It's Easter. Where's Jesus?

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.

In this version of the Easter story you’ve got two Marys, one Salome, two angels… and… um… that’s it.  It’s not like I’m an expert on this whole Bible Thing but… aren’t we missing someone?  It IS Easter Sunday, right?  Yup, lilies, bigger than usual group of people, bonnets.  Yup, it is IS IN FACT Easter.  And Easter IS about Jesus being raised from the dead, right?  Yeah.  So where’s our guy?  Where’s the headliner?  Where is Jesus!?  He’s not there!  You can look again if you want to, it says, “they entered the tomb, they saw a young man blah, blah, blah.  Young man says “Do not be alarmed” Classic.  (Angels always say “don’t be afraid” right after they show up out of nowhere and scare the POO out of you.)  “You’re looking for Jesus” he says.  Yeah, we are too to be honest here.  “He’s been raised, HE’S NOT HERE.”

No Jesus.  That is how Mark’s Gospel ends.  Not just this story, either.  That’s how the WHOLE GOSPEL ends.  What do you think of that ending?  Does it just seem wrong?  You’re not alone, years after Mark wrote it this way, so many people hated it so much they wrote a new ending for Mark’s Gospel.  One with Jesus in it!  They put that NEW ONE in the Bible and told Mark to just deal with it!  

But here’s what I’ve been wondering as I’ve thought about this text and Easter Sunday.  What if Mark was trying to tell us something important by ending his Gospel that way?  What if he wasn’t just a bad writer, terrible at endings, got distracted with a new project or whatever.  What if he was trying to DO SOMETHING with this ending?  What could he have been trying to do?  What could he have been trying to tell us?  

I think it’s worth another look.  So here’s how Mark's Gospel ends, “‘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.”  Could it be that Mark was trying to tell us that our job is to just GO?  Go, even when nothing really makes much sense?  Go, even when you are seized with terror?  Go, and tell the story even when you don’t really have all the pieces of the story figured out?  Go, even when you’re tongue tied and don’t know what to say?  Go, even when you have absolutely, not even a tiny inkling of how this story is going to end?  Is Mark telling us for Easter… to Go?  

I still don’t necessarily like this ending, but you have to admit, it sounds a WHOLE LOT like life, doesn’t it?  How often do we GO into the world ONLY when the world makes complete sense?  Yeah, pretty much never… especially this year!  How often do we just have to GO without everything figured out?  How often do we get up in the morning, creak and groan out of bed and have absolutely no idea… not even a tiny inkling, about how that day will end… and we're expected to GO anyway?  Just pretty much every day, I’d say.  

So could it be that Mark was not simply bad at his writing job, but that he wanted to tell you and me that as Christians, we’re not to wait until its all figured out.  It never will be.  We’re not to wait until we’re not scared.  We will always be afraid.  We’re not to wait until the world makes sense, because the world ain’t gonna make ANY sense ANY TIME SOON!

Instead, what we are supposed to do is follow Jesus.  His first stop apparently was in Galilee, but Galilee wasn’t the final destination… in fact, I think Mark was trying to tell us there IS no final destination when it comes to following Jesus because following requires the followers to always keep moving!

That’s us.  We’re the followers.  The followers of Jesus and we’re called to follow EVEN when the world makes no sense, even when we’re terrified, even when we can’t even talk we’re so scared.  We’re called to GO!  That’s the message I think Mark was trying to give us by writing the Easter story this way.  

So let's GO!  Going together makes it a little easier.  So, Go and bring God’s love to the world.  Go and surround the broken with compassion.  Go, even though its terrifying and stand up for the widow and the orphan, the immigrant and the refugee.  Go, and find that little way that you, yourself can inject kindness into your small corner of the world.  Go, even when people tell you it won’t make any difference.  GO.  Jesus, it seems, is already out there ahead of you… out there ahead of all of us… all we've got left to do now, is to Go.  Amen.