of verse 8, you have a resurrection announcement, but not a resurrection appearance. On top of that, the women are running away, freaked out. So, the scribes wrote their own ending. They added verses-verses 9-20. In their mind, Mark's Gospel needed a more decent and proper ending. But it's quite obvious that Mark did not write those additional words. In fact, if you look in your Bible, you'll likely see this editor's note-"Some of the earliest manuscripts do not include 16:9-20." So, what do we make of all this? I think Mark wanted his Gospel to end on this odd note. And he did so on purpose. Why? Well, I think there's a couple of reasons. First, Mark wants us to realize an important truth. In the end, all humans fail. But, despite that, God succeeds. Dear friends, Murphy's Law is not just something that happens to us. Murphy's Law is something that all of us do. When something can go wrong, often times, it's our actions that ensure it does go wrong. We are failures. We are Ten Commandment breakers. We are wrong doers. We are transgressors. We are sinners. We are guilty. We are Murphy! For this reason, we need forgiveness. And here's the Good News. The reason that Jesus was hanging on the cross was not merely due to Murphy's Law. Yes, there were evil forces that acted upon Jesus. But, get this-Jesus knew all about it and allowed it. Why? Earlier in Mark's Gospel, in chapter 10, verse 45, Jesus put it this way. He said of himself, "The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Jesus hung on the cross for a reason-to forgive your failures and mine, to forgive your many Murphy moments. And then, to demonstrate God's love and forgiveness, Jesus rose on the third day. All along, Jesus knew he would succeed. On multiple occasions, Jesus told his disciples, "I will be killed. But I will succeed in being raised" (Mark 8:31; 9:31; 10:34; 14:28). Dear friends, hear the Good News-your Murphy moments are forgiven! There's a second reason why Mark's Gospel ends on this odd note. It's so we really feel the THUMP of that first Easter. That we not leave here unmoved, thinking, "Ho hum. Boring. Let's go eat." There's a lot to learn from Jesus' resurrection. We've heard them in our Easter Gospel readings this morning. Luke's Gospel (24:13-35) reveals that the resurrection was long ago planned out-predicted by the Old Testament. Matthew's Gospel (28:16-20) declares that the resurrection is truth for the whole world. Go forth and make disciples. John's Gospel (20:30-31) tells us the resurrection is intended for your response. Believe. Trust Jesus Christ as your Savior. In doing so, you have life in his name. But before you can appreciate any of those resurrection truths, you must first come to grips with Mark's declaration: The resurrection? It's is a shock! The resurrection? It's a surprise! The resurrection? It is Jesus' vindication! The resurrection? It is God's power! The resurrection? It is Murphy's Law turned upside down! Ladies and gentlemen, you and I cannot live life and not be confronted by Murphy's Law. But, with faith in Jesus Christ and the power of God abiding in you, when Murphy comes, your response can make a bad situation better. Your response can create a shocking surprise. After I hung up the phone with Valerie, I quickly got dressed. I raced down to where she was. Sure enough, Petunia-that's the name Valerie gave her car-Petunia was pretty smashed up. Then, the flashing lights arrived. The Rice County Sheriff's Department. The officer got out of his vehicle, and walked toward us. When I saw him, I looked at his identification badge. It said-and I kid you not-Murphy. I looked at the officer's face. He looked familiar. I said, "Are the officer who...?" And before I could finish the sentence, the officer said, "Yep, that's me." The officer was Undersheriff Chad Murphy. I knew his story. He told me the rest. Two years ago, in Sterling, across from Casey's, Officer Murphy pulled over a man who had an outstanding arrest warrant. The suspect got out of his car, pulled out a gun, and shot Officer Murphy-four times. Now according to Murphy's Law, Officer Murphy should have died. But God intervened. A man who witnessed the shooting, he immediately ran toward the scene. He put his finger on Officer Murphy's neck wound. That act saved his life. Later, after his stay in the hospital, Officer Murphy went to physical therapy. He said, "At the time, I could barely lift up my right arm. Plus, it hurt terrible." One day, after another week of rehab, some Hispanic men came up to Officer Murphy. They asked, "Can we pray for you?" Officer Murphy said, "Sure." Right there in the doctor's lobby, the men laid their hands on Murphy's shoulders and prayed. Officer Murphy said, "After they prayed, right away, my pain went away. It's been gone ever since. Today, all total, I'm about 90% healed." And then, he showed me his right arm and lifted it above his shoulder. Officer Murphy went on to say-"Before I got shot, my priorities were work, family, and God. Today, my priorities are God, family, and work." And then he said this: "The reason I came back to work was because of all of the community's support." All I could do was listen in amazement. After the report was taken, something else happened that I never imagined. Valerie, me, and Officer Murphy stood in front of that smashed up car. We prayed. We gave God thanks. Murphy's Law? It got a shock and surprise from God. Ladies and gentlemen, when Murphy's Law shows up in your life, know this, God is not far behind. Look for his grace. Look for his surprise. Better yet, let God make you the surprise. Amen. 2