EASTER!!! Jesus is alive! Be a Better Ending! (Mark 16.1-8)

Scripture: Mark 16.1-8

Translation: ^16.1And after the Sabbath had passed, Mary from Magdala and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought perfumes, so that going [to the Tomb] they could anoint Him. ²And very early in the morning on the first day of the week, they were going to the tomb as the sun was rising. ³And they were saying to themselves, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the door of the tomb?” ⁴And looking up, they were seeing/staring that/because the stone really was rolled away, because it was very huge.

⁵And going into the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side wearing a white long-flowing-robe. And they were totally freaking out. ⁶And he was saying to them, “Don’t freak out. You’re looking for Jesus the One from Nazareth, the One Who really was crucified. He is risen! He’s not here. Look, the place where they put Him! ⁷Instead, go, tell His followers and Peter that He is going ahead of them to Galilee. There you will see Him, just like He told you.” ⁸And going out, they fled from the tomb, because trembling and shock was seizing them. And they didn’t tell anyone anything, because they were scared.

Interpretation

1.      Structure

a.       Journey to the Open Tomb

b.      Interaction with the Angel at the Empty Tomb

2.      Themes

a.       Surprise/shock

                                                              i.      The set up relates to the theme of failure, because while they should have been anticipating His resurrection as He told them, they were anticipating a cold body in a tomb, with rot and decay setting in. That’s why they brought the perfumes and spices

1.      they expect the tomb to be sealed

2.      but they look up and see that the stone is moved, and their jaws drop

                                                            ii.      the next surprise is that when looking into the tomb they see not the body of Jesus, alive or dead, but the presence of an angel

                                                          iii.      the message of the resurrection is another surprise, as is the reminded that Jesus said He would meet them in Galilee, and that they would be commissioned to tell the rest of the disciples

1.      in fact their shock keeps them from fulfilling their commission to spread the news of the resurrection

                                                          iv.      the last shock is where the story ends, it shocked the church so much that there are 3 different endings added to the story way after the fact by the church

b.      Fear

                                                              i.      Fear begins the story as the women fear that they will not be able to anoint Jesus’ body because of the stone

                                                            ii.      The fear continues when the tomb is open

                                                          iii.      The fear explodes when they see the angel instead of Jesus

                                                          iv.      The fear is also the reason the women flee and stay silent about what they have seen

c.       Resurrection

                                                              i.      The sun rising is of course a literary foreshadowing of what is about to happen to the women, they will see the light, but more importantly of what has happened, Jesus like the sun swallowed up in night for a time, has risen back to prominence and glory

                                                            ii.      The resurrection is never directly narrated by the author, instead the angel delivers the news that Jesus was raised from the dead by God and is keeping His promise to meet them in Galilee

                                                          iii.      However, the crucifixion is presented in the perfect tense-form to mark the intensification of the statement, the pragmatic effect being along the lines of “You’re looking for Jesus who really for sure died by crucifixion” in order to also highlight the truth and the importance of the fact that Jesus in fact rose from the dead

                                                          iv.      While it is clear that God raised Jesus from the dead, at the same time it also clear that Jesus raised Himself from the dead—death couldn’t hold Him, He overpowered death!!!

                                                            v.      The resurrection is so important that an angel is sent to confer the message and make sure that people really believed that the resurrection had happened, and that the women were told to share the news

d.      Commission

                                                              i.      The angel is commissioned to the tomb, implicitly

                                                            ii.      However, the women are explicitly commissioned to

1.      Tell the news of the resurrection of the disciples

2.      Tell the disciples to meet Jesus in Galilee as promised

3.      Tell the disciples that they will see Him

4.      (implicit to the readers) Tell the world that Jesus rose from the dead

e.       Message

                                                              i.      The message is that Jesus rose from the dead and that He really was seen

                                                            ii.      There was all kinds of proof, angelic messengers, eyewitnesses, even women

f.       Failure

                                                              i.      The theme of failure is rife throughout the book, it came to a head with Peter’s denial of Jesus

                                                            ii.      However, now it comes again, because the women fail

1.      To expect the resurrection of Christ in faith

2.      To tell the news of the resurrection/deliver the angelic message to the disciples

g.      Faith

                                                              i.      Faith is a theme that we see more implicitly than explicitly, and more by contrasts than by example

                                                            ii.      The women should have trusted Jesus that He would raise from the dead

                                                          iii.      The women should have trusted the angel’s message

                                                          iv.      Faith just as before is the only way to have a relationship with Christ, and the resurrection only makes this more true

3.      Doctrines

a.       Jesus rose from the dead!!!

b.      Jesus is God

c.       Angels are Real

d.      Faith is necessary to know and follow Christ

e.       Christians must tell the story of Jesus’ resurrection

Applications

1.      Outline

a.       The Part of the Story We Read: Jesus Rose From the Dead!

                                                              i.      This is the best news ever!

                                                            ii.      It means Jesus was Who He said He was, He was the Son of God

                                                          iii.      It means that we can have eternal life

                                                          iv.      It means that His death really was enough to take the hell we deserve away from us

                                                            v.      It means we have hope for when we face sickness and death and trial and suffering and persecution

                                                          vi.      It means we have a new identity shaped by Jesus, an identity without fear, without hopelessness, and without purposelessness

                                                        vii.      This is what we are supposed to be expecting by now, this was we have been prepped to believe with all the stories and miracles and sufferings of Jesus—they have all been taking us to this point, the point where we see that Jesus really is alive, that He is God in the flesh!

                                                      viii.      It means we can love and know Him like we do a living person, because He is alive!

                                                          ix.      It means that our experiences of His presence and our understandings of His word are not false, pointless, or fading. Instead they are true, real, meaningful, and lasting!

b.      The Part of the Story We Write: We Have to Tell the World Jesus is Risen!

                                                              i.      We are the end of the story, we finish the story, because it is not just their story, it is our story—will we let fear and shock and low status keep us silent, or will we fulfill the commission and tell the world that Jesus lives!

                                                            ii.      It is funny that we as a community called out some sins on Friday and we nailed them to the cross, to put them to death with Jesus. One of the big issues that we discussed was not engaging in worship, whether through singing, sermons, small groups, fellowship—whatever and however we’re failing. The truth is that one of the reasons we act and respond that way is because we forget or don’t always full believe that Jesus really did rise from the dead, that He is a Real Person that we can really interact with, that we really do have eternal life through Him, and that He really is our Lord and Mission-giver

1.      Why don’t we care about songs, well, because we don’t care enough about Jesus, or perhaps more accurately because we forget how truly alive Jesus is! Jesus being alive is not just a random fact that we know, He is a real person we know! And can know more and more, and the truth is that through singing, prayer, sermons, small groups, fellowship, serving, and whatever else God has given us to do and enjoy we can come to know, experience, and interact with the Risen Jesus! You want to know what made the early church so bawlsy? They knew Jesus, they knew He was alive, and they knew that they still had a relationship with Him, that in fact their relationship with Jesus was stronger and better after the resurrection, but it wasn’t perfect, because they were still waiting to be with Him face to face again

2.      We also identified that we are weak and fail as a community in the area of compartmentalization. We divide our lives up into little sections that don’t interact. And while some compartmentalization is going to be a natural outworking of us having different networks of friends, family, school, work, etc., and different roles to play in different settings, I think the problem is that we see that our lives are too compartmentalized. There is not enough overlap, our identities are not expressing themselves fully in all these areas. This ending is here to shatter our artificial walls and dividers and bring our worlds together!

a.       This happens by giving us a core identity of being in Jesus, and empowered and hope-ified by Jesus’ resurrection

b.      It also happens by kicking us out into the world and saying, “hey, it’s on you. go write the end of the book, tell the world that Jesus rose from the dead for real!”

                                                                                                                                      i.      It is hard to have a life full of compartmentalization and secret Christianity, if we are trapped in fear or shame or confusion, so much so that we don’t tell the world that Jesus lives

                                                                                                                                    ii.      You want our youth group to not be so compartmentalized, then we need to find some courage and get bold about spreading the word!

                                                                                                                                  iii.      Some angel is not going to show up to finish the story for you, you and I and we as a community have to tell the world that Jesus lives!

2.      Small Group Questions

a.       How easy is it for you to believe that Jesus really did die on the cross and raise from the dead?

b.      What does it look like for us to finish the Mark story? And how did it make you feel to hear that the ending of the book was never written by Mark? Concerned? confused? fearful? Excited?

c.       How could the resurrection of Jesus shape how you think of yourself, shape your identity?

d.      The resurrection has changed the focus of the church from merely inward to outward. How can we as a community and as individual not only have an inward focus, but a focused outward momentum?

Illustrations/Explanations

1.      Why did we stop reading the story at v.8?

a.       well the short answer is “because the rest of the book is not really part of the Bible”

b.      the long answer is

                                                              i.      because there are actually several different suggested endings found in copies of the Book of mark, which all start after v.8

1.      two  shorter endings

2.      one longer ending

                                                            ii.      Because those suggested endings from different copies of the Bible are not in the earliest and best copies of the book

                                                          iii.      Because the many of the copies that did have that ending have notes in them that say the section is not from Mark

                                                          iv.      Because the words used in the last section don’t seem to be words in Mark’s more common vocabulary

                                                            v.      Because the other suggested endings don’t flow well from the ending clearly written by Mark

                                                          vi.      Because the book’s themes resolve well by leaving the tension open

c.       What does this mean, well, it means that God gave us a shocker of an ending, that this is actually the right ending for the Gospel of Mark, that it is the ending that calls us and shocks us into following Christ

d.      But what it means is that we write the ending of this Gospel with our lives. The question set before by God today is, “Will you let fear keep you from sharing the Good News of Jesus’ resurrection?” and “Will you trust Jesus as the Risen Lord and Savior?”