2024-03-31 Easter Sermon – They Said Nothing
2024 Easter
They said nothing
Mark 16: 1-8
He is risen, indeed! The resurrection is considered the ultimate truth in
Christianity, affirming all teachings of the church of their truth and authenticity.
Therefore, when Paul exclaimed that if the resurrection is false, then everything of
Christianity collapses.
Today, we read the Easter story according to the Gospel of Mark, which is
the earliest Gospel account, presenting the initial report of the resurrection.
However, the resurrection has remained a controversial and challenging topic.
I hope that today, the resurrection comes to us real and meaningful in the
Holy Spirit.
- “Well, what can you expect?”
There were three women, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and
Salome. On that Sunday morning, they went to that grave, “Well, what can you
expect?” It is what they thought about.
They had in their hands proof of what they were thinking. In this morning’s
lesson, they “bought spices so that they might go and anoint him.” You don’t do
that for someone who’s alive. They knew what to expect.
They knew what they’d find: a stiff, cold body wrapped in a shroud. He’d
been dead since Friday afternoon, so they probably carried handkerchiefs to cover
their noses and mouths because they knew what to expect. They expected to feel
all the anger again at the Romans for doing this to this innocent man they loved.
They expected the grief to come flooding back once they uncovered his body and
saw him lying there.
Preparing this sermon, I read a story of a reporter who went to Ukraine.
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Eleven days after Russia invaded Ukraine, Carol Guzy flew into a suffering
country — again. It was her birthday, and Guzy, the recipient of four Pulitzer
Prizes for photography from dangerous and destabilized corners of the world, had
planned to stay home this time.
Guzy shared photos taken in the cities of Bucha, Irpin and Borodyanka as
the country’s Orthodox Christian churches celebrated Palm Sunday and Easter
during the invasion’s early days.
Carol shared what she felt when going back to Ukraine.
I only remember the date because I’m like, “Well, I won’t forget
this birthday.” I had such a hard time deciding to even go because I was
afraid. I didn’t know, really, what to expect. And I’m older now. I have
terrible lungs. I can’t run fast, much less run fast with cameras and a flak
jacket and a helmet and all that. It was really a hard decision whether to
go or not.
But it was so big. Some stories are so epic. They’re bigger than all
of us. At a certain point, I couldn’t not go. But my compromise with
myself was I wasn’t going to do front lines. I was just going to go to the
border with Poland and do the refugees, the exodus, which I did for a
little while. But then there’s this creep, and you start moving to other
places. So that’s what happened. I mean, everywhere is the front line,
which makes it the problem. It’s like all of Ukraine, with this random
shelling, is dangerous. It’s just levels of danger.
Yes, there was darkness and death in Ukraine. But they worshiped on Palm
Sunday and Easter. I think that the situation in Ukraine is like the situation of three
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women who decided to go to the tomb of Jesus. Easter is only real and possible in
the place of death and darkness.
- Easter begins with fear rather than joy
Easter begins with fear; “who will roll away the stone?” The young man
robed in white offers some surprising news as a comfort to them. “Do not be
alarmed,” he says, “you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He
has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell
his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see
him, just as he told you.”
This is the Easter proclamation. He has been raised; he is not here. This is
the hopeful message that we have been waiting for. The stone is rolled back. The
tomb is empty. This is holy comfort at its best. So why are the women still
afraid? After hearing the young man’s pronouncement, Mark reports to us that the
two Mary’s and Salome “fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized
them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” How about reading
verse 8.
So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had
seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
“They said nothing” challenged me a lot. What were they afraid of? Were
they afraid that they were being duped by a Roman guard who was having a bit of
sick fun at their expense? Were they afraid that what they had just heard was true?
“He has been raised.” Now, how could that news stir up fear? To answer, we
might want to consider our own fears this Easter day. Are we afraid that we will
return to life unchanged–untouched? Are we really “afraid” that we will find the
tomb empty? Or are we afraid of the possibility that God is out there and will meet
us this day? Are we afraid that God is waiting for us?
After all, if Jesus is waiting on-down-the-road in Galilee, you can bet that he
has plans for us. No doubt he will ask things of us, the same way he challenged
the disciples–thoroughly messing up their lives. Maybe this Jesus is like those
people you encounter on sidewalks with clipboards and petitions to sign. Surely,
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we love Jesus; we go to church, at least once in a while. Yet we really do not want
God to mess with us, to make demands on us, to cost us anything. Leave us
politely alone–hands off our career plans and our politics. We want Jesus to stay
where he belongs; we don’t want him wandering around the countryside, tapping
his foot–impatiently waiting for us to show up. No wonder that Mark tells us that
the women “fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them.”
- They did not say anything
I find this morning’s lesson might be incredibly fitting for the first Easter.
The resurrection wasn’t an anticipated event; it was unimaginable and
unbelievable. So, when the women encountered the empty tomb, fear gripped
them. These weren’t just tales of old; they experienced and were facing the reality
of resurrection and became speechless. The fact that Jesus had triumphed over
darkness and evil, rising from the dead, was a truth so immense that it was almost
too much to comprehend in their grief-stricken minds.
At the scene of resurrection, they lost their language. Each step felt heavy,
as if they couldn’t move forward. These women, who had devoted everything to
loving and serving Jesus, found themselves utterly helpless in the face of the
resurrection news. They were overwhelmed and speechless, as the Gospel of Mark
originally concluded. They said nothing and couldn’t do anything on that morning.
Easter morning should be filled with hymns of hope and alleluias echoing
through the air, but the reality was different. As the sun rose in the darkness, the
news of the resurrection came amidst disbelief and bewildering circumstances. It’s
a paradox: the proclamation of an undeniable eternal truth yet met with incredulity
from those who couldn’t accept it. The ripple of that truth was so profound and
vast that it reached beyond a tangible grasp.
Easter, then, becomes the process of overcoming their lack of speech and
trembling fear to proclaim the message of resurrection. It’s only possible when the
risen Lord comes to us when we encounter Him. Hence, Christianity is the
religion of resurrection. Only through experiencing the resurrection could they
build up a new community.
We will sing our final hymn after this sermon, “Up from the Grave He
Arose.” I love this song. I remember an Easter morning sun-rising service that I
went to with my mother. People of my home church fervently sang this hymn with
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hope and joy. I could feel the reality of resurrection, the victory over death and
darkness, yes, resurrection was real to me at that service.
Even though fear and trembling rendered them speechless and unable to
believe, those three women finally proclaimed, “He is truly risen!” even though
they did not believe. I hope that you and I can join the witnesses who have
experienced and proclaimed this resurrection. Through you, Covenant people,
your children and grandchildren will experience the resurrection of Jesus. I am
convinced that Ukrainians have experienced the resurrection in the battlefield of
death. We all will flourish through the power of resurrection, the resurrected Jesus.