Rev. Tatiana Cantarella

Easter, April 15, 2012

Mark 16:1-8 "WHO IS HE?"

 Last week I stumbled upon a webpage with a list of movies with the most disappointing endings. One of the movies on the list was the one called "A secret window” based on Steve King’s book. In the movie an well knows mystery writer Mort Rainy meets a mysterious person named John Shooter who is telling Mort that he plagiarized the idea of his book and is trying sell it as his own.  Mort swears that it’s not true and that he can prove that he wrote and published his story first. But while he is waiting for a package with the proof to arrive Shooter begins to threaten him and becomes very aggressive. Mort’s dog is killed and then other people being dying (his ex-wife and her lover, a private detective, a witness and others). Local Sheriff begins and investigation.  Towards the end of the movie its creators make us believe that soon a killer will be discovered and things will finally get better for Mort. But Sheriff’s visit reveals that this horrible Shooter guy never existed – he is just one of Mort’s split personality sides and he himself is responsible for all the murders.  By now everyone in the city pretty much knows that Mort is the killer but they are too afraid to say or do anything.  And the movie ends with Mort getting away with everything he did… What a disappointing ending. If we were the author we would never end a story like that. Since everyone knows who the killer is they should rise up and push for justice. This killer must be put to jail and the town would live happily and sleep in peace.  But think about it – isn’t King’s genius in his very strange ending, isn’t it why he is and we are not a world renown authors?! There is a purpose in his ‘strange’ ending.

 One Gospel in the Bible has an ending that many consider to be weird. We heard it today.  Women come to the tomb of Jesus to anoint His body but see that the stone has been rolled away and a mysterious young man tells them that "Jesus the Nazarene who was crucified” and they are looking for is not there.  He tells them to go and tell the disciples and Peter that the risen Jesus will meet them in Galilee just like He told them before. And Mark ends this story with these words: "Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid” (16:8). And although Russian translation of the Bible has a continuation to the story starting with verse 9, most biblical scholars agree that it was added to the text later (it’s too different from Mark’s style and is obviously a collection of facts gathered from different sources in attempt to fix Mark’s ‘improper’ ending). Churches prefer to use other Gospels for Easter Sunday, Gospels that give a more complete and details stories where women tell the disciples about the resurrection and Jesus manifests to them after resurrection, comes into the midst of the scared disciples through locked doors, reassures them and calls them to go preach the Good News all over the world!

This year I decided to take Mark’s story of resurrection in order to understand what he is trying to tell us with his ‘disappointing’ ending which is sort of a parable for those who have ears to hear and have eyes to see.  For that we need to go back to the beginning of his Gospel, which is also strange compared with the other Gospels.  Mark never says anything about Christ’s birth like other Gospels do. Instead, his first words are: "The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God” (1:1). And when he says "the beginning” he is not talking about opening lines of his story but about everything that he will say about Jesus, His life, teaching, choosing the twelve disciples, healing the sick, casting the evil spirits out, being rejected, judged, beaten, crucified, buried and risen. All of this story together with this strange ending when women ran away in fear and didn’t say anything to anyone is the BEGINNING of the Good News of Jesus Christ the Son of God.  Mark not only desires to retell the event of Jesus’ life but to help his readers understand WHO IS this Jesus of Nazareth.

 Already in the opening words Mark reveals the identity of the One he will be talking about. When Jesus was baptized He heard a voice from heaven, a divine voice saying: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased” (1:11).  When Jesus began His ministry He was not only teaching but healed many sick people and cast out demons, freeing people to start their life anew.  Mark says that possessed people knew exactly who was before them. "What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” (1:23-24).  But Jesus prohibited them to tell that to others. It happened again and again. When he healed the leper man He ordered him to say nothing to anyone but to show himself to the priest (1:44). Then when he freed the Gerasene possessed man who recognized in Hi to be "the Son of the Almighty God” (5:7), and when he raised Jairus’ daughter only in the presence of her parents and three disciples – he gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this (5:40-43).  When the disciples ended up in the midst of the storm on the sea He calmed the storm by ordering winds to cease and they were filled with fear and were asking: "Who is He? That even the wind and the sea obey Him?” (4:41). Word about Him spread all over the Galilee and the question "Who is He?” was upon everybody’s mind.

When Jesus taught in the Synagogue in His own town many who were listening to Him were amazed and asked: "What’s this wisdom that has been given him? What are these remarkable miracles he is performing? 3 Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son” (6:1-3) and they rejected Him. King Herod having heard what Jesus was doing was also afraid and believed that John the Baptist whom he killed rose from the dead and came back to haunt him. Knowing that everyone was wondering about Him Jesus wants to clarify the issue for His disciples. So He asks them: "Who do people think that I am?” "Some think you are one of the prophets, others that Elijah, others that John the Baptist”, they answer.  "And who do you think I am?” And Peter responds for everybody "You are the Messiah” (8:29). Jesus doesn’t refute that statement but prohibits them to tell this to anyone and from that moment He begins to explain to His disciples what it means for Him to be the Messiah and what He – the Son of God and the Son of Man came for. "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again” (8:31). And at while Jesus wanted to keep secret the miracles that He was doing, Mark stressed that "about His death Jesus spoke openly” (8:32)!

And we are faced with a complete incomprehension of disciples.  Peter begins to talk Jesus out: "this is not the right ending for the life of the Messiah!” But Jesus stops him: "You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” In other words – do you think that you know better than God how solve the problem of humanity? Later three disciples of Jesus will be the witnesses of His transfiguration but He will again prohibit them to tell others of what they saw until after He is risen. Obviously only His resurrection will shed light on what it means to be the Messiah and why He had to come. After than Jesus says to them again: "the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again” (9:31). But they did not understand, were afraid to ask but on the way began arguing about who of them is more important… In response Jesus tells them again that when they come to Jerusalem "the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise” (10:33-34). This time John and James not understanding still what He was telling them are asking to have a place closer to Him in the Kingdom of God. Yet, He corrects them again: "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (10:45).

Have you noticed something? Jesus didn’t want people to base their belief of Him as Messiah on His miracles, on His healing power, power to bring back to life or multiply the bread?  He tried to keep those miracles secret but He spoke openly about the fact that He came to give His life for the people. And when Jesus was crucified and dies on the cross the only person who saw what Jesus this whole time wanted others to see (especially His disciples) was a roman soldier. It was not some religious leader, nor a disciple of Jesus, but a gentile who SAW in Jesus hanging on the cross, beaten up and wounded Whom even His disciples couldn’t see: "Truly”, he said, "this man was the Son of God” (15:39).  It was the confession of this far not religious man that echoed the divine voice that said "this is My Son in Whom I am well pleased!”

And Jesus was buried.  It’s hard to imagine the feelings of His disciples.  Those women went to the grave as soon as the Sabbath was over. They went there not to check if Jesus’ predictions was right, neither because they are expecting resurrection. They are going there to anoint His dead body with oil for He was buried in a hurry without proper ceremonies.

Mark’s Gospel in parabolic rather than just trying to portray disciples in the negative light. Underlining the incomprehension of those who were so close to Jesus Mark want to tell his readers (us included): "check YOUR understanding of Jesus and His Kingdom”. Could you like that Roman centurion see Jesus’ true power in His cross rather than in His multiplying the bread? For what happened at the empty tomb Mark is directly connecting to what happened on the cross.  No one except the roman centurion recognize in the crucified Jesus the Messiah who came to take care of the greatest human problem – the problem of sin and death that comes with it. Reading the Gospel we often think that if we could have just been the witnesses of resurrection we would really believe and follow Him to the end of the world! But would we, really?

Mark says that when those women came they "saw” that the stone was rolled away. When they entered they "saw” a young man in white clothes and were afraid.  The young man tells them to look at the place where Jesus was laid and to see that He is not there and then to go and tell the disciples to they will "see” Jesus in Galilee just like He promised they would. Mark uses all these "see” ironically for having become the witnesses of Jesus’ revelation they still do not "see” the true identity of Jesus as the Son of God and Messiah.  However, this young man’s promise that the disciple will ‘see’ Jesus in Galilee gives hope that they might finally SEE and UNDERSTAND. All His disciples including Peter just left them and scattered all over the place.  Peter afraid for his life denied Jesus saying: "I do not know this man you are talking about”. Ironically again – he thinks that he is telling a lie but he was actually telling the truth – he still doesn’t know who Jesus really is. But the encounter in Galilee can change it all. Jesus is waiting for them there, waiting for everyone who left Him, waiting to give them a chance to be restored. Those who have not recognized the Messiah in Jesus will be able to recognize Him and to really become a part of His Kingdom. This encounter will finally put all things into place.

However, that one time when the women were not supposed to keep quiet but to tell of what they saw, they kept silent…And all hope for a positive change in their life dies with this ‘disappointing’ ending of Mark. But the hope for an encounter with the risen Jesus does not die! More than that this ‘incomplete’ ending of Mark is not accidental. Telling his story in that way Mark is trying to pull his readers into the story he is telling. For Mark 16:1-8 is just the "beginning” of this Good News of Jesus Christ the Son of God, isn’t it (1:1)?  Not explaining everything that happened later, leaving us to face all the questions Mark is making us to rethink Christ and our relationship with Him. The fact that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God was demonstrated most clearly in his death on the cross and resurrection confirmed that.  And unlike His disciples that ran away from the cross and have not yet heard of resurrection from those scared women, we have heard both the confession of the centurion and the words of the mysterious young man in the tomb.  And we need to read the whole Gospel of Mark as a call to follow Jesus, accepting the cross and suffering, demonstrating repentance that we don’t see in women and disciples in the story.  We are called to juxtapose disciples’ flight, denial and fear and women’s silence with going to meet the risen Jesus and to take others with us.

The young man says that this encounter with Jesus must take place in Galilee, which has symbolic importance for Mark’s story. Galilee was the place which Jesus turned on its head by his words of who is in and who is out of God’s Kingdom. In Galilee Jesus set at the table with sinners, healed the sick, fed the hungry, broke the Sabbath law and taught about God’s Kingdom with authority. It is in the midst of such events that we can meet risen Son of God who gave His life for the redemption of our sins (10:45). For Mark it is meaningless to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection as some past victory over the grave. The point is to celebrate resurrection as the present reality of people who live out the cross and participate in the mission of Jesus in this world.  This is the entry point into the Kingdom of God. This is the continuation of the Good News of Jesus Christ the Son of God!

Mark desires that his ‘unfinished’ story be completed in our lives, that we together with that roman centurion would understand and proclaim that the power of God’s love was demonstrated to this world fully in Jesus’ death on the cross and confirmed by His resurrection. Mark wants us to understand that to be a Christian is not to just believe some facts about Christ’s life, death and resurrection but the one who is taking up his/her cross and follows Jesus into this world; the one who vested by the power of resurrection is living to serve the way He served, to love the way He loved and to forgive the way He forgave. God rolled away the stone not only from the grave of Jesus but also from our graves. Jesus’ resurrection destroyed the power of death over people, the power that was like a rock that no one could lift. But the news of Jesus’ resurrection transformed a hopeless end into an endless hope.

The ending of Mark’s gospel reveals that the historical question, "What was real?” missed the more important question: "What is real?” Faith needs to be fired up by something more than a religious once a year visit to Church at Easter to make sure the grave is empty. A life of a Christian is not a life of someone who knows about Christ but a life of a person who knows Christ and follows Him to Galilee of our world: to the place of calling, faith, compassion, healing and power, the place where we will be able to fully understand God, His Son Jesus Christ, what life and death are, and how are we to follow Jesus. Mark intentionally tells the story in such a way that it’s not disciples in a story but we must make a decisive step of faith. Jesus is not a memory; He is a living person and we don't just need to discuss Him, we need to meet Him. To meet Him not once a year at the cross and an empty tomb but to meet Him daily on the roads of life where He wants to continue to act and minister through those who understood and accepted His love revealed in the cross and empowered by resurrection.

Christ is risen!