We reach the final chapter of Journey to the Empty Tomb and I hope it’s been a good insight into our Lent book group and perhaps inspired you to read the book for yourself. The journey to the empty tomb, of course, ends with the resurrection of Jesus on the first Easter morning.
We’ve followed Mark’s gospel throughout the week and his is the gospel with the most abrupt ending. Most scholars believe the original gospel ends at 16:8 and that verses 9-20 were a later addition.
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. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, ‘Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?’ But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. ‘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. 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.”’ Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.
Mark 16:1-8 [NIV]
We know that the story did not end there - if the women had continued to live in fear and not told anyone what they’d seen, we would not have Mark’s gospel at all! Mark 16:9-20 comes with a direct challenge to ‘Go, tell!’ Gooder writes that Mark “issues the clearest invitation to stop now being readers and to start being participants in the narrative. It invites us to pick up the story and to live out its ending in our own lives… to ‘Go, tell!’”
Emma Higgins
No comments:
Post a Comment