Looking at Mark's Gospel1

Witless or witness?

Resurrection choices

Looking at Mark's Gospel2

Mk 16:1-8

When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus' body.

Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, "Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?“

But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away.

Looking at Mark's Gospel3

As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.

"Don't be alarmed," he said. "You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.

But go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.' "

Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.

Looking at Mark's Gospel4

The oldest manuscripts that we have of Mark’s gospel finish at v8: “Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.”

 If that is where Mark intended to stop, it creates a rather mysterious conclusion, not unlike the ending of Jesus Christ Superstar, where the only suggestion of resurrection is given by puzzled glances and an empty cross.

Looking at Mark's Gospel5

So what really happened next?” you want to ask. Some scholars have said that Jesus rose “into the changed lives of his followers” but I find that somewhat less than satisfying. Paul said: “If Christ is not risen then we are of all men most miserable.” We are miserable, I guess, because we are building upon smoke and chasing a dream.

 But the central fact of Christianity is that Christ IS risen, and that the lives of his followers changed because of that fact. It’s an extraordinary claim isn’t it?

Looking at Mark's Gospel6

 And Mark supplies the earliest account of the evidence on which that claim is made: the witness of the women who went to anoint the body; the fact of the stone rolled away; the presence of a mysterious messenger; the empty “place where they laid him”; the prophetic summons to Galilee where they were told

they would see him; the re-inclusion of a Peter who had denied his Lord and –perhaps most importantly – the summons to “Go

and tell.” Tell? Tell what? The message is simple and disturbing: “He has risen! He is not here.”

Looking at Mark's Gospel7

In a sense, Mark’s gospel finishes the way it begins, with a passionate choice. Joshua once told the people of Israel to “Choose today whom you will serve.” The same radical choice confronts us. What will you make of the resurrection? Will you say “nothing to anyone because you are afraid”? or will you “go and tell”? What will govern your life: fear or faith?

 That is your resurrection choice.

Looking at Mark's Gospel8

What will you do?

“Trembling and bewildered” are reasonable responses!

…Because this news is either false or true And once you accept the evidence then

you must also accept the summons And you too are called to “go and tell” In the end you are either witless or

witness. That’s the choice Mark leaves us.