"And No One Said a Word" - Mark 16:1-8 - April 20, 2003

When I see a movie I like to know what happens at the end. When they leave you hanging and you have to fill in the rest of the story for yourself I find that very frustrating. One of my favorite movies is "As Good as it Gets" with Helen Hunt and Jack Nicholson. Nicholson is an obsessive compulsive mean spirited man who is unable to relate to his neighbors. He falls in love with Helen Hunt but is totally clueless as to how to treat a woman. As the story unfolds he ends up doing some good deeds for his neighbors, including Helen Hunt. In the process he becomes a changed person and begins to let go of his psychotic tendencies. At the end you see them walking away from a coffee shop but you don’t know for sure if they will really get together. You have to fill in the rest of the story for yourself.

In the gospel of Mark the Easter story has an open ending. The women go to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus but when they arrive the tomb is empty. A young man in a white robe speaks to them and tells them that Jesus is not there. They are afraid, in fact trembling. They leave without saying anything to anyone.

What we have in the gospel of Mark is an empty tomb and no Jesus. We have women who are filled with fear and fled from the scene. We don’t know how the stone was rolled away from the tomb. We don’t know what happened to the body of Jesus. We don’t know who the young man is, sitting there wearing a white robe. If a movie about Jesus was based on the gospel of Mark the ending would leave you with many unanswered questions.

Now we know that they must have told someone because here we are, 2000 years later, telling the story. But the ending in Mark leaves us hanging. Did they live in fear the rest of their lives? Did they finally tell someone once they had gotten over the shock? Or, perhaps they didn’t do anything and other witnesses spread the word. We don’t know. The gospel is open ended. Since Jesus is not sighted we can’t prove the resurrection. It is up to each one to complete the story for themselves.

So here we are on Easter Sunday. You have come because the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus is part of our culture, the very foundation of our faith. You want some answers. You want to believe that Jesus did in fact rise from the dead and there is hope for you as well.

First of all, the story may be open ended but it doesn’t leave us without hope. The young man said to the women that "Jesus has risen." He also said, "He is going before you to Galilee and there you will see him, as he told you." ( In Mark 14:28 Jesus said, "After I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.") In other words, we have the words of Jesus and the words of this messenger to verify it. We can believe in the resurrection because it has been recorded in the book of life.

Secondly, we have hope because Jesus went back to Galilee. Why is that significant? Because Jesus us returning to the place where his ministry all began. It was there that he called the fishermen. It was there where he began his teachings. His life has gone full circle.

We tend to think of life as a continuum. Life begins at a certain point and ends at a particular point. But, life is really a series of cycles. There is spring, summer, fall, winter, then spring again. There is day, night, then day again. There is dying and rising. There is birth, death and rebirth.

Going back to Galilee means we are going back to the beginning. We have an invitation to begin again, forgiven of the past and free to live in the future. Just as we celebrate newness on Easter we can celebrate the fact that Jesus has cleansed us of our sinful past and wants us to have a new beginning.

The stone was "rolled" away. I never realized the symbolism until now. The rolling stone represents that circular movement. But we can’t get to Galilee without rolling away the stones of our lives. They are the stones of pride, stubbornness, greed, resistance to change and fear.

When I first came to Sidney I had a negative experience at one of the local stores. I vowed I would not go back there and buy anything again. Recently I pulled my boat out of storage and began preparing it for the season. Much to my chagrin I discovered a broken water line which needed to be replaced. A friend suggested that I try the store that I had been boycotting. I looked elsewhere first, but could not find the special hose that I needed. I finally relented and went to the store where I had the bad experience. They had exactly what I needed.

The resurrection becomes clear to us when we are willing to roll away the stones in our lives that block out faith. When we are willing to "die" a little, we will experience newness. The willingness to forgive, put aside our pride and risk to live differently are all living examples of the resurrection.

Finally, the Easter story is open ended because each one of us has to live it for ourselves. No one can live it for us. We can live is disbelief and pretend it never happened. We can live with uncertainty and do nothing about it. We can live in fear and run away from it. What keeps Easter real in God’s world in the participation of every one who has heard the story and includes themselves.

A preacher in a rural community heard that a man in his parish had announced that he would no longer attend church services because he had decided he could commune with God just as easily in his fields and garden or among his trees.

One Autumn evening the preacher called on his reluctant parishioner, and for a while the two men sat before the blazing fireplace saying little or nothing, and not a word about church attendance. The man waited uneasily for the preacher to broach the subject. The preacher was aware that he would be expected to rebuke the man.

Finally, the preacher picked up the tongs, lifted a single glowing coal from the fire and set it down on the hearth, and silently waited until the coal quickly ceased burning while the other coals in the fire continued to burn brightly. "You see what happens," said the preacher. "You need say no more," replied the man. "Man cannot live alone. I’ll be in church next Sunday."

It would be tragic to say nothing and live as though the story never happened. In that case our lives would be like the empty tomb. On the other hand we can live in faith, believing the Word of God and traveling to Galilee. It's a scary thing to live in total trust of a God we cannot see. If you find it difficult to complete the story for yourself, at least remember this. You are not alone. For just as the young man was with the women in their moment of despair, God will be with us in ours.

Dr. Keith Wagner, St. Paul’s United Church of Christ, Sidney, Ohio