Easter Is the Beginning.

Mark 16: 1 – 8.

Introduction.

What a great day to worship the Risen Lord! It is probably no surprise that I love Easter. After all, I am a pastor…And pastors are supposed to love Easter. It is the one Sunday when everyone shows up on the same Sunday. Some people come to church on the first and third Sundays. Some people come to church on the second and fourth Sunday. Some people come to church on the fifth Sunday. Some people come to church on the Blue Moon. But, everyone adjusts their schedule to come to church on Easter. What is there not to like about a full church on Easter Sunday.

I also love Easter, because it is our Holy Day. At Christmas time, some Christians fight against the world’s attempt to steal our Holy Day from us. They have changed the greeting, “Merry Christmas” to “Happy Holidays” or “Season’s Greetings.” That’s not the case with Easter. The Post Office and the banks take Christmas Day off as a holiday. Again, that’s not the case with Easter. Of course, you could argue that Easter is always on a Sunday, when the Post Office and the banks are already closed. But, they didn’t take off on Good Friday! Mail delivery and banking went through as normal on Good Friday. And, I think that is a good thing. It tells us that Easter is for Christians. This is not a holiday for everyone. This is a Christian Holy Day.

Many Christian churches participate in the Season of Lent as a way to pray and prepare for Easter. This year, our church used the Season of Lent to pray…But it was not specifically a time to prepare for Easter. We were praying for our church. We prayed that God would help us to grow in our Worship, Evangelism, Discipleship, Missions, Fellowship and the look at the resources of our church as God’s resources—to be used for God’s purposes, and not for our own personal agendas.

In some ways, I believe we have been preparing for Easter by praying for God’s will to be done in our church. In other ways, we have not spent as much time reflecting on what Jesus has done for us. With that in mind, let’s take a brief look at the last week of Jesus’ life. Let’s look at what Jesus went through as he journeyed to the cross.

According to the Gospel of Mark—and really all four of the Gospels—Jesus knew where he was going when he made his last journey to Jerusalem. The cross was not a surprise ending for Jesus. In fact, Jesus had predicted to his disciples on three separate occasions that he would be betrayed, humiliated, presented to the Jewish authorities and crucified on a Roman cross. This was no surprise ending. Jesus knew what he was facing.

Jesus arrived in Jerusalem on a Sunday. He had sent his disciples ahead to find a donkey colt. They found the colt and brought it to Jesus. They placed their coats on the colt to serve as a makeshift saddle, and Jesus rode into the streets of Jerusalem. Jesus was greeted by a crowd shouting, “Hosanna!” Or, as Perry told us last Sunday, the crowd was shouting, “Save us!” Perhaps they intended for Jesus to save them from the Romans, but that is not what Jesus came to do.

Jesus entered the Jerusalem Temple that Sunday, but did not stay. It was already late in the day, so Jesus left Jerusalem to spend the night in Bethany—a small suburb of Jerusalem.

On Monday, Jesus returned to the Jerusalem Temple and cleansed the Temple. He evicted the money changers and those who were selling doves and lambs for sacrifices. He pronounced God’s judgment on the Temple by telling the people God intends his house to be a house of prayer for all nations…Not a den for robbers. Then, he went back to Bethany.

The Gospel of Mark doesn’t make much distinction between Tuesday and Wednesday. It probably doesn’t matter, because Jesus went to the Temple on both of these days and taught the people who were gathered in the Temple courtyards. Then, he went back to Bethany to spend the night.

On Thursday, Jesus shared the Passover meal with his disciples. When the disciples arrived at the upper room, they probably thought this would be just another Passover. It was a meaningful meal to them as Jewish men, but there was nothing out of the ordinary about another Passover with Jesus. They had probably had Passover with Jesus in the past. But, this was not another Passover for Jesus. Instead, Jesus took the bread and the wine; offered them to his disciples; and gave them an entirely new meaning. The bread represents Jesus’ body. The wine represents Jesus’ blood. Jesus told them that his life was intended to be a sacrifice of the covenant between God and God’s people. Jesus taught the disciples that he had to die in order to demonstrate God’s love.

On Friday, Jesus was put on trial before the Jewish Sanhedrin. They convicted him of blasphemy and handed him over to the Romans. Then, Jesus was crucified.

I do not intend to reiterate the gruesome details of a Roman crucifixion. Let me simply say that the condemned person was beaten, mocked, stripped naked and nailed to a wooden cross. The pain experienced during crucifixion was worse than anything that human words could ever describe. In fact, the Romans invented a new word to describe the pain of the cross. It was not Agony. It was not Brutal. It was not Severe. It was Excruciating. This word Excruciating comes from two Latin words: ex (Out of) and crux (Cross) which mean “Out of the Cross.”

More than likely, the person being crucified would have been nailed to the cross by the wrists and the feet. Traditional art depicts Jesus as having nail prints in the palms of his hands. However, archaeology has revealed that the Romans put the nails in the person’s wrist in order to hold up to the person’s weight.

Have you ever bumped your “Funny Bone” and rolled around on the floor because it hurt so badly? The nerve that we call the funny bone runs through the wrist and would have been either smashed or severed by the seven inch spikes that were hammered into Jesus’ flesh.

This is only part of the pain that Jesus experienced on the cross. Yes, Jesus experienced excruciating physical pain. However, Jesus also experienced other pain that we might classify as emotional pain. Jesus was an innocent man. I don’t mean that he was innocent of the crimes he was accused of committing. Jesus was actually innocent in every sense of the word innocent. Jesus had never committed any sin. Although Jesus had been tempted in every way you and I are tempted today, Jesus had resisted temptation and remained pure. But Jesus was not crucified for his sins. He was crucified for your sins and my sins. Can you imagine the emotional weight and strain of having the guilt of the entire world placed on your shoulders? Many of us feel weighted down with our own guilt and sin. But Jesus felt the emotional weight of all guilt and sin.

On top of this emotional weight of guilt and sin, Jesus felt abandoned by all his friends in his moment of need. According to the Gospel of Mark, all of Jesus’ disciples ran away when Jesus was arrested.

Just a week before the crucifixion, Jesus had been surrounded by twelve disciples, a larger group of followers, a group of women and a crowd. Then just a day before the crucifixion, Jesus had made a bold prophesy—They will strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter. Jesus knew that all his disciples would run away when faced with danger. Of course, Peter did not believe this was possible. Peter jumped to his feet and announced in front of God and everybody, “Though everyone else might fall away, I will never fall away.” But that wasn’t exactly what happened. Peter ran away—just like Jesus told him he would. Then Peter even denied Jesus in front of others.

In the Gospel of Mark, the last words spoken by any disciple were Peter’s words: “I don’t even know this man.” And Jesus died on the cross, while his disciples said, “I don’t even know him.”

However, the cross was not the end of the story for Jesus. And denial, betrayal and running away was not the end of the story for Peter and the rest of the disciples. Just as Jesus had promised his disciples, he was crucified; but on the third day he rose again.

Read Mark 16: 1 – 8.

1 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus' body.

2 Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb

3 and they asked each other, "Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?"

4 But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away.

5 As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.

6 "Don't be alarmed," he said. "You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.

7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.'"

8 Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.

(NIV)

Mark began this story by telling us about three women who had been followers of Jesus: Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome. These three women had remained closer to Jesus than the disciples had. The disciples ran away. The women stayed at a distance and watched the crucifixion. They watched as Jesus’ body was lowered from the cross. And they watched as Joseph of Arimathea placed Jesus’ body in the tomb.

There was one thing these three women knew beyond a shadow of a doubt. They knew that Jesus was dead. This explains why the women came to the tomb. They were not there to see Jesus. They were there to finish the burial.

Jewish tradition was to place spices and perfumes on the dead body and then to wrap the body inside cloths. However, the circumstances of Jesus’ death prevented the women from preparing Jesus’ body for burial. Jesus died on the day before the Sabbath Day right before sunset. Jewish people mark time differently from the way we mark time. We think of a day as morning and night. Jews think of a day as evening and morning. The Sabbath Day begins at sunset on Friday and ends at sunset on Saturday.

Since Jesus died right before sunset at the beginning of the Sabbath, the women could not prepare Jesus’ body, because it would have been a sin for them to work on the Sabbath. Since the Sabbath ended at sunset on Saturday, the women chose to wait until early the next morning, because no one likes to walk through a cemetery after dark.

It was unusual for the women to come to the tomb several days after a person died, but in this case, it was the earliest possible time for them to anoint Jesus’ body for burial.

When they arrived at the tomb, they found the stone rolled away. The body of Jesus was not in the tomb. Instead, there was an angel in the tomb who announced that Jesus was alive. Jesus had risen from the dead.

Death and resurrection was not the end of the story. It is a new beginning.

New Beginning for Jesus.

At the cross, it looked as if Jesus’ enemies had defeated him. This man, who claimed the power to forgive sins and demonstrated power over sickness and demons, had finally been stopped by a collaboration of Jewish religion and Roman politics. Ultimately, neither the Jews nor the Romans were Jesus’ enemies. Jesus loved the Jews. Jesus loved the Romans. The enemies of Jesus were death and Satan himself.

Death and Satan could not hold on to Jesus. The resurrection demonstrates that Jesus has triumphed over all his enemies. It demonstrates God’s stamp of approval on the life Jesus lived and his ministry of releasing people from slavery—slavery to sin, disease, death, demons, even releasing people from religion.

Resurrection is the beginning of a new life for Jesus. His life is no longer limited by time and space. He is seated at the right hand of the Father in Heaven, AND he lives in each of us who believe.

New Beginning for the Disciples.

In the resurrection, we see that Jesus has kept all of his promises to his disciples. He was betrayed, tried by the Jews, handed over to the Romans, beaten and crucified…Just as he promised. But, Jesus also rose from the dead…Just as he promised.

The disciples, on the other hand, did not keep their promises to Jesus. When Jesus told them that he would be crucified, he also told them that the disciples would scatter and abandon him. Of course, the disciples refused to believe they would abandon their Lord. But, that is exactly what they did. When Jesus was arrested, they all ran away.

Despite the fact that the disciples abandoned Jesus, Jesus never gave up on his disciples. We know this by things the angel said to the women. Jesus told the disciples to meet him in Galilee. This is the place where Jesus first met his disciples. By going back to the beginning, Jesus is showing his disciples that they can start over. They have a second chance to follow Jesus and get it right by not abandoning him. AND, the angel specifically said, “Tell his disciples and Peter.”

Peter was ashamed of the way he turned his back on Jesus. After Jesus was arrested, Peter had three opportunities to stand up for Jesus. In each of these opportunities, Peter denied that he even knew Jesus. Peter turned his back on Jesus, but Jesus never gave up on Peter.

The same thing is true for each of us today. There was nothing Peter or any of the other disciples could do to escape from the love and forgiveness of the cross. There is nothing that you can do either. However you might have failed, you are never out of the reach of grace. Jesus is calling you to go back to the beginning of your relationship with him. You can start over. The resurrection is another second chance.

New Beginning for the Gospel.

I believe Mark 16: 1 – 8 are the last verses in the Gospel of Mark. The most reliable manuscripts of Mark end at verse 8. But, verse 8 doesn’t really seem to bring closure to the story of Jesus. This has led some scholars to believe that the end of the scroll was either torn off accidentally or eaten by bugs or rats. It even led some later scribes to write their own ending to the Gospel of Mark. These are contained in verses 9 – 20.

While I believe verses 1 – 8 are the last verses of the Gospel of Mark, I do not believe this is the end of the Gospel. I think Mark is trying to bring about an emotional response in us as his readers. It’s like what we do when we talk to the television or the movie screen. “I told you to run man to man defense in this situation.” “Don’t open the door!”

Mark 16: 8 says, “Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.”

We respond, “Don’t be afraid. God tell someone. Tell the disciples. Tell Peter. This is important. The world needs to know that Jesus is alive. If the women won’t tell the story of Easter, who will tell? Someone has to tell the world that Jesus is alive.”

Then we realize…Now, I am a part of the Gospel story. I need to join the women at the tomb. I need to take on their assignment. I need to tell someone that Jesus is alive. No one will ever know, unless I go and tell the Good News.

Conclusion.

Today marks the end of 40 Days of Prayer for Lufkin’s First Baptist Church. It is the end of our prayer emphasis…But it is the beginning of our mission.

Jesus is alive. He invites each of us to meet him at the beginning of our relationship with Jesus. We can start over today, no matter how badly we have failed him. AND, Jesus invites us to join him in his Gospel. No one will know unless we tell them.

Jesus is alive. It is now up to us to tell the world.