Alleluia! He is risen! (Hopefully they will say-He is risen indeed!)
Isn't it great that after six weeks with no alleluias, we can now say alleluia? Let's do it again! Alleluia! He is risen! He is risen indeed! Doesn't that make you feel great? I don't know if there is any other word that conveys the message of Easter, the joy of resurrection, better than alleluia. We love to say it and to sing it, because it says it all-Alleluia! A word that is filled with joy and triumph. A word that speaks of new life and the defeat of death. Alleluia! It tells us that God has triumphed through Christ; that Christ, though once dead, is now alive and among us for all time.
As we read of that first Easter morning, the day of resurrection, from Mark's gospel, there are no alleluias. There is not even any joy. What we find in Mark is alarm and terror. The last word in the gospel is 'afraid'. That doesn't sound like much of an Easter message. Mark must have made a mistake.
Mark's abrupt ending has been highly criticized over the ages. Surely, the early Church thought, he must have written more. Perhaps the final pages were lost, or maybe they were damaged somehow and left unreadable. After all, the other gospels continue past the point where Mark's gospel ends. Matthew tells of the disciples receiving the great commission from the risen Christ. Luke has the disciples meeting Jesus on the road to Emmaus, not recognizing Him until they break bread together. Even John, who very rarely include material from the other gospels, includes a post-resurrection appearance in Galilee, giving instructions to the disciples like Luke and Matthew.
But Mark has no meeting between the risen Christ and His disciples. There are no words of recognition regarding Christ's resurrection. There is no conclusion to speak of in Mark's gospel.
The women who journey to Jesus' tomb for the purpose of anointing His body encounter the young man in white. They hear what he has to say, but do not obey his directions. They do not go and tell. Isn't it interesting that throughout Mark's gospel people are told not to tell and they do, but now they are told to tell, and they don't? The women do not show any understanding whatsoever of the empty tomb. As one commentator noted, there is no leap for joy or shout of victory. There is not even an astonished silence. The women are merely afraid, seized with fear, fleeing the tomb and saying nothing to anyone.
Many have criticized Mark's ending and over the years there have been those who have tried to compensate for what they consider a non-ending by adding verses of their own to the text. If you were to open your Bibles to the end of Mark's gospel, you would most likely see printed there an additional twelve verses, verses nine through twenty. Those verses include post-resurrection appearances, first to Mary Magdalene, then to two of the disciples, and finally to the eleven. To the early church and those within it who were in charge of organizing the canon, Mark's gospel needed an ending, and so they provided one.
For many years these verses were considered to be Mark's own, but current scholars are convinced that these verses are truly a later addition. The writing style is not Mark's, nor is the theology. Also, there are many Greek words used in these last twelve verses that are not present in any other part of Mark's gospel. Mark, while possessing much of the same material as Matthew and Luke, is truly unique in it's presentation and pacing. It is fast and to the point. Perhaps an abrupt ending is exactly what Mark wanted.
It would be consistent with Mark's gospel to try and motivate the reader or listener into some kind of response. He consistently makes us tired, following Jesus around furiously from one event and place to another, without so much as time to take a breath in between! He doesn't explain what is going on very often. He wants us to figure it out for ourselves. He wants us to think, pray and respond. He leaves us with question after question. Reading Mark is an exhausting proposition, emotionally and spiritually. He does this so that we will feel what Jesus' life was like, that we will be spurred on by the urgency of Jesus' message, that we will be moved into action.
But what is Mark trying to motivate us to do with this abbreviated ending? What action is he hoping we will take when confronted with the empty tomb, with the resurrection of our Lord and Savior?
Last summer, I was the WCA high school camp director, and the whole program was on Mark's gospel. The last afternoon, we studied this passage and I asked the group what they thought Mark was trying to accomplish by ending his gospel in this way. They thought and they thought. We were tired-it had been a long week-and now I was asking them a pretty deep question. I wanted them to think and think hard! Why would Mark leave us with this open-ended kind of ending? Why would Mark leave us with so many questions? What does Mark want from us?
Very quietly, one girl raised her arm. I called on her and she said, "He wants us to write our own ending." "Alleluia!" I thought, she got it!
Mark's ending is not an ending at all. It is a beginning. When we are confronted with the empty tomb, with Christ's resurrection, it is the beginning of our life. What will we do with the new life that Jesus gifts us with? Will we run away afraid as the women at the tomb did, or will we leap for joy and give a shout of victory?
Mark did not make a mistake by ending his gospel this way. He gave us a very intentional challenge. He says to us, "Here it is. I have given you the message of the Good news. Christ has won. He is risen. Death is no more. You have the gift of eternal life. Now what are you going to do with it? What will the ending of your gospel story be?"
Mark asks us to ponder how we will respond to God's act of deliverance from death through Christ's death and resurrection. According to Acts, this is the turning point in history. It is also the turning point in our lives. Will we live as Easter people, or just go on about our business?
In the sixties and seventies there was a song-writing duo named Avery and Marsh. Forerunners in the contemporary church music scene, they composed many songs for use in worship. Easy to sing and understand in a sort of folksy style, these songs brought the message of the gospel close to the human heart.
Avery and Marsh's most beloved song is titled, "Every Morning is Easter Morning." It speaks of living as an Easter people, with the risen Christ being the ultimate reality that rules your life. Through the words of the song, the Christian is encouraged to live each and every day as if it were Easter, waking up and remembering that Christ died for you and rose for you, going to sleep each day thankful for the abundance of life that has been given to us. Keep the Easter feast every day, the song says!
That is the message of Mark's mistake. Celebrate that you are an Easter people, invited to join with Christ in His Resurrection! This day of resurrection is not the end, it is only the beginning! The message did go on! It is because of Christ's resurrection that we are here, gathered as Christians, praising God with word and prayer. May we proclaim Christ risen forever and ever, singing our Alleluias every day that we live! Amen.
Peace,
Rev. Cynthia Bacon
Minister
You may email at:
cbacon@heritagemadison.org
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This page was last updated on April 21, 2003.