Year B

Mark 16:1-8

The Very Rev. Denise Vaughn

Saving Good News! Alleluia!

Happy Easter everyone! The Lord is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! We celebrate this very special day today in the life of the church because Jesus conquered death but it’s not always easy to keep the Easter story straight with so many other things attached to it like Easter bunnies, Easter eggs and other things. There was once a group of young four year olds gathered in a Sunday school class who were asked by the teacher: “What special day was last Sunday?” A little four year old held up her hand and said, “Last Sunday was Palm Sunday.” The teacher exclaimed, “That’s fantastic, that’s wonderful. Now, does anyone know what today is called?” The same little girl held up her hand and said, “Yes, today is Easter Sunday.” Once again the teacher said, “That’s fantastic. “Now does anyone know why we celebrate Easter?”

The same little girl responded and said, “We celebrate Easter because Jesus rose from the grave” and before the teacher could congratulate her, she kept on talking and said, “But if he sees his shadow…he has to go back in for seven weeks.” I’m sure the teacher tried to explain to the young girl and the rest of the class what really cannot be explained. We celebrate today the very reason for our faith: the good news that Jesus rose from death to life. We may not be able to explain what really happened on that first Easter morning or keep everything straight, and Mark today certainly doesn’t give us a whole lot of information, but something truly significant happened to Jesus that morning, to the women at the tomb and now to each of us.

Mark tells us that Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome brought spices to the grave early that morning after the Sabbath was over to anoint Jesus’ body. Their intended act of devotion was based upon their Jewish custom and love for Jesus and I can image, they felt-overwhelmed with grief, anger and fear, but when they got to the tomb, it was empty and the body was gone. They didn’t know he had risen from the dead so they were devastated. The one whom they had given much love and devotion was dead and his remains were missing. Instead in the empty tomb was a young man probably an angel who tells the women the best news imaginable: “He has risen. He is not here.”

The man then directed them to let Peter and the other disciples know that Jesus was going to meet them in Galilee. They were amazed and joyful and yet, this news also filled them with terror. So they fled from the tomb and “They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.” This is where Mark’s gospel originally ended. It was some years later, that the additional verses to the abrupt ending of Mark’s gospel were added. We learn from these additional verses and from the other gospel writers that Mary Magdalene and other women did indeed go and tell the disciples that Jesus was alive.

The man says, “Go and tell.”  Do we dare take up the challenge ourselves? Will we, to whom this good news has now been entrusted to, go and tell it to others as the young man at the tomb urges us today? Mark’s gospel begins with Jesus, proclaiming the good news of God’s kingdom and it ends with the challenge to us, the church, to continue that proclamation. The Easter story leaves us with a challenge that puts a claim on us. If Jesus Christ rose from the dead, then maybe he is the Son of God, the Savior, and our rightful Lord. If so, then maybe we should, no must, do as he said, take up our cross and follow him. Faithfulness to this testimony will involve our whole beings-heart, soul, mind, and strength-and our words as well as our actions.

The women, along with the other first Christians, came to believe that Christ was risen indeed, and they became a part of a mighty enterprise that turned the ancient world upside down. If not for the testimony of those women, along with the disciples, Paul, and then many other faithful witnesses through the ages, who did pass on from one generation to the next the good news of Jesus Christ, the church would not exist. And now, each of us has been entrusted to give testimony to this very good news that Jesus is alive as well. The power of testimony this Easter morning and every morning of the good news of the resurrection is that it can change our lives and the lives of others.

The news that God triumphed over death so that all who believe in God’s Son are also able to triumph over death and enjoy the new life to come, is good news that we need to share. This is saving news…because Jesus has risen so will we. So share it with your children, friends, and anyone who will listen. We have what we need to do so: a knowledge, and love of Jesus and the experience of his resurrected power through God’s Spirit at work in our lives. This is the message and the meaning of this truly amazing event. Jesus is alive and he goes before us, and will meet us one day on the way.