Loving God, sometimes our fear gets the better of us, and we fail to trust in you.  Fill us this day with your Spirit and your love, empowering us for lives in your service, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

    So how do you like that for an ending?  “They said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid” (Mk. 16:8).... When we look at the oldest manuscripts of the gospel of Mark, that’s exactly how it ends.  Yet, in most Bibles you will also see two other endings that were added later on - usually called the shorter ending and the longer ending of Mark.  Presumably some well-meaning scribes felt that there was something missing, for they knew that somebody had to have said something to somebody!  And yet, that oldest ending that we heard today gives us plenty to reflect on.  For it is an ending that is also a beginning.

    In order to try and understand what might have been going on with these three women, try and imagine yourself going to visit the grave of a loved one.  Only two days before, you had attended the funeral and had seen where they were buried.  Now you come in order to grieve and to see the place where they have been laid to rest.

    However, when you arrive at the grave site, the grave is open and there is nothing in it.  A young man dressed in white is suddenly there and says to you, “He is not here.  She is not here. She has been raised.  But go back to where you first met.  There you will see her.  There you will see him.”

    Can you even imagine how you would feel?  You came expecting to grieve and to mourn their loss, and now your whole world has been turned upside down.  You came expecting to find some closure, and now you’re not even sure what it is that is beginning.  Surely those three women at the tomb must have experienced something like this as we hear that they were alarmed and amazed and afraid.

    The alarm seems understandable, as it would be for anybody coming across something totally unexpected.  You can almost imagine them saying, “What? His body isn’t here?  What’s happened now?”  It is also easy to imagine them being startled when they enter the tomb and see somebody sitting there who is very much alive and is not Jesus.

    Amazement also seems like a pretty natural response.  Their world has just been turned upside down.  They were probably pretty sure they had just seen an angel, and they were probably wondering if it could possibly be true that Jesus had been raised from the dead.  What was going on?  Would they actually see him again?  I can almost imagine them saying to each other, “Wow!  Did that just happen?”

    However, the terror and the fear that are described seem to need some further reflection.  What was it that scared them so much?... We can imagine that perhaps they were afraid that nobody would believe them or that they might be ridiculed if they told anybody about Jesus being raised from the dead.  However, this doesn’t seem like a good enough reason for the level of terror that Mark describes.

    Another possibility might be that they are afraid that Jesus will be angry with them.  While we don’t hear specifically about these women running away with the other disciples, they are not there with Jesus when he is being mocked and taunted.  They are also not there when Jesus cries out “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mk. 15:34).  We don’t even know if they were close enough to hear what Jesus said.  We are only told that they were watching from a distance (Mk. 15:40).  And so maybe these women are so aware of their own failings that they cannot imagine ever being forgiven.

    Yet another possibility is that they are afraid of what the future might hold.  It would have been neat and tidy if they had been able to at least do something for Jesus by anointing his body and finding some closure.  However, instead the future has been thrown wide open.  Now, they don’t know what to expect.  Turmoil and disorder seem to be the order of the day.  If Jesus really is risen, courage and faith are going to be required!

    While it is not by any means as momentous an experience, we experienced this sort of uncertain future during our stay in Cameroon.  Just as a small example, we arrived one morning to find out, “Oh - by the way, your four hour meeting is now only two hours, and then we will be leaving right away to go and meet with two other groups.”  These two other groups, of course, were not on the schedule.  This is very disconcerting for those who like to know ahead of time what they will be expected to do.  However, I would also bet that those first disciples of Jesus had this type of experience all the time.

    The thing is, though, that while most of us probably experience some fear and trepidation in the face of an uncertain future, we learned in Cameroon, and those first disciples learned, that the Holy Spirit absolutely provides you with all that is needed.  It is true that following Jesus requires both courage and faith.  It is also true that he has been raised and we will see him.

    While the disciples may have been afraid of being condemned for their failings, they were, in fact, sent back to the beginning (i.e. Galilee) in order to start all over again.  We, too, are given the chance to start anew, to follow Jesus to the end, and then to repeat the process all over again as we - the imperfect disciples - continue to be reformed (Working Preacher).  And as we continue on the journey, the risen Christ walks with us, and strengthens us in heart and soul and mind and strength by the gift of the Holy Spirit.  For this we give thanks, for Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Amen.

The Resurrection of Our Lord (NL 2)                    Mark 16:1-8
March 27, 2016
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church
Pastor Lynne Hutchison

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