THE HOUR OF RESURRECTION
Mark 16:1-8
Appearances can be deceiving. Sometimes we see a pool of water
in the road ahead but when the car arrives at that point there is not a
drop. We hear the sound of a gobbler only to find out it is the sound
coming from a wooden turkey call. We see that a caterpillar has turned
into a cocoon and it appears lifeless, only to discover some months
later it has turned into a beautiful butterfly.
Yes, appearances can be deceiving. From the outside it seemed
that an ordinary man from Nazareth was crucified on a cross as an
imposter. He claimed to be the Son God so he was condemned as a
blasphemer. Although Jesus was proclaimed as a king who came in the
name of the Lord and as the King of the Jews, He certainly did not
seem like a glorious and powerful king. He certainly didn’t seem like
God. Jesus died and was buried. Was this the end? Was Jesus a
failure? Some of his followers speculated; all of them were perplexed.
Remember how Jesus had explained to his disciples that he must go
to Jerusalem, suffer, be killed, and be raised to life. Just prior to Palm
Sunday, Jesus took the twelve apostles aside and told them, “We are
going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed…
they will condemn him to death and will turn him over to the
Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day
he will be raised to life!” (Mt 20:18f). Now on the third day since
Jesus proclaimed, “It is finished,” we need to look with eyes of faith at
the living Christ. On this joyous morning we look at the last crucial hour
of Jesus’ life – THE HOUR OF RESURRECTION.
When the Sabbath was over or after 6:00 pm our time on Saturday
evening, the women went to the market to buy some spices. They had
seen the way the Joseph and Nicodemus had hastily wrapped Christ’s
body to avoid violating the Sabbath. Oh, they had placed large amounts
of powdered spices as they wrapped Jesus’ body in the linens and
didn’t neglect to bind the face with a napkin. But the body itself had not
been treated with oils and perfumes. Merchants used the brief period of
time between the conclusion of the Sabbath and darkness to open for a
few hours. The women took advantage of the opportunity to buy the
liquid oils and spices necessary to complete the anointing of Jesus’
body. For in the eyes of the faithful women what was done did not
constitute a proper burial.
Because there was no light to finish anointing Jesus’ body on
Saturday and because in the heat his body would decompose very
quickly, Mark states that the women planned to go the tomb early the
next morning. Mark doubly emphasizes the earliness of the hour with
the phrases “very early” and “just after sunrise” to impress on us the
sense of urgency and respect that compelled these women to this task.
Very early probably meant about 6:00 am or at the first light of dawn.
While it was not proper for women to be out in the dark, particularly at a
gravesite, but at first light “they were on their way to the tomb.” Their
determination to anoint Jesus’ body with costly spices speaks loudly
about their love and devotion to their Lord.
The two Marys and Salome fully expected to find the dead body of
Jesus. They were fully determined to anoint his body properly. The
women certainly believed in Jesus as their Savior, but they did not have
resurrection-faith. Along with many of the disciples, these women “still
did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the
dead” (Jn 20:9). With a great complexity of emotion, of faith mingled
with fear and perplexity, they walked to the tomb. Love compelled them
to keep going in spite of their doubts. But what was clear to them was
their duty to serve their crucified Lord. They had learned that in
moments of confusion and uncertainty God’s disciples simply do what
is right in his eyes and trust him for the outcome.
But in their haste, as often occurs with us, the women overlooked
the obvious: the stone. In their intensity to act respectfully, they forgot
to ask some men to roll away the stone. They were already on the way,
and maybe they even stopped briefly, asking each other, “Who will
roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?” But when they
“looked up” or “looked again,” they saw that the very large stone had
already been rolled. In first-century Palestine a discarded millstone was
often used for this purpose. The stone had to be blocked in the groove
to keep the tomb open. To close the entrance the block was removed
and the stone would roll into a cavity carved into the stone base at the
tomb entrance. This would set the stone so securely that two or three
men would be needed to return it to the blocked position.
What is it that keeps us going, especially when everything seems to
be against us? Would you have kept going to the tomb with those
women? Or would you have just given up and returned home? If the
women had given up, how long would it have been before the discovery
was made that the tomb was empty. What kept their feet moving was
love – admittedly a depressed, tear-filled, anguished love – but love
kept their heavy hearts and feet moving. Maybe faith had a part too. For
faith remembers God’s promises – such as the one we heard in today’s
Old Testament reading from Isaiah, “He will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces”
(25:8). Faith has a strange way of keeping us moving even when the
circumstances and setbacks of life seem to speak against it.
At the close of the battle of Waterloo, on which hung the fate of
Europe, people in Britain anxiously awaited news of the result their only
way of receiving rapid communication was that of signal lights flashing
across the English Channel. As the report of the battle was being transmitted, an intervening fog became so dense that only a part of the
message was received. It read: “Wellington defeated.” Gloom fell on
the people. It seemed that everything was lost. But then the fog lifted,
and the blinking signal lights repeated the message. It spelled out,
“Wellington defeated the enemy.” Likewise, to all appearances it
looked like Jesus was dead, gone and buried, but then he rose.
The women couldn’t find Jesus’ body. They had no idea that Christ’s
dead body was suddenly made alive by the Spirit. In an instant he
passed out of the walls of the sealed and guarded tomb, invisible to the
eyes of men. Silently, invisibly, wondrously, gloriously his living body
passed through the rock. In an incomprehensible, spiritual mode Jesus
rose from the closed tomb and passed through the closed door. Jesus
had risen. They had no idea that the heavenly Father had sent an angel
to announce the resurrection. He shook the area with an earthquake
and the angel rolled the stone away from the crypt to show that the
tomb was empty. Paralyzed by fear, the guards fled the scene.
When Mary Magdalene glanced into the tomb and saw nothing, she
ran to tell the disciples that someone had stolen Jesus’ body.
Meanwhile the other two women enter the tomb and were alarmed to
see a young man dressed in a white robe, who told them not to be
alarmed. He announced, “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene,
who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place
where they laid him.” With three short words in English, the angel
revealed why the place where they had laid him was vacant: “He has
risen!” Those three little words form the substance of the angel’s
message. They become the theme of the Easter liturgy and hymns and
the foundation of the New Testament faith. “He has risen!” You have
no need to look farther. The tomb is empty. The world must hear. The
invitation belongs to the world to come and see that the grave is empty.
Christ is risen indeed!
The women are told to remind the disciples of an appointment Jesus
had made with them as they were leaving the upper room to go out to
Gethsemane. “But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into
Galilee” (Mk 14:28). Here the angel says, “But go, tell his disciples
and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will
see him, just as he told you.’” Peter is especially singled out because
though he denied his Lord, he is still included in the circle of Christ’s
disciples. But we might ask, why point them to a Galilean appearance
when Jesus would appear before the disciples that very day in a locked
room in Jerusalem? One reason may be that Jesus was giving the
disciples instruction on how they were to spend their time in the forty
days until his ascension -- to return their homes and former trades until
they were commissioned and received the Holy Spirit.
Such news was too impossible to believe, and the angel’s presence
was too awesome. They fled from the tomb trembling and bewildered.
Fear filled their hearts, and as a result they didn’t run into town
shouting, “He’s risen! He’s risen!” Since they could hardly believe it
themselves, they needed to meet with the Eleven. Mathew tells us that
these women ran from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy. When they
returned they didn’t find any of the disciples right away, so they didn’t
say a word to anyone. The news was too great and they were filled with
too much awe to blurt it out generally. They proclaimed their message
to the disciples as soon as they could be reached.
In our lives we are often influenced by mixed emotions. We refer to
those times as bittersweet. When we are standing at the grave of a
loved one, it is bitter for us to no longer have their presence near us,
but it is sweet that our spouse now enjoys eternal happiness in heaven.
We are drawn by the power of the resurrection to the empty tomb. How
can we not see the place where Christ was laid as the place of the
greatest display of God’s power? By Christ’s resurrection the almighty
God has brought life and immortality to light, he has sealed redemption
and forgiveness for mankind, he has proclaimed victory over the devil,
he has transformed death into victory, and he has given to all believers
in Christ the hope of eternal life. That same power works in us today as
it worked in the faithful women. By this joyous gospel we are empowered to go and tell other people about the empty tomb and the risen
Christ.
How has the crucial hour of the resurrection impacted your life?
Appearances can be deceiving. What looked like just another crucifixion, was in truth an innocent victim who poured out his blood for the
sins of the world. In a supreme act of love Jesus exchanged places with
us. Now He has conquered death so we might live forever. Faith hangs
on to God’s promises when everything in life seems to be falling off its
hinges. Jesus our risen Savior stands ready to welcome us and feed us
in the Lord’s Supper. Here our fears are calmed and faith is satisfied.
Here we receive Christ’s personal assurance of forgiveness and the
hope of the resurrection. Here we see the true joy of Easter. Christ is
risen! Amen.