"And they were afraid" -The empty tomb in Mark's gospel

 

Sunday 4^th April – Easter Sunday

Acts 10: 34-43. Peter’s speech in the house of the centurion Cornelius is significant as it marks the expansion of the Christian message outwards from its Jewish roots to the wider world. All the elements of early Christian preaching are there. It is a message for the whole world (v34) though its roots are in Israel (v36), Jesus was raised on the third day and ate and drank with his chosen witnesses. There is a command to preach and that Jesus will judge the living and the dead, and we have forgiveness of sins.

1 Corinthians 15: 1-11. Paul’s account of the good news of the resurrection being relayed first to Peter, then the twelve (although presumably 11?) and then to 500 people (otherwise unknown accounts) and to James (this makes sense as he led the early church in Jerusalem) ends with Paul placing his own conversion experience on the same level as the other aforementioned “sightings”. This mixing of the physical and spiritual, and placing them on the same level emphasises the mysterious nature of the resurrection where categories break down and are unable to be investigated by historical methods but only by the dramatic effect it had on the witnesses.

Mark 16: 1-8. Enigmatic, sparse, lacking in any details of any resurrection “appearances” (verses 16-20 were added by an editor afterwards so disturbed were they by the lack), this for me just adds to the mysteriousness of the resurrection, so much is unknowable and defies description. My favourite explanation for the sudden end sentence “and they were afraid” is that the next chapter in the story has to be written in and through the lives of the people who believe and want to follow Jesus Christ. We are all the final chapter of Mark.

 

Mark’s gospel is the original and therefore oldest gospel, so naturally the early church wanted something much more concrete to help with their spreading the gospel so they helped Mark out by adding the five verses they thought the gospel lacked which had appearances of Jesus and words of instruction.

It was deemed too detrimental to the evangelistic cause to have a gospel that ended with the words “and they were afraid” so they decided to help Mark out and provide the ending he had obviously and bafflingly left out.

But Mark’s gospel was written well after the events they describe and Mark was a skilful and punchy writer. There must have been method in what he wrote.

Those words “And they were afraid”, could easily have been “and they were confused, befuddled, doubtful” which I’m sure they were as well.

Mark emphasises the mysteriousness of what they found, a situation that confounded all expectations and they were unable to compute the full extent of an empty tomb.

We have all the other resurrection accounts in the other gospels, and the result of the resurrection led to the other letters and writings in the new testament, a result which was extraordinary but in Mark we have a vital element of all this that we always need to bear in mind.

The resurrection defies historical investigation and accurate description. We can see that in that no two accounts agree on the details.

We can agree on is that the effect on the lives and the faith of people who encountered the resurrection was profound – earth shattering – and the good news of this revelation spread like wildfire. But it was not just the extent and speed of the spread it was its staying power.

2021 years later, the church still survives against all the odds, is still the most widespread faith on earth, and is still sustained by the life and death of Jesus but also and uniquely by what happened on that first Easter Sunday.

The ultimate and best proof of the resurrection is a changed life of a Christian believer.

The best explanation I have ever come across about the ending of Mark’s gospel is this. Yes, there is meant to be a next chapter of his gospel but that chapter is written not in words on a page but is lived in the changed lives of Christian believers.

Hundreds of millions of Christian lives, over many centuries, including ourselves, inspired by the Holy Spirit are the final chapter of Mark. It is a chapter that never ends.

The church is the ultimate proof of the resurrection. We go through good times and not so good times. Years of plenty and lean years, but on we go in the power of the Holy Spirit sent by the Father at the request of his son Jesus Christ, who lived, died, was raised and lives through us – his body on earth.

Easter Sunday is a time of Joy, rejoicing and gratitude for the revelation that we are loved by God and our lives do not merely exist between our births and our deaths but all life is lived against an infinite horizon in which all time and all life finds its eternal place in God – the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end.

Amen