Last night at the Vigil, we retold and considered some of the many stories we know and have known through time, about us and
God. This morning, though, it is important to zero in
on just one of those stories. This
morning we focus on Mark’s gospel. For
now, try very hard to forget everything else you’ve heard. Forget about
Matthew. Forget about Luke. Forget about
John. Forget about Paul. Pretend for now that they do not exist. And for a long time, they didn’t---as a
matter of fact. For many years, Mark’s was the only gospel. Imagine it is the only version of the
Jesus story available to us. Listen again:
“When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene,
and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go
and anoint Jesus. 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.”
They said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
They said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
We might wonder what they were afraid
of. In those days, in legal proceedings
of any kind, the testimony of women didn’t count. So, chances are, they were afraid they
wouldn’t be believed. What they saw
would have strained the imaginations of anyone, anyway.
Besides,
even if they were believed just a little, it would not have been well
received. Why? Because the disciples had
turned tail and had run away, leaving Jesus on his own to face the authorities.
In their book titled, “The Last Week,”
scholars John Crossan and Marcus Borg focus on Mark as the primary source for
us to get a handle on what actually happened that week. “Mark has Jesus insist that Peter, James and
John, the Twelve, and all his followers on the way from Caesarea Philippi to
Jerusalem must pass with him through death to a resurrected life whose content
and style was spelled out relentlessly against their refusals to accept
it. For Mark, it is about participation with Jesus and not substitution by Jesus. Mark has those followers recognize enough of
that challenge/ that they change the subject to avoid that topic every
time. And every year, our Lent asks us
to repent, change, and participate in that transition with Jesus.” They go on
to say, “But
to do so, as we know, would be to negate the normalcy of civilization’s lust
for domination and to deny the legitimacy of what lords and kings have always
been and what nations and empires have always done.”
Did you get that? For Mark, it is about
participation with Jesus not substitution by Jesus. Mark refuses to
let the first disciples or us off the hook.
Participation with means having a close relationship with Jesus.
For
Mark, God is not like a human judge who demands reparations or restitution for
damages. For Mark, God does not demand
an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth—or a life for a life. That is how humans think, but that has
nothing to do with how God loves.
Jesus said, “Take up your cross and
follow me.” To live your life, you must
pass through death to a new life here below on this earth. The disciples and we can see what that
transformed life looks like in Jesus himself—with our lives patterned on his.
Sometimes
people interpret “your cross” as some burden or problem in their lives: a
strained relationship, a thankless job, a physical illness. With self-pitying
pride, they say, “That’s just my cross to bear.” Somehow, I don't think that is what Jesus meant.
“Take up your cross and follow me” means
being willing to die, if need be, in order to follow in Jesus’ way. Mark is talking about “dying to self.” It’s a
call to absolute surrender to God. After each time Jesus spoke of cross-bearing,
he spoke of denying oneself in order to follow.
Jesus’ way of life put him squarely on a collision course with the ways,
with the powers and principalities of this world.
The Twelve did not only not
follow or deny themselves. One them even
abandoned Jesus’ way of life to openly participate in the way of empire,
dominance and power.
Judas is the foil, enriching himself with
30 pieces of silver---he stands for everything Jesus does not. Poor Judas. He just gave in to the way things are.
He saw the same situation Jesus saw, but
read it differently. Judas saw an
opportunity to make a little money from what was inevitable anyway. Why not, right? He was looking out for good old #1.
It isn’t hard to understand Judas. We get it.
What’s harder to “get” is what happened next and how Mark’s gospel ends.
I mean, if as Mark says, the women fled
from the tomb in terror and said nothing to anyone, how do we know? Remember, this is the only gospel we know of,
this is it---here is where it ends.
All we know, is that the women said
nothing.
If they said nothing---and I think it’s
fair to believe that is true---why didn’t the story just end there? It would be familiar as another instance of
failure due to human weakness. They were
too scared and so “that’s all folks!”
Unless.
Unless it happened just as Jesus told them.
Unless
Jesus went ahead, and Jesus actually met them back home in Galilee. (God knows, the testimony of women wouldn’t
be worth a plugged nickel anyway. So why
entrust this very good news with them?
Well, maybe just because God is just like that, maybe because then/
these women who loved Jesus enough to go to that awful tomb, would be the first
to know the truth about him?)
This gospel invites, anticipates that we
and the earliest of Jesus’ followers will live out, fill in the next chapters
with our own lives and relationship with Jesus and each other—so this gospel
has no end.
The only way we can know the truth is
to take part in it ourselves. Mark
doesn’t want us to take his or anyone’s word for it. First hand experience is the order for this
day and all the rest of our days as we follow Jesus back home and anywhere else.
Alelluia, Christ is Risen!
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