Today's reading.
The women's response to the angel is interesting. Their first response was not to jump for joy. They didn't throw a party or go shouting about the good news through town. Their initial response to the news of the resurrection was to tremble and fear and say "nothing to anyone" (16:8). (Of course, they eventually told someone; otherwise, we wouldn't know who was there or what they saw.)
Wouldn't you respond the same way? You go to the grave of your friend who was brutally executed last week and arrive to find no body, a disturbed tomb, and a shining, white-robed guy telling you your friend isn't there but is up walking around somewhere. I hear that and I think Night of the Living Dead or something. And then the angel says that "you will see him" in your hometown, in Galilee, "just as he told you" (16:7). Now, not only is my dead friend not in his grave where I last saw him, but he's going to meet me at home. That's scary.
Most every person on the planet fears death. It is an inevitable, awful event that is utterly beyond our control. Our society tries to tame it, tries to dress it up in flowers and Disney songs, tells you to quit crying and "celebrate" the deceased's life rather than mourn their death. But death is real, it is tragic, it is horrible and it is the end that every single living thing on this planet will one day meet. Mary and Mary and Salome have just witnessed the death of their friend a few days earlier. They are sad and in mourning. Now they hear that Jesus is alive. How are they supposed to respond to that?
We know more of the story now than they did when they first heard the news from the angel. We know that Jesus later appeared to these women, that he comforted them. We know he appeared to his disciples and gave them instructions to spread the gospel of his life, death and resurrection to all people, making disciples of the nations. We know that after he appeared to many of his followers at various times, that he ascended to heaven and sat down at the right hand of the Father. And we know that one day, our Risen Lord will return to earth to gather his people and bring justice to the world.
What does the resurrection mean for us today? Everything. We don't worship a dead man who had a few good ideas about loving others and being groovy. We worship the Son of God who conquered the greatest enemy of the human race, death itself. As human beings have EVERY reason to fear death (which is why our culture dresses it up in pink and smiley faces), but in Christ death has no sting (1 Cor. 15:54-57). The resurrection tames death into Jesus's lap dog; as his people, death is little more than something that licks us on the way to meet our Savior.
If you're sick, the resurrection holds out a promise of healing. If you're having financial troubles, the resurrection promises treasure in heaven. If you're hurting or alone, the resurrection promises the full, glorious presence of Jesus himself. The resurrection is real, historically-rooted, God-promised hope for us both now and forever. The resurrection means that Jesus doesn't merely live in our hearts, but that he truly, physically lives, waiting for the day when he will fully and finally be united to us, his bride, the church. So we say with John, "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!" (Rev. 22:20).
*Below is a brief explanation of why I only treated verses 1-8 of this last chapter. Don't feel obliged to read it, but you may find it helpful.
Mark's account of Jesus's resurrection poses an interesting difficulty for us. This is the case because 99% of biblical scholars agree that Mark 16:9-20 is not really part of Mark at all. The best evidence we have of the earliest Greek manuscripts and the writings of the early church fathers tell us that the version of the gospel of Mark that we have ends at verse 8. It is possible (some would argue, likely) that Mark wrote more than 16:1-8, but we do not have it. 16:9-20 is not Mark's writing, but this should not undercut our confidence in the Bible we do have. The fact is that none but a few scattered verses of our Scriptures are in any doubt at all.
We do not have the original copies of Paul's letters with his signature or the scrolls of prophecy that Jeremiah himself wrote down. We have copies of these books that have been copied and copied over and over again, transmitted through the centuries to us today. Textual criticism is a field of study that sifts through the various copies of the books of the Bible that we have from the early days of the church. Textual criticism is used where any ancient document is concerned: we don't have any original writings from Plato or Aristotle either, but they have been transmitted in the same way the Bible has been.
The fact is that we are ten times more sure of what the original authors of the Bible wrote than we are of what Plato or Aristotle did. We have hundreds more biblical manuscripts than we do copies of Plato. In God's providence we have literally thousands of copies of the books of the New Testament from the ancient world, some of which date back to the first century, the same century in which the Bible was written. That means we have 2000 year old scraps of paper that have verses from the Bible on them. That is an incredible thing. Though some skeptical scholars make hay about the few remaining uncertainties about the biblical text (like the end of Mark), the overwhelming majority of biblical scholars agree that we know with 98-99% certainty how the original documents of Holy Scripture read. And most of the areas where we're unsure are the's and and's. In the end, we can be confident that our Bible is the same one the apostles had.
If you have any questions about these things, please feel free to comment.
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