Easter Sunday

Mark 16:1-8

What do you think the women carried that morning?

They had watched from a distance as Jesus breathed his last breath (Mk. 15:37) and knew his body had been taken down from the crucifix and placed into the tomb. They had been discussing how to move the heavy stone that would have sealed the tomb’s entrance. They were expecting to find his remains, his body.

Scripture says they brought spices, and reference books tell us it probably was a mix of myrrh and aloes that they intended to use to anoint the body of Jesus. Myrrh is used in anointing and liniments, and aloe would have masked the odor of decay. But I wonder what else they carried. Maybe some kind of salve to moisten his parched lips. Maybe a clean towel to wash his feet or wipe away the blood where the soldiers had pierced his side? Would they have laid anything at the tomb when they were finished? Flowers or a marker of some kind? This was their beloved teacher and friend after all.

Imagine those are the thoughts the women are having when they arrive at the tomb, figuring out what they need to do and in what order and how best they can honor this person whom they loved.

And then they see the stone has already been moved. I wonder about the surprise or strangeness of that discovery, but Mark doesn’t give us any indication that they were wary, suspicious or tentative. Maybe they just felt relief that there was no obstacle keeping them from their Jesus now.

Of course, everything changes when they enter the tomb.

Instead of their beloved, they find a young man who immediately tells them that Jesus is risen and has gone ahead of them. As if they didn’t hear him clearly, he repeats himself two more times, assuring them that Jesus is not there and the tomb is truly empty.

Have you ever been shocked into silence, astonished and perplexed?

The terror and amazement that the women at the empty tomb felt wasn’t the heavy dread that we have felt collectively at times of national distress, the heart-clenching fear you experience when you confront a phobia like snakes or heights, or even the spine-tingling fear brought on by reading Steven King in an empty house in the wee hours of the morning.

Instead, this fear – this terror or amazement that seized the women - came from witnessing something unexpected, miraculous and beyond their understanding.

Mark describes this same kind of amazement and terror after other miracles throughout his gospel.

When Jesus stilled the sea, his disciples were filled with awe (Mk. 4:41) and when he healed the hemorrhaging woman and revived the young girl, the people with him were amazed (Mk. 5:33).Then the people were afraid when they saw how he healed the Gerasene demoniac (Mk. 5:15) and the disciples were terrified when Jesus walked on water at the sea of Gennesaret. (Mk. 6:50)

Each time the power of God is made visible in Jesus we see the people react with this awe – this terror and amazement.

The women had seen Jesus die. They fully expected to find his body in the tomb and they were gobsmacked when he wasn’t there.

Wouldn’t you be, too? (pause)

According to Mark, the amazed and terrified women fled the tomb and said nothing to anyone. But we figure they must have said something to someone eventually though or we wouldn’t be here today to celebrate that Christ is risen.

Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Man, rose and went ahead of Mary Magdalene, Mary mother of James, Salome and all of his disciples, to Galilee. He didn’t go back into Jerusalem, to the palace or to Pilate; he didn’t go to the temple or the courtyard of the high priest. He went to Galilee, to his homeplace, the same familiar towns and villages where he had spent all of his years of ministry and the place where he had healed the sick, driven out demons and taught how much God so loved the world.

The Easter story tells us that Christ is risen and goes ahead of us into the world where we live every day. We don’t have to move gigantic rocks to find him. He isn’t hiding. Jesus invites us to see him in ordinary and unremarkable places. The places we call home, the streets of our community, the nursing homes and the hospital. The places where we work and live. The places where we find our friends and the people who have known us forever.

God invites us to live in a world where Christ is alive. Instead of preparing for death like the women approaching the tomb, we are called to new life. This Easter morning – and every Sunday when we celebrate the Resurrection - we encounter Jesus in Word and in Sacrament. In place of spices and oils that cover up sin and death, God offers us forgiveness and mercy and takes away the sin of the world, inviting us to take up the cross instead. Again and again, Christ goes before us and calls us to follow him.

Thanks be to God.
Amen.