Are you like me and looking for more to this story? Are you surprised by how it ends? I have been preaching a long time and this in only the second time I preached on Mark’s Easter account. The women, two Mary’s and Salome, are fleeing the tomb seized with amazement terror and telling NO ONE. The angel appears and tells them Jesus is risen, but they are paralyzed by fear. I kept wanting to read more, to say the story is not over. But this is the way the first gospel ends, at least in its most ancient form. Other writers have added more including the risen Jesus telling his disciples “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation. The one who believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mark 15-16a).
Yet on a primal level, I relate to their fears and wanting to tell no one; the human side of experiencing the resurrection, especially for those who witnessed Jesus’ death on Good Friday. The doubts and fears had to be part of this amazing encounter with God. This is the human response to Jesus’ death; the Good Friday response. While God’s response was the resurrection.
The women are up at the crack of dawn, dedicated to caring for their Lord, filled with grief and pain. Yet they have a problem. They worry about who will roll the heavy stone away from Jesus’ tomb? I won’t even ask where are the men on this Easter morning? That is another sermon. Their worry about the stone is a wonderful metaphor for us. We strive to be faithful to Jesus, live our lives honoring him, and yet we get focused on the problems, the stones, that block our path. Now we might not have a stone blocking a tomb, but our burdens can feel like huge obstacles to our faithful living. Facing a medical problem that robs you of your way of life- a stone blocking your path.
Concerns about your parents, children or grandchildren- a stone challenging your family.
Struggles with a marital issue- a stone of discernment.
Grieving the loss of a loved one- a stone of life and death.
Or our national unrest and uncertainty- a stone of anxiety.
The social injustice and economic inequality- a stone of disparity.
The stones of our lives weigh us down, and keep us up. Recently I have had some sleepless night having a relationship end, discovering my ex-husband is very ill, and addressing the needs of the preschool. I even find myself dreaming about them. I can get so focused on the concern; I miss the fact that God has moved the stone. It was not my efforts, it was God. God moved the stone for the women and God is still moving stones today. The concern may remain but how we see it and face our problem is different because the tomb is empty, Jesus lives!
“It’s like a song that Gloria Gaither wrote many years ago while she was expecting a child. She and her husband Bill had been going through some difficult times. He had been seriously sick and their music had drawn some highly critical reviews in the Gospel music industry.
On New Year’s Eve, Gloria sat in a darkened room experiencing a time of torment and fear. “I sat alone in the darkness thinking about the rebellious world and all of our problems–about our baby yet unborn. Who in their right mind would bring a child into a world like this?” she thought to herself.
She was at the height of her fear when something indescribable happened. She said, “I can’t quite explain what happened in that next moment but suddenly I felt released from it all. The panic that had begun to build inside was gently dispelled by a reassuring presence and a soft voice kept saying, ‘Don’t forget the empty tomb, don’t forget the empty tomb.’” She then began to confess her faith in Christ and knew that she could indeed have a baby and face the future with optimism and trust for she had been reminded that it was all worth it “Just Because He Lives.”
And from that experience she began to write these words, “How sweet to hold a newborn baby and feel the pride and joy he gives; but greater still the calm assurance, this child can face uncertain days because He lives. Because He lives, I can face tomorrow. Because He lives, all fear is gone, because I know He holds the future. And life is worth the living just because He lives.” (Sermons.com, King Duncan, Does Easter Really Matter)
Jesus lives!!! The resurrection is not a dream. It is a reality. It is God’s way of transforming our lives through Christ. God is still moving stones, in this life and the next. That is how, as Isaiah declares, God has swallowed up death forever; destroying the veil of sin and death and making a feast for us at Christ’s table! Taste and See that the Lord is Good!
“In a memorable Easter sermon, William Sloan Coffin maintained that Easter is about the victory of seemingly powerless love over loveless power. I’ll say that again, Easter is the victory of seemingly powerless love over loveless power. In the end, even the power of the Roman Empire could not withstand the force of the powerless love of God, embodied in the person of Christ. God took on the identity of a vulnerable human being who emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, and ended up enduring death, even death on a cross. The power of powerless love rolled the stone away. The power of powerless love raised Jesus from the dead, and now the Risen Lord is here!” (Joanna Adams, Journal of Preaching, Easter 2018, p. 17).
When your stones feel too heavy to bear, know that God’s powerless love defeated the power of death, so that you and I can have hope in this life and the next. Because the tomb is empty, your stones, your worries, are different. They have not been taken away, we still have our stones. Yet knowing God has the power to move your stones, showing a different side, giving you a way around them, helping you to see the beauty of them, we have the hope and courage to persevere because Christ, our living Lord, is walking with us.
Those first three women did not know the reality of what God did in raising Jesus. But we do!! God so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. That is the hope of the resurrection and the celebration of Easter!! Transforming the dead and wooden cross that held Jesus on that tragic day into a living cross, full of color and hope bears witness to the resurrection. The story is not over. It lives on in us!!! We remember the empty tomb. We know that God’s love still moves stones. We tell the reality of our faith, the reality of the resurrection! The story did not end with the unfinished ending in Mark. No! Matthew, Luke, Paul and Peter, all the faithful disciples tell of the powerless love that changed the world. We continue to bear witness to the resurrection today!!
The story of your stone is not done yet, just unwritten. God will respond and move your stone, just like he moved the stone to the empty tomb, that tomb could not hold Jesus.
The tomb is empty. Jesus lives!
He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!
