The Easter Sermon I Never Preached

Mark was never my favorite gospel for Easter Sunday. Who wants an Easter sermon based on a passage that has no resurrection appearance? The last words of Mark’s Gospel describe the visitors to the empty tomb making a run for it after terror and astonishment had taken hold of them, and saying nothing to anyone because they were afraid.

In the midst of the pungent smell of lilies, the squirming of those unused to sitting in pews who have made a point of coming for the celebration of the victory of Jesus over death, and the anticipation of the finale, when the choir and congregation will stand and sing the Hallelujah Chorus, who wants the gospel of the day to end on a note of fear and silence?

“So 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.”

This is the ending of the Gospel of Mark, the eighth verse in his succinct final chapter.

Matthew records Jesus meeting up with the disciples after they have departed the empty tomb, where a messenger angel has said, “He is not here, he is risen.”

Luke reports Jesus appearing on the Emmaus Road, traveling alongside the disciples, who do not recognize him until they stop for a meal, and he is then “known to them in the breaking of the bread.”

In John, Mary encounters two angels in the tomb, then turns around to find Jesus standing before her, only to mistake him for the gardener, until he calls her by name.

Mark is the earliest gospel, by several decades. His work dates from around the time of the destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 C.E., or, perhaps, a decade prior to that. 

It was Mark who invented the gospel. He created the form. He devised the design to tell the story of Jesus. All the others come after and build on his blueprint.

Mark is first. That is, except at Christmas, when pageants highlight the nativity and birth and Joseph and Mary and the wise men, which are only to be found in Luke and Matthew. That is, except at Easter, when preachers such as myself typically draw from Luke or Matthew or John, neglecting the cliffhanger gospel for vision of the risen Lord, walking about, showing his wounds, eating fish with the disciples on the shore, revealing himself on the Emmaus Road and calling Mary’s name in the garden.

So they went out

And fled from the tomb

For trembling and astonishment

Had seized them;

And they said nothing to anyone,

For they were afraid.

Mark 16:8

The women have found the tomb empty. A man in a white robe, who is not identified as an angel, greets them and says, “He has been raised, he is not here.” He is going ahead of you “to Galilee, there you see him, just as he told you.” They leave in a hurry, shaken, and say nothing to anyone, because they are afraid.

Now, someone did add an ending at a later date. Mark 16:9-20 is a later scribal addition. It does not appear in the oldest manuscripts and even the most literal of Biblical scholars admit that the long ending of Mark was added later, during the early part of the second century. There are not one, but two additional endings written by those who were uncomfortable with the abruptness of his denouement and tidied things up on behalf of Mark. They just could not take the short ending. They would not accept what Mark had done. 

In defense of my tendency to neglect Mark’s Gospel on Easter Sunday, who wants to hear a sermon explaining these alternate endings and revealing the fact that Mark ends with the fear and silence of the witnesses to the empty tomb?

It would be decades before Luke-Acts, Matthew and John would be written. The first generation of Jesus followers were fine, therefore, with a gospel that did not recount an appearance of Jesus after his death at all. 

It was enough for them to see the empty tomb, to have an ordinary person say, “he is not here,” and “go to Galilee, there you will find him.” It was sufficient for those early believers, who knew no other ending, for the Gospel of Mark to conclude with “So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and astonishment had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”

Yes, the Gospel of Mark ends with terror and astonishment, fear and silence.

It has occurred to me that the very existence of the Gospel of Mark shows that the disciples did not stay silent and fearful. They became courageous enough to break their silence and thus the Gospel of Mark exists, even as it ends with the reminder that it is our human nature to be fearful and silent.

Go to Galilee, there you will find him. And what of this? 

I have visited Galilee three times. It is where Jesus’ words came to life. It is where Jesus taught and loved and healed and gathered a motley group of men and yes, women, some of them wealthy and generous, some of them of the lowliest of means, and he gave them hope and instructions and showed them how to love. 

Mark might appear to have an incomplete, unsatisfactory ending. Yet this draws us in to consider what Mark is showing us with his gospel. I believe that he is demonstrating that terrified and astonished disciples, running away from the empty tomb in fear, determined to remain silent, were transformed into courageous followers of Jesus, who began to remember and to speak and to foster communities of believers who would then flourish and, later, three additional gospels would be penned that would expand understanding of the life and ministry and teachings of Jesus. 

I am drawn now to Mark’s Gospel, in a world where endings are unsatisfactory and fleeting, where questions remain and uncertainty is before us and fear and silence are compelling options, and yet Mark has shown us that the earliest of disciples broke through fear and silence to faith and speech, which gave rise to the growth of the community of believers who would continue to turn to Mark’s Gospel.

I have neglected Mark’s Gospel because I want a clear ending, closure, peace. I want to know what exactly happened, not just that the tomb is empty. Instead, from Mark I get a message from an ordinary man in a white robe to go out into the world and tell the story of one extraordinary man, Jesus, the risen, resurrected Lord, who has victory over death and who is the resurrection and the life. 

Mark 16:1-8

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. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. 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. 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.” So 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.

Vittore Carpaccio, The Lion of St Mark, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons