faith and reason i've wasted my life playing dumb

in the veil of great surprises...

Jesus told them a parable about the need to pray always and not lose heart. 

                                 -Luke 18:1

The Gospel for Easter is the puzzling ending of Mark’s Gospel: As they (Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome) entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe; 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. (Mark 16:1-8, abridged)

For as unsettling as this ending is to the Gospel, I love it. 

I love this ending because of everything contained in those eight short verses. I love it because of the honesty of it all. Frankly, I love this ending not in spite of its oddness, but because of it. As they say, the truth is stranger than fiction. 

I think Mark was well aware of that…

I’m just going to focus on what the women do after hearing Jesus had been raised, and being told (finally) to go and proclaim the Good News; they run away afraid, and don’t tell a single soul!

Can you believe it?!?

How could they keep their mouths shut?

Well, there are probably a lot of reasons, but I want to spend some time with one possible reason. 

As we go about our lives, we all have our share of joys and sorrows. Not a one of us is exempted from knowing a disappointment or two (or, more than likely more). One way or another, we all come up against the power of Sin and Death. We meet that one thing that won’t budge; the call that comes late in the night, the spot on an X-ray, the bad news from the office, the letdown of someone’s decision you’d like to fix but cannot, and so on. 

In light of those unmovable stones in our lives, we all make our compromises, walk around that thing we can’t do anything else about. For better or worse, we figure the most we can do is our darnedest to make our peace with the blow that we can’t repair, and try to live with it. 

I’m convinced that’s why they women are so interested in the stone covering the tomb as they go to anoint Jesus’ body. They have made their compromises with Death, and so all they can hope to do is to do Jesus right in his burial.

God doesn't leave those cracks in the world alone, though. God insists upon redeeming this broken world.

While Death may be scary, we’ve all fooled ourselves into believing we’ve made our peace with his power. But when God shows up doing something, refusing to compromise with old Death, we’re not sure what to do. All our compromises are revealed to have been foolhardy.

That’s what’s really scary, sisters and brothers!

My thesis is that what’s really scary isn’t that Death has the last Word, but that Death has been Defeated. 

Maybe that’s why prayer is the greatest gift. In prayer we can rebel against Death, cry out to God; and maybe even listen enough, be open enough, to receive what God has to give: The Promise that is stronger than old Death. 

We’re about to enter Spring; and it will be lovely. We will be tempted to imagine that Easter is well behind us, and it is time for more of the “same ‘ol, same ‘ol" - nothing more to look forward to than making plans for a break, and hoping that no disaster befalls us. 

Instead, I invite us all to pray, that Jesus’ resurrection may renew each and every one of us, renew our life together here as Trinity, and renew those places in our city that cry our for restoration. Pray that we would turn from those miserable compromises with Death and put our trust in the one who does something really scary, murder Death.

Pray always, don’t lose heart.

Amen.