Not Alone
This is the sermon I preached at St. Timothy and St. Mark Lutheran churches. The gospel text is Mark 16:1-8. The account of Jesus ’ resurrection in Mark is unlike any of the other gospels. In other resurrection accounts, we have appearances of Jesus all over the place — eating with his disciples or revealing himself on the road to Emmaus. Isn ’ t that how Easter is supposed to be with the risen Jesus and his disciples having joyful seaside meals, scenes of reconciliation and forgiveness, garden embraces of the risen Lord and the disciples shouting, “ He is risen! ” ? Mark does not offer us any such thing. It is the only resurrection story in the Bible where Jesus never actually makes an appearance. Mark ’ s story ends with frightened women fleeing from Jesus ’ empty tomb in silence. It would appear that the three women were complete failures, but they are not alone in that. In Mark ’ s strange conclusion, insiders become outsiders and outsiders do the work of insiders...