04-12-09 Easter 8:00 am worshipSurprised Again!

Her father then asked her, "Do you know what Easter means, honey?"

With a smile that lit up her entire face, Nicole raised her arms and shouted "Surprise!"

What better word could sum up that first Easter morning? Surprise, mourning disciples! The one who was crucified is not here! He is risen! Surprise! Love won't be silenced! Surprise!

Now, admittedly we don't quiet get that sense of surprise. After all, each of us came this morning knowing we would hear the Easter proclamation; knowing we would find the tomb empty; knowing we would catch a glimpse of the risen Christ. But wait a minute. This is the gospel of Mark and Surprise! The disciples and Peter are nowhere in sight! Surprise! Mary Magdalene is present, but she does not see or speak to the risen Lord! Surprise! In fact, no one sees or speaks to the risen Christ. He remains off stage. Surprise! There is just the simple the announcement "He is risen." And then the gospel simply ends with the strange testimony that the women -the faithful women who had traveled with Jesus, stood by him at the cross, and then came to anoint his body for burial--these women did not follow the angel's instructions, but rather ran away in terror and amazement and said nothing to anyone. Surprise!

What are we to make of their silence? What are we to make of a gospel that ends in the middle of a sentence? Well, throughout the history of the church there are those who, when faced with this question, decided that the original ending of this gospel must have been lost. So they borrowed resurrection stories from the other gospels and added them to the end of Mark. When you get home, check out your version of the Bible and see where this gospel ends. Do you have what scholars call the longer ending included as if it were part of the original gospel? Or do you have it almost as a footnote with the notation that it is probably not original with Mark?

Was the original manuscript torn and the original ending destroyed? Or did Mark intend to leave the story unfinished? Of course that, like many other questions in Biblical interpretation, is an unanswerable question. But I tend to side with the weight of scholarly interpretation that says the last words of this gospel are "they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid."

Perhaps their fear was generated by the discovery of the empty tomb and the encounter with the messenger asserting that the one they had seen die a horrific death was now alive. That would be enough to cause a little fear and trembling in most of us, don't you think? But, perhaps it was much more than that. Perhaps their fear and amazement arose because the risen Christ -through this messenger- was calling these women to see and live life in a whole new way -what in recent years would be called a paradigm shift - a revolution, a transformation, a radical change in the way we see, think and understand the world. Despite the fact that they had more than likely been in the crowd that saw Jesus call Lazarus from the tomb of death, in their minds and hearts dead is dead. It is the end of the line. All of the fine words about "loving your enemies" and "trusting in God," where did they get Jesus? DEAD! The women just could not wrap their minds and hearts around the possibility that he was alive. But even more than that, I think they couldn't wrap their minds around what it might mean for their lives if he was indeed alive. And so after faithfully standing by the side of their teacher and their friend through his horrible death, now at the possibility that he was alive, they fled the scene in terror.

Now, the woman must have eventually said something to someone, or we would not have their story. There must have been some post-resurrections appearances or the terrified disciples would never have stepped out from behind locked doors to face death -if need be- in order to continue what Jesus had begun. So, perhaps this gospel was left unfinished because it is up to each reader, listener or generation to continue the story. Since the gospel of Mark was not written until some 70 years after the resurrection, perhaps the apparent incompleteness of this story is Mark's way of asserting to his generation that God the God who raised Jesus from the dead is still alive and well and calling them from tombs of fear and despair into the new life, the abundant life Christ came to bring.

"Go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him..." Christ will not be found holding on to the past. Christ will not be found at the empty tomb. To see Jesus, the women and the disciples must look ahead.

After the death of the great comedian Gracie Allen, her beloved husband George Burns found a note she had written to him -a note she intended him to read after her death. It read, "Dear George, Never place a period where God has placed a comma, Love, Gracie" As many of you know, our denomination, the United Church of Christ has adopted that quote and added the words "God is still speaking," as a way of understanding that God is always out in front of us leading us into new and different possibilities. The way Mark tells the resurrection story said to his community of faith and to us, the story is not finished. God is still speaking and you will meet the Risen Christ as these women and the disciples did -ahead of you in Galilee.

Now, Galilee is the place the women and the disciples called home before they met Jesus. Galilee is where they work, where they play, where they live and where they love. Galilee, also called Galilee of the Gentiles, is likewise the place of their mission, their call, their future, their ministry.

Time and time again we face death in our lives. There is the death that comes literally when a loved one takes their last earthly breath. But there are many other kinds of death as well. There is the death that comes with divorce. There are the many deaths that come with the loss of a job -loss of financial security, loss of meaning and purpose, loss of friends. There are in fact deaths that come with almost any change we make -marriage, moving to a new community, going off to college or enlisting in the military. And like the women, despite all we have seen and heard we think this death is the end of the story. Now, we need to grieve these deaths; we need to mourn the loss we feel. But the Easter promise is that death is NEVER the end of the story. God is always still speaking, still acting, still moving in our midst!

The Easter affirmation is not, "Christ has risen." It is "Christ IS Risen!" Christ is not to be found in clinging to the past, no matter how faith-filled and wonderful it has been. Christ will always and only be found ahead of us leading us in new directions, into new ministries, into new ways of being, new ways of thinking, new ways of relating to one another and the world.

Let us dare to embrace the new life Christ brings whenever, wherever and however we find it. Christ is risen! Love is alive! God is still speaking! Surprise! Amen