Sermon by Pastor Mike Buttonnn

Just Beginning
Text: Mark 16: 1-8

NRS Mark 16
When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him.²And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb.  ³They had been saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?"  ⁴When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. ⁵As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. ⁶ But he said to them, "Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. ⁷ But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you." ⁸So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, O Christ. 

(Gary Lee) “Wait a minute, Pastor.  Didn’t you leave something out of that gospel reading?  Doesn't Jesus appear?"  
(Lin Falcon) “And those women who run from the tomb – they had to tell something to somebody, didn’t they?” 
(Gwen Brookins) “Doesn’t Jesus walk to Emmaus?” 
(Willie Staats) "And doesn't Jesus break bread with the disciples?"
(Sheryl Zeis) “And what about Jesus showing his wounded hands and side to his disciples?” 
(Chris Collier) "And hey, doesn’t Jesus at least tell his disciples to go and make disciples? 
(Quint Forgey) “Pastor, you’ve got a lot of explaining to do!”

Well, now, everybody simmer down, I say, simmer down!

I know, I know, I know.  The Gospel of St. Mark ends very abruptly, so abruptly, in fact, that within a generation or two of its original composition, people were writing new endings to it. First, there came what is called the Shorter Ending, and after that, (Guess! Right!) the Longer Ending.  And actually there are a few ancient authorities that have a Still Longer Ending.  But the best scholars working from the most reliable manuscripts have all but definitively concluded that Mark ends his gospel with the women running away from the tomb in stark terror, not telling anybody anything.  So what kind of ending is that? 

Matthew, Luke, and John have all sorts of appearance stories, some of which we’ll be hearing in the coming weeks of the Easter season.  Yes, Jesus does walk alongside his disciples on the road to Emmaus, in the course of which he reveals himself to them in the breaking of the bread (Luke 24: 13-35).  Yes, Jesus appears to his disciples and shows them the wounds in his hands and side, and then goes that one better, allowing Thomas to place his fingers in those wounds to resolve his doubts (John 20: 19-29).  And yes, the risen Christ most certainly commissions his disciples to go out  into the world, making disciples of all nations and baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28: 16-20).  But not in Mark!  In Mark, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome arrive at the tomb with spices to anoint the body of Jesus.  When they discover that the large stone that had sealed the entrance had been rolled away, they enter the tomb to find a young man dressed in a white robe sitting inside.  He tells them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.  He has been raised; he is not here.  Look, there is the place they laid him.  But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him just as he told you” (vv. 6, 7).  So far, so good, but then, the women do the exact opposite of what the young man instructed them to do.  They flee the tomb in terror and amazement and they don’t tell anybody anything, for “they were afraid.” 

You know what kind of ending that is?  That’s no ending at all, which is precisely the point.  The first verse of the first chapter of the first gospel ever committed to writing reads, “The beginning of the good of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”  The resurrection of Jesus is just the beginning, not the end.  The Gospel of Mark is not like a TV drama, with a nice dramatic arc that ties up all the loose ends before the credits start to roll.  Mark ends without an ending to announce that the good news of Jesus Christ is just getting underway, and already it’s off to a rough start.  Despite the triumph of Jesus, Jesus’ most ardent disciples, the faithful women who come to anoint his body, stumble right out of the starting blocks.  Obviously, the word of Jesus’ resurrection gets out.  Obviously, the Christian movement takes off.  But just as obviously, there’s still a lot up in the air because the good news is just beginning.  And you know what?  We’re still just beginning. 

Is anybody familiar with the cosmic calendar?  Carl Sagan came up with the idea about 35 years ago to illustrate the vast amounts of time involved in the shaping of the universe.  The cosmic calendar packs the whole 13.7 billion year history of the cosmos into a single year, with the Big Bang occurring at the stroke of midnight on January 1.  All subsequent time is then mapped to midnight December 31.  By that reckoning the Milky Way took shape in or about May, our solar system formed in mid-September, and the first multi-cellular life appeared on earth in the first week of December.  Human life as we know it got started about 2.5 hours ago, and the resurrection of our Lord from the bonds of death, less than 5 seconds ago.  I know we talk about the ancient roots of the Christian faith, but in the grand scheme of things, Christianity has been around less than 5 seconds.  We’re just getting started, and let me tell you, as the Gospel of Mark reminds us, it’s been a very rough start. 

Yes, on one level, the Christian movement spread very rapidly.  Within a few short generations, Christianity morphed from a sect within Judaism to a world religion.  By the close of the New Testament canon, Christian communities were encircling the Mediterranean basin, reaching from India to Spain.  By the year 320 Christianity was well on the way to becoming the official religion of the Roman Empire.  But for all that increase in size and influence, how deeply did the spirit of Christ inform the life of the whole church? By all accounts, the spread of Christianity was wide, but frequently shallow, which meant that often the liberating word of our Risen Christ was corrupted with all sorts of cultural baggage.  Time after time, the gospel became uncritically wed to all sorts of unholy things, like racism and patriarchy and outright misogyny.    I’m not being critical or judgmental.  I’m just saying that for all the outward success of the Christian movement, we got off to a rough start, but I think we’re starting to get the hang of this faith. 

Finally, finally, finally, we’re beginning to see what the saints have always seen in, with, and through the eyes of Christ.  We’re beginning to see that we are, for all our differences, one humanity.  We’re beginning to see that we are, for all our missteps, our brother’s and our sister’s keeper.  We’re beginning to see that supplying mosquito nets to children in Africa is way more important than the color of our hymnbooks or height of our spires.  We’re beginning to see that doing justice is more Christ-like than doing arguments.  We’re beginning to see that the peace of Christ comes not by vanquishing our enemies but by loving our enemies into friends. 
Don’t be afraid.  We’re just beginning. 

In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.