The Story of Our Lives

Easter January 31, 2024

9th in the Gospel of Mark Chapters 15-16

NOTE: this includes just the scripture texts, readings and reflections, 
none of the music or other service elements.

Prologue
He broke upon the static horizon drenched 
with the water of the Jordan; 
Refined from 40 days in the wilderness.
He sent demons scurrying back to where they’d come from.

When he spoke, his words stirred a warm sure sense of rightness
When he stretched his hand, cool relief expelled pain and doubt.

Men left their livelihoods to follow him.
Women pushed forward with their fevered babies.
Old women touched his hem
And children scurried to his lap.

Throngs journeyed into the countryside 
to hear his words and beg his touch.
Priests feared him; scribes reviled him; Rome watched him.

For three years there were miracles to report, 
healings to recount and parables to ponder in the night
There were tests of wit and hard sayings sparked with 
glimpses of a New Kingdom.

But then the ground trembled as if it couldn’t hold the 
weight of this new truth.
The disciples argued and vied for position
The priests and scribes turned dark with fury.
That fury rattled the pillars of the Temple and sent 
fissures through the puzzled crowds.
It poisoned their praise and sent the disciples into hiding.

When everyone looked back, they saw Jesus hanging on a cross.
       Some sobbed.     Some smiled    All felt fear.

And then a shadow crossed the noon-day sun as God the Son
surrendered to death.

[Music]

Before the black night closed in, 
one man stepped out from the cowering and the calloused. 

Sunset & Sorrow

Mark 15:42,43,46
It was now the evening before the Sabbath, and the Jewish people were getting ready for that sacred day. A man named Joseph of Arimathea was brave enough to ask Pilate for the body of Jesus. Joseph was a highly respected member of the Jewish council.  Joseph bought a linen cloth and took the body down from the cross. He had it wrapped in the cloth, and he put it in a tomb that had been cut into solid rock. Then he rolled a big stone against the entrance to the tomb.

Joseph
I don’t know, really, what made me do it. I was walking off my throbbing regret when 
I came upon a fabric merchant. Waving in the light was a linen sheet.
It snapped with sunlight as it flicked in the wind. It was then that I knew what I must do. I bought the sheet. Then I bought the spices.

Those who knew me asked who had died. “We all have.”  I said.

I carried everything home. I couldn’t bear to go to Golgotha to watch.
I had no courage for that. I don’t know how those women did it. 
No. I went home to wait and to mourn.

What power, fear. What grip. What unspeakable things we do because of it.
What daring things we don’t do because of it. 
We thought we were acting in the name of God No. Not so. 
We did what we did in the name of fear.

I was among them at first. It was fear that made me waiver.
Is he this? Is he that? It was fear that made me hide.
What would they think of me if they knew I admired him?
That I was persuaded by him? Persuaded enough to listen.
Not enough to stem the tide. Now all I have to offer is a decent burial.

[Music]

And then it was night.   And then night again.   And then again.

First Light

Mark 16:1-5
After the Sabbath, Mary Magdalene, Salome and Mary the mother of James bought some spices to put on Jesus’ body. Very early on Sunday morning, just as the sun was coming up, they went to the tomb. On their way, they were asking one another, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance for us?” But when they looked, they saw that the stone had already been rolled away. And it was a huge stone! The women went into the tomb, and on the right side they saw a young man in a white robe sitting there. 

The Women
Before the light broke on the third dawn three women
Moved like shadows toward the sepulchers.
They walked in silence, each bearing a large bundle atop her head.
In their wake wafted the scent of frankincense and myrrh.

They stepped to the tomb just as first light struck its limestone face.
They stopped, stunned. 
For the mouth of the tomb gaped wide like a toothless yawn.
Its stone seal lay defeated on the ground.

The women set down their fragrant bundles and 
stretched their heads into the tomb
There, sitting on the ledge where Jesus’s body should have been was a young man 
arrayed in brilliant white.

“Don’t be afraid; You are here seeking Jesus” he said, smiling.
“He is risen. He is not here.”

[Music]  

The Full Light of Day
[Music]   

The Story of Our Lives

Mark tells us a story about a man who breaks upon the Galilean countryside, a quiet outpost in the expansive Roman Empire and begins a public life that leaves astonishment in its wake. 

This man whom Mark links to the predictions of the Old Prophets and the prophetic work of the New Prophet, John the Baptist, quickly demonstrates his authority over demons, over illness including leprosy and paralysis, over the wind and sea, over the Sabbath, over demons and even over death. 

He sets forth a message that departs from that of the priests and theologians of his day. He tells the people that what matters is not ritualistic practice and proforma religious observance, but a pure heart. 

He tells them that corruption and impurity are not determined by how they eat or when they wash but by the attitudes they hold in their heart. Being right with God is not a matter of doing the right things, but being of right spirit. He tells them that they should not try to elevate themselves and “lord it over others” but to sacrifice their desires, their egos, their privileges in service to others. 

He tells them that the Son of Man is not going to renew the old Davidic Kingdom, that the Kingdom of God is not a brick and mortar, secure borders and ready army kind of thing, it is like a mustard seed. It is something seemingly insignificant that is planted and begins to grow to become a mighty plant that gives shelter and shade.

He tells them that there are two primary commandments they need to heed: To Love God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength and to love their neighbors as themselves. If they heed these two, all the other commandments will be fulfilled. He tells them that worship is not connected to a particular place—a grand temple, but is, instead, a devotion of fruit-bearing prayer.

He tells them that they should seek God as would a child: with an eager, teachable spirit. 

Those who heard Jesus preach said that he spoke with authority, unlike the others they’d heard talk about God.

So wind-weathered fishermen left their boats to follow him. Money-driven tax collectors gave up their collection stands to follow him. Peasants and merchants, fathers and mothers, old men and old women, dropped what they were doing to search him out and ask him for healing or another parable. Children scampered into his lap.

The writer of the Book of Mark, also tells us what happens when God comes too close, overturns our ideas and interrupts our everyday lives. 

Over time, the Holy Truth becomes too rich for our systems, it calls for too much of our attention, and it definitely calls for commitment and surrender.

Mark tells us that we as humans are inclined to become befuddled and withdraw in the wake of demanding Truth such as this. Or we escalate in our defense of the status quo. Some of us respond eagerly but shallowly and our devotion quickly evaporates. Some of us become interrogators of God’s truth, we argue with it. Some of us get downright nasty and seek to kill it

Mark gives us a graphic picture of how we retreat behind varying degrees of cowardice or callousness. But thankfully, he also shows us that we are capable of better. That we can lift our heads, muster our courage and live into the truth.

So he concludes his telling of the story of Jesus with the account of Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent scholar of the Law of Moses who truly heard Jesus, repented of his own complicity in Jesus’ death and stepped forward. 

Mark tells us of the women who had heard Jesus from the beginning and stayed the course. These women spread the word of Jesus’ resurrection and led the way to the restoration of the disciples and all the others who “had ears to hear”

In these people we can see ourselves as well as all of the other cast of characters in Mark’s story.

Jesus said before he died: You all will stumble. And we do all stumble.  We do all “fall.” But God loves us anyway and makes a way for us. 

I believe that when Joseph of Arimathea buried Jesus he experienced his own resurrection.

When we think we’ve moved beyond the reach of God’s  grace, we have not!
We can claim the hope that even when all appears dead and hopeless. It is not! 
We not only survive the purging of God’s Holy Truth but we are embraced, forgiven, 
transformed---resurrected to a new Life: a True, Holy, and Vibrant Life now and into eternity.

Benediction
We go now, taking the power and presence of the Risen Lord more deeply into our lives and more widely into the world. May Christ's resurrection give you courage and hope and may your journey in the company of the Holy Spirit bring you peace. Go forth in the name of God our Creator, Jesus Christ our Savior, and the Holy Spirit our Comfort and Guide, One God ever and always. Amen.