An Easter Reflection

Mark 16, verse 8 – So they went out and ran from the tomb, distressed and terrified.They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid. It is widely believed by scholars that this is how Mark’s Gospel originally ended, and that what follows is a later addition.

That describes an interesting response to Easter – and one that is somewhat different from how we expect to be marking this momentous point in our faith history. What are we about if we are not about Easter? Easter is the high-point. Easter provides our driving-force. Easter is to be celebrated – in a big way! But Mark tells us that those who first encountered Easter were distressed and terrified, saying nothing to anyone.

In a sense, this is not what we expect – but, on the other, we can very clearly see it as an entirely understandable reaction. Can you even begin to imagine what it would have felt like to be there with those women? You have gone, somewhat apprehensively, to pay your last respects. You have taken spices, a last demonstration of your love. However, you have wondered if it was all going to be pointless. How on earth would you get access to the tomb? Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb? You have wondered what you were doing, and yet somehow felt compelled to go. If the stone prevented you from doing all that you wished, at least you will have tried. So, anxiously, nervously, you make your way to the site of the tomb. And, when you get there, indeed it does prove to have been pointless to bring spices to anoint a body. But that is nothing to do with not being able to access the tomb. Instead, and this must have been so beyond what they were expecting, they see a young man, an angel, who tells them: Don’t be alarmed. I know you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is not here – he has been raised.

How would you have reacted? What would you have done with this information? It is so different looking back, once again, to a story that we know so well from how it must have been to actually be there receiving this unexpected news. No wonder they were distressed and terrified. No wonder they kept quiet.

It is worth remembering that Mark tells us about two other occasions when the disciples were terrified and silent in response to what Jesus had done. In Mark 4 we have the account of how Jesus calmed a storm. How did the disciples respond? With exultant joy? No! But they were terribly afraid and said to one another, “Who is this man? Even the wind and the waves obey him!” And there is a similar response to the incredible scene which we now normally call the transfiguration. The three disciples, Peter, James and John, have seen this amazing vision of Jesus alongside Moses and Elijah. How did they respond? Peter and the others were so frightened that he did not know what to say.

It is interesting that, throughout the Bible, the initial response of human beings who have caught a glimpse of the wonder and glory of God is one of a bit of wonder, yes, but strongly tinged with fear and confusion. The same could be said, for instance, of Moses’ encounter with God through the burning bush and Isaiah’s temple vision.

But, if we are a little disappointed in such responses, it may be that that is exactly what is wanted from us. Because it is surely when we see, no matter how much we understand it, how they reacted, and perhaps think that they should have responded differently, that we begin to realise that the call to discipleship, our call to discipleship, is serious and engages us deeply. Because the question of the moment in all of these situations is essentially – will you continue to follow Jesus? And, today, Easter, and every Easter but, more than that, every day, we are faced with the same question – will you, will I, continue to follow the Jesus?  Putting it differently, will we walk the way?

Brief address given at the early service on Easter Day 2018 at Grays United Reformed Church