Mark 16:1-8: the end that is still being written

How do we tell the Easter story, the story of Jesus’ resurrection?  The varied ways of telling the “greatest story ever told” are evident by the contrasting ways that the gospel writers tell us of the same event.  In Matthew, we read of an earthquake, terrified guards, and Jesus meeting the women after they leave the tomb.  In Luke, Peter is shown running to the tomb, disciples encounter Jesus on the road to Emmaus, and then that same Jesus appears to a larger gathering of disciples.  When we read John’s gospel, we see a Thomas full of doubt, and Jesus meeting with the disciple by the seashore.  We place Mark’s gospel next to all of these, and we discover that we aren’t even sure where the gospel in fact ends.  The only common thread in all these various accounts is the visiting of the tomb by the women.    

Despite its brevity when compared to the other gospels, Mark’s resurrection story does teach us some important things- not only about Jesus, but about our faith as well.  First of all, the women who visit the tomb are seeking the crucified Jesus, rather than the resurrected Lord.  This is more than understandable, as they were there for Jesus crucifixion.  These three women all saw the death of Jesus (Mark 15:40), and the two Mary’s were there for Jesus burial (Mark 15:47).  Despite their confidence in what they have witnessed the young man, who is most assuredly an angel, instructs them that they are looking for Jesus in the wrong place.   His statement that Jesus “was crucified” has the ring of a Christian confession, as the crucifixion is now in the past.  More than that, the testimony continues beyond Jesus recently endured crucifixion, to state that “he has been raised.”  Jesus death been overcome by life, by resurrection, and it is God who has accomplished this, as is made clear by the fact that “has been raised” is cast in the passive. 

Where do we seek Jesus?  As important as the crucifixion is for us, for our redemption, it is firmly in the past.  The cross is important, even vital to our spiritual lives, but the power it possesses to shape us comes not from Jesus death, but from His resurrection.       

Of course, that power is only relevant if we believe the word about Jesus that we hear.  In the words of the author of Hebrews, “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1)  To that end, there is no dispute that the tomb was empty.  If Jesus’ body had remained in the tomb, stating that fact would have been the easiest and most logical way to undercut the power of the Christian message.  After all, as Paul would tell the Corinthians, “if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.” (I Corinthians 15:14)  In other words, if Christianity’s early opponents could discredit the resurrection, they would have all but discredited the entire faith.   And yet, with that being the case, in all the early Jewish polemic against Christianity, the empty tomb is never disputed, nor is Jesus’ body produced. 

The real thrust behind the news of Jesus resurrection is not just the indisputable fact that the tomb was empty.  The power lays in the fact that Jesus’ followers saw in this action, in Jesus’ resurrection, a fulfillment of what God had promised to do all along.  The prophet Hosea would foretell the event centuries earlier, when he said: “After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him.” (Hosea 6:2)  Jesus himself hints at an interpretive lens through which we should we view both the crucifixion and the resurrection, when he says as he hangs on the cross, “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  By quoting the first verse of Psalm 22, a psalm that begins with such anguish and pain, he is pointing us forward to the end of the psalm, to an ending characterized by renewal, and even resurrection.    

Like the women, we are left with an empty tomb.  The question is, what will we do with it?  Will we believe that word of revelation that interprets the empty tomb, and infuses it with meaning? 

Embracing that word of revelation is more than a mental or intellectual exercise.  The women are told to go and tell the disciples and Peter, the news of the resurrection.  In short, they are to take the news to those who need to hear it the most.  Those who abandoned and even denied Jesus are rehabilitated.  The lack of closure in the gospel is intentional and draws us into the story, giving us the task of interpreting the rest of what has, and indeed what will happen.  In essence, the gospel tasks us with writing an end to the story through our own faithfulness.  D. English would write that “our first century forebears in the faith were not naturally superior (or inferior) to us.  Neither did faith and discipleship come any easier for them.  Yet despite all, they went on believing and laid the foundation for us.”  The question is, like them, will we embrace faith and discipleship in spite of the cost?  Will we build on the foundation laid by them, a foundation grounded in the blood of Jesus Christ, and the power of His resurrection?

Mark 15:33-47: the cross as prophecy and purpose

It’s impossible to add to the story of love written by Jesus upon the cross.  All we can do as mere mortals is to use that story to encourage one another.   Part of the encouragement comes in recognizing the role of the cross in God’s plan.  By discerning the role of the cross in salvation history, we can come to a proper understanding of its ability to shape our lives as disciples of Jesus. 

The first thing to note is that Jesus’ suffers in a scriptural way, to fulfill a scriptural purpose.  In other words, Jesus’ suffering is not something we read of for the first time in the gospels, in fact it is foretold in scripture long before Jesus was born in Bethlehem.  Psalm 22, a rich text rooted in Jewish scripture, is quoted five times in the Passion narrative of Jesus.   We see it as prophecy when v. 18, “they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots”, is fulfilled in Mark 15:24:

“And they crucified him and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take.”

And again when v. 7, “All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads”, is fulfilled in Mark 15:29-30:

“And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!”

We also see Psalm 22 cast as prayer, when Jesus uses the language of Jewish faith to exclaim in Mark 15:34 “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

We see our Lord not only fulfilling the prophecy of scripture, but also using scripture to pray.  In doing so, Jesus teaches us something very real about genuine faith.  In the words of Eduard Schweizer, “it is a radical expression of devotion to God which endures in every adverse experience- a devotion which continues to claim God as ‘my’ God and will not let him go although he can be experienced only as the Absent One who has forsaken the petitioner.” 

Jesus suffers in a scriptural way, to fulfill a scriptural purpose, which is no less than the reconciliation of all humanity to God.  We see this symbolized in a few ways, the first of which is the rending of the veil in the temple.  The only other time when the word “rent” is used in the gospel of Mark, describing something being torn open, is in 1:10 at Jesus’ baptism.  There the heavens are “rent”, the Holy Spirit descends in the form of a dove, and the Father speaks words of affirmation.  Just as the heavens were rent at his baptism, now the curtain in the Holy of Holies is rent at his death, rent from the top to the bottom, symbolizing not only divine initiative, but a renewed access to God through the atoning death of Jesus Christ.   In Jesus’ baptism the Holy Spirit descends to earth and takes on flesh in the person of Jesus Christ.  In Jesus’ death, the Holy Spirit, God’s abiding presence leaves the temple, and is now capable of taking up residence in the human heart.  The other way we see this purpose symbolized, or announced, is through the proclamation of the centurion.  It is the centurion in charge of Jesus’ execution that proclaims him to be the Son of God.  Way back in the very first verse of the gospel, 1:1, Mark began with this declaration,” the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”   Now, on the cross, and through his sacrificial death, Jesus’ true identity is revealed to the world.  Not only is it revealed, but it is revealed through the lips of a Roman centurion, a soldier of the emperor who competes with Jesus for the world’s worship and adoration.  Imagine what it would mean for a Roman Christian to see in the story of the gospel, that even a soldier of Rome could come to knowledge of who Jesus is, and make the good confession that he is the Son of God.  We should not let the cross obscure our ability to recognize Jesus as the Son of God.  Jesus reigns, not despite his crucifixion, but because of it.  Perhaps Venatius Fortunatus put it best in his Passion Hymn when he declared, “God has reigned from a tree.” 

I probably haven’t told you anything you didn’t know, in pointing out that Jesus crucifixion was the fulfillment of prophecy found in scripture.  You probably also knew that Jesus crucifixion was for the purpose of our redemption.  While I haven’t told you anything new, I hope that I can at least encourage you to think about it in a new way.  You see, as I pointed out in the last blog post, the cross is as much about formation as it is forgiveness.  God forgives us of our past, because he has plans for our future, big plans.  Sadly though, the cross too often moves us to gratitude…but not discipleship.  As Thomas a Kempis would say in his book The Imitation of Christ, “Jesus hath now many lovers of his heavenly kingdom, but few bearers of his cross.”  Or, in words perhaps a little more relatable to our generation, Ben Witherington III would simply observe that, “some are more willing to wear the cross than bear the cross.”  We cannot love what the cross represents, while at the same time shying away from what it requires of us.  Don’t just give thanks for Jesus’ cross, take up your own.   

Mark 15:16-32: the cross as forgiveness and formation

It might be the best known story in the world and because of that, it is possible to become desensitized to the meaning of Jesus crucifixion.  Obviously, as Christians we see it as the turning point in the war God wages for our souls.  Jesus’ actions speak for themselves.  His cross defines the character of God, and the hope of humanity.  However, in addition to asking what the cross does for us, perhaps we should also ask how it instructs us.  Maybe, just maybe, the cross is as much about formation as it is about forgiveness. 

The cross illustrates for Christians the reality that through defeat we achieve victory.  The soldiers mock Jesus because he seems to be a defeated man.   Jesus had earlier predicted that they would see him at the right hand of God, by quoting the first verse of Psalm 110: “The Lord says to my Lord: Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool”, but to human eyes things don’t seem to be going well.  How can the road to heavenly exaltation run through the suffering and death of the cross?  Even if we consider the second verse of the psalm, “The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter.  Rule in the midst of your enemies!” we rightfully ask ourselves, how can the beaten and bloodied Jesus be seen as ruling in any meaningful sense?   Little did they know that even in his weakness, Jesus is ruling in the midst of his enemies.  They beat Jesus with a reed, meant to symbolize a scepter, in an effort to mock his kingship.  And yet, Jesus is reigning in a way more miraculous than we, or anyone else at the time, could realize.  By refusing to retaliate, by refusing to call upon the “ten thousand angels” we have sung about so often, Jesus is transforming suffering into atonement.  He is transfiguring the hatred of his enemies, into a love than conquers all.  We read in that famous passage of Paul’s letter to the Philippians that “being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:8)  Jesus understood, and in the process teaches us to understand, that victory comes not through the absence of suffering and death, but in the presence of obedience.  When we place our lives in the hands of a loving God, despite what it may cost us, we are displaying our trust in the one who has power even over death itself. 

The cross illustrates for us that God’s love greater than we can imagine.  Sounds like a pretty obvious statement, but consider for a moment that the amazing act of love we see take place on the cross, was part of a plan.  It was not a spur-of-the-moment, adrenaline induced act of bravery on Jesus’ part.  It was a decision he made well in advance (to say the least), having considered the consequences.   Jesus came to this earth knowing his fate, knowing that the cross lay before him.  The word “excruciating” actually comes from the word crucify, so that it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Jesus lived his entire life aware of the excruciating future that lay in store for him.  Imagine living your life knowing that you would die a tortuous death.  He knew that he was living the words of Isaiah:

“I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting.” (Isaiah 50:6)

And the words of the psalm were possibly running through his mind as they took the clothes off of his back:

“They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.” (Psalm 22:18)

Jesus actions demonstrate love combined with grace.  Love because of the tremendous amount he sacrificed, grace because he did it when we were still in rebellion against God.  In writing to the Romans, Paul would sum it up in perhaps the best way possible:

“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.  For one will scarcely die for a righteous person- though perhaps for a good person one would dare to die- but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” – Romans 5:6-8

Jesus suffering demonstrates his love for us, God’s love for us, but it is not the final word.  The prophet Isaiah, when foretelling all the Suffering Servant of God must endure, also knew that the suffering was only temporary:

“Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.” – Isaiah 53:12

It is clear that God’s love for us is greater than we can imagine, especially in light of what our forgiveness cost.  However, how does the grace we receive through God’s forgiveness affect our formation? 

God’s forgiveness shapes our formation in the fact that we are called to live grace-filled lives.  In the same letter to the Romans I mentioned earlier, Paul plainly states that this is an expectation of those who have received God’s mercy:

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” – Romans 12:1

Because of Christ’s sacrificial death, we are free to live sacrificial live.  If you go back to Philippians, the passage I alluded to earlier actually begins, “have this mind in yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus…”  (Philippians 2:5)  In other words, we are called not just to be thankful for Jesus’ attitude; we are called to emulate it.  That’s a challenging charge for those who would follow Christ.   What it comes down to is this; we can only truly call ourselves Christian if we are willing to live as Christ did.  In many trades and fields, people are referred to in certain ways because their thoughts or practices conform to a well-noted theorist.  Hence, some psychologists are referred to as Freudians, or Jungians, because their philosophical approach to psychology conforms to the thinking of Sigmund Freud, or Carl Jung.   They call themselves these things because they adhere to the philosophies of these men.  I wonder, do we adhere to the attitude and philosophy of Jesus Christ in such a way that calling us Christian would be accurate? 

I was reading not too long ago about a man named Patrick Greene.  Patrick lives in Texas, and is an atheist who sued the county to have a nativity scene removed from the courthouse grounds.  Because of a detached retina, he was at risk of going blind in one eye.  He was flabbergasted when he received a check from local Christians to help cover his medical bills.  When speaking of the unsolicited, and in many ways shocking act of generosity Greene simply stated, “They said they wanted to do what real Christians are supposed to do- love you- and they wanted to help.”  This group of Christians understood that the cross is about more than forgiveness, it’s also about formation.  They took to heart the words, “have this mind in yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.”  May that mind, which is ours in Christ Jesus, lead us to perform acts that reflect who Christ is, and who he wants us to be.