Pass the Word – sermon on April 5, 2015 – Easter Sunday

Mark 16: 1-8               When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; 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.” 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.

1 Corinthians 15: 1-11           Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it. It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you—unless, of course, you never really believed it in the first place.

I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve. After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles. Last of all, as though I had been born at the wrong time, I also saw him. For I am the least of all the apostles. In fact, I’m not even worthy to be called an apostle after the way I persecuted God’s church.

But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out special favor on me—and not without results. For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by God’s grace. So it makes no difference whether I preach or they preach, for we all preach the same message, one you have already believed.

Sermon: Pass the Word                                by Rev. Doreen Oughton
             Does anyone here watch TV? You know how you follow the show along week by week, getting into the characters, the plot, the storylines developing, and then it’s time for a break, and you have to wait awhile for the story to start again. And so many times, the last show before the break has something big happening, and you don’t know how it all turns out. (Fosters, Who shot J.R.) It drives you crazy, doesn’t it? You can hardly wait for the show to start up again, and maybe you talk to other people who are into the show, guessing about what’s going to happen. Does anyone know what that’s called? A cliffhanger; a story that doesn’t get all neatly wrapped up, but leaves you in suspense, keeps you wondering and keeps you interested in coming back to find out.

I think the Gospel writer Mark does something like that with his story about that first Easter morn. An incredible thing has happened. This amazing man, no, more than a man, this Jesus, he came and shared his amazing gifts – gifts for healing illnesses and healing relationships, gifts for inspiring people to be more than they ever thought they could be. He preached and taught and listened and blessed people. He told everyone who would listen that there was a better way to live, one that would make it feel like we were all living in heaven. But to get there, we had to stop living the way we were living. So his message got people upset, and he was killed for it. It shocked his followers, even though they’d been told by Jesus this was going to happen. Many of them were so shaken up and frightened that they fled. But not these women named in today’s gospel – Mary, Salome and Mary. They were also shocked and saddened, but they had something important to do, to honor their teacher, their rabbi, their friend.

When they got to the tomb, where they had seen him laid, he was not there. In the tomb, which was like a cave, was a young man dressed in a dazzling white robe. He tells them that he knows who they are looking for, but that one is not here, is no longer dead, is alive and has gone ahead to Galilee. They were shocked, even though Jesus told them this would happen. The young man gave them a message from Jesus, to go tell the others, including Peter, that Jesus was raised and would meet them all in Galilee. Then what happens? … They ran away amazed and terrified. Mark says they said nothing to anyone.

So is that the end of the story? I don’t think so. I think it is a cliffhanger. It’s like Mark is saying, stay tuned for more! Come back and find out what happens next. Because the spreading of the Good News that Jesus is alive did continue. I don’t know how it happened. Maybe the women calmed down and decided to tell after all. Maybe everyone found out when they went back to Galilee, back to their old lives, and there was Jesus! However it happened, it happened. His followers did meet him in Galilee, and, according to Gospel writers Matthew, Luke and John, as well as Paul, lots of people saw him. And these people told stories about the life and death and resurrection of Jesus. And the people who heard the stories told the stories to others. And the stories spread far and wide, often taking different twists and turns in the telling, focused for different groups of people.