Alleluia Christ is Risen!
What an amazing declaration we have this morning! A declaration that reminds us that death does not have the final word. A reminder that indeed, nothing truly ends but rather continues on in new forms, new ways, and new power. We are part of a great and wonderful cycle.
Christ is Risen is the declaration of the cyclic power of our lives. What we do today, how we live, how we treat others and all of creation becomes part of that cycle and effects its rhythm. And Jesus’ story shows us how to live and how to make that cycle a positive thing even in the midst of the darkness of evil.
As I was preparing for Easter Morning I looked up what the lectionary reading would be. Both John and Mark were listed as options for this morning's readings. I love John’s rendition. I love thinking of Mary alone in the garden hearing Jesus speak her name. I imagine the sense of hope that must wash over Mary at that moment. I imagine the power of recognition that envelopes her. I imagine the absolute unending power of love that floods her being. Mary is so blessed to have known that moment. And I am jealous.
But then I read the Mark rendition and I have to wrestle with what I find.
So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to any one, for they were afraid. (The end?)
This of course is one reason I prefer the Gospel of John. I mean what are we supposed to do with Mark's endings? Yes there are verses that are often added to Mark’s ending but they are just that, verses that someone somewhere added because they felt like Mark’s ending was not sufficient. Some of the endings I read are so obviously not original. There are actually several. But scholars show how the language is different from that which Mark uses. Authors all have their way of speaking or writing. Mark, when he wrote his gospel, the earliest gospel to be written, ends just this abruptly. So how do we wrestle with this?
I did some reading on Mark’s ending. It was really interesting. But what I think spoke to me was the verse: “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."
I would love to know why it says “his disciples and Peter.” Why did Mark separate out Peter? But that isn’t what spoke to me. Instead, it seems that a writing of Peter’s found in some excavation and dated to Peter’s time, tells of the disciples all going home and trying to pick up their lives again. And it was in the midst of their mourning and their everyday lives, Jesus comes to them. I love that. “he is going ahead of you; there you will see him, just as he told you."
The other gospels all have wonderful and miraculous appearances of Jesus after his resurrection. Matthew tells us that Jesus met the women as they left the tomb and spoke to them. Luke has Jesus show up on the road to Emmaus and then to the disciples in Jerusalem. And of course John has Jesus come to the disciples several times.
But Mark reminds us that Jesus told the disciples he would come to them in Galilee, their homes. And Peter writes that that is just what he did.
Often I think of the stories in scripture and wish I could have been there. I wish I could have experienced the sound of Jesus’ voice calling my name. And it all seems so long ago and distant. Those thoughts make me sad.
But Mark encourages me to look for Jesus, look for the Christ, the resurrected and lifted up Jesus, now, in my everyday life. Here, in my home. Go ahead and do the work that was given to me for this day, even if it isn’t fishing like the disciples, and watch for Christ to make himself known, his presence known to me. Mark makes me part of the resurrection story!
Mark's gospel ends abruptly but we know the story continues. We know that if the women had truly kept quiet you and I would not be here proclaiming Christ’s resurrection. Instead, they must have told the disciples to go home and watch for him to appear.
Someone told me that there is a belief that as long as someone speaks your name you never truly die. And that is the power of our declaration today. Christ lives on in our declaration. Christ lives on through communion. Christ lives on in our baptism.
I don’t mean to say that Christ only lives because we tell the story. I believe that there are plenty of names over the thousands of years of history that have been forgotten. And I believe that those individuals live on in a life that is beyond death. But I also believe that there is something important in the remembering. I believe in the remembering we resurrect Jesus anew. Again and again. We cause his presence to be felt and known anew. Remember his words: “Wherever two or more gather in my name, I am there.” In the remembering is the power of Christ’s appearance.
Mark has left it up to us to continue the story. Mark has sent us home to bring the resurrection story to life where we are. And that is what we are doing today. We are declaring the name of Jesus, come to us in the form of Christ…the risen Messiah!
But what we do with this declaration after we leave is what truly matters. We must, we must, we must, go home and look for the risen Christ in our everyday lives! We must look for the risen Christ in the place of our occupations. And we must declare the risen Christ over and over again as the disciples did. Even to their deaths.
Mark’s rendition of the resurrection leaves me wanting more. I want a once upon a time story with a happily ever after ending. But somehow that is not the ending that spurs me on to find Christ resurrected and revealed today.
I love the victory shout of Easter:
Alleluia Christ is Risen! Christ is risen indeed, Alleluia!
And I love declaring it, and shouting it on Easter morning! I find hope and strength in it. I find purpose in it. I find the risen Christ in it!
But what about tomorrow morning? What about Monday morning? What about every Monday morning, every work day morning that follows? Mark says Jesus has gone on ahead of us and will meet us there.
Indeed: Christ is Risen is the declaration of the cyclic power of our lives. What we do today, how we live, how we treat others and all of creation becomes part of that cycle and effects its rhythm. And Jesus’ story–life,crucifixion, and resurrection–shows us how to live and how to make that cycle a positive thing even in the midst of the darkness of evil.
Alleluia! Christ is Risen!