Go and Tell - Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday

Alleluia! Christ is Risen!

The Lord is Risen indeed! Alleluia!

The end is just the beginning.

The gospel passage we hear this morning is the end of the oldest version of the gospel of Mark. 

If you happened to pull out a Bible right now,

you'd probably find two other endings,

passages which try to give the gospel of Mark a conclusion

and add on additional stories,

those two other endings have been added on through the years

because people felt that this ending was somehow unsatisfactory

or unfinished.

It is unfinished.

The end of Mark is deliberately open-ended.

Obviously, the women did eventually tell their story 

or else it would have never been written down.

But the hearers of this story are supposed to finish the story themselves. 

The end of this story,

the women finding an angel in the tomb

instead of Jesus

is really just the beginning of a long amazing story

which shares what happens after Jesus' death

and what his followers do with the news of his resurrection. 

And well, we all know,

Thousands of years of Christians giving witness in the world

wouldn't fit into a single book.

Lets go back to the story, 

this ending of Mark's.

Very early on the first day of the week,

three women, 

who had been followers of Jesus

and fairly close to Jesus,

put their love for him into action,

they go to do what needs to be done.

Jesus' body needed to be wrapped and finished 

in order to give him a proper burial.

They go to the tomb where Jesus had been laid,

quite dead.

They expect to find Jesus still there when they arrive that morning.

However, what they find is surprising and terrifying.

They find a young man, dressed in a white robe.

Cue the trumpets...

this must be an angel. 

He was dressed in white.

He had a message for the women. 

His first statement was "Do not be alarmed."

What do angels always say first?

"Do not be afraid."

Everyone always refers to this story 

as the women finding the empty tomb.

However, the women didn't find an empty tomb.

They found a tomb with an angel in it.

Which might have been even scarier than finding an empty tomb.

An empty tomb would have left them confused and lost.

The angel probably did leave them confused,

but he was very specific about what had happened

and what they were to do.

The angel tells the women,

Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome,

that Jesus had been raised,

and that Jesus would meet them in Galilee.

The angel then gives the women two jobs: 

to go and 

to tell. 

It sounds like the women do the first job quite well,

they fled!

Out of terror and amazement,

they flee the scene. 

However, The ending of Mark doesn't share 

that they ever told Peter about Jesus.

It doesn't say that they shared their story at all.

We do know that they shared though. 

The story is well known and written down,

and that only would have happened if they had shared their story.

Interestingly, there are three women who are sent out to share the story,

to be witnesses to what has happened.  

I say that because in ancient times, given the status of women,

a single woman by herself could not testify before a judge and count as a witness. Multiple women were needed to count as equal to a testimony given by a man. Three women, in fact, were needed to make a witness statement 

which could count in a court. 

So these three women, sharing the story together, 

would have been a valid witness.

Now witnessing is actually about two verbs.

Being a witness requires two events.

Seeing and sharing.

The women had definitely seen something.

They saw an angel.

And they saw the absence of Jesus' body.

More than that, these three women,

who had been followers of Jesus,

had witnessed to his ministry,

the miracles, the teachings, the healings,

the crowds of people who followed him around,

the way the Pharisees and High Priests were against him,

and the crucifixion, 

all before they saw

the angel in the otherwise surprisingly empty tomb that morning.

At this point, they were saturated with what they had seen.

Any witness who has seen,

but hasn't shared,

hasn't finished their job as a witness.

The end of seeing means the beginning of sharing.

Yet, how could they share this story?

At first they are too scared to share it.

They are afraid.

With good reason.

Nothing like this had ever happened before. 

Nothing like this has ever happened since.

However, they were charged with sharing the story 

and share they story they do.

They tell Peter, they tell the other disciples.

They all go to Galilee

where they see the resurrected Jesus.

And, of course,

when they go to Galilee and see the resurrected Jesus

he gives his disciples the same charge as the angel gave the women,

to go and tell. 

Being here this morning,

means we have all seen something

and we have all been called to go and tell.

Like the women, like the disciples,

we are called to go and tell,

to share our stories about Jesus,

to share what we have heard and seen concerning this whole surprising episode.

Now you may not think you have much to share.

Some of you here probably don't have much experience with Jesus

or the story of the resurrection,

maybe some leftover memories from Sunday School or Vacation Bible School as a little child. 

Perhaps you don't feel like God is really at work in your life 

or that anyone would listen to your version of the story.

I can tell you, the world is hungry for this story.

Forgiveness, love, death, and new life

the world cries out for what Jesus gives us.

If you've ever been forgiven or given a second chance,

if you ever seen new life come out of a bad past,

if you have ever been surprised by mercy or grace

you have a story worth sharing.

You have a story of Jesus.

If you have ever had an experience of community,

or connection with people around you,

if you've ever been loved despite something you've done or forgotten,

if you've ever run away scared,

you have a story worth sharing,

you have a story of Jesus.

Don't worry about making a fool of yourself sharing your story,

The resurrection makes fools of us all.

The end of the story of Jesus' death and resurrection 

is, in fact, the beginning of our story in the Christian life and faith.

Where does the story go from here?

Only God knows

and only you can find out.

Go and tell!

Go and tell!

Go and tell!

Alleluia! Christ is Risen!

The Lord is Risen indeed! Alleluia!