Mark 16:1-10
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?” When they looked, 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. 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. (Alternate ending) When Jesus rose
early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of
whom he had driven seven demons. She went and told those who had been
with him and who were mourning and weeping. When they heard that Jesus
was alive and that she had seen him, they did not believe it.
The Gospel According to Mary Magdalene Chapter 5.
When Mary had said this, she fell silent, since it was to this point
that the Saviour had spoken with her. Andrew answered and said to the brethren,
“Say what you wish to say about what she has said. I at least do not believe
that the Saviour said this. For certainly these teachings are strange ideas.” Peter
answered and spoke concerning these same things. He questioned the women about
the Saviour: Did He really speak privately with a woman and not openly to us?
Are we to turn about and all listen to her? Did He prefer her to us?
Then Mary wept and said to Peter, “My brother Peter, what are you
thinking? Do you think that I have thought this up myself in my heart, or that
I am lying about the Saviour?” Levi answered and said to Peter, “Peter you have
always been hot tempered. Now I see you contending against the woman like the
adversaries. If the Saviour made her worthy, who are you indeed to reject her? Surely
the Saviour knows her very well. That is why He loved her more than us. Rather,
let us be ashamed of ourselves, and put on the perfect Man, and separate as He
commanded us and preach the gospel, not laying down any other rule or other law
beyond what the Saviour said. When they heard this they began to go forth to
proclaim and to preach.
************************************************************************
Jesus was put to death on a Friday, before sundown – Jewish law said it
had to be done - prepared for burial and moved. They knew he had been laid in a
new tomb - Joseph of Arimathea and Zaccheus made sure the body was prepared in
the proper fashion. As was the custom, a huge rock was rolled across the mouth
of the tomb, to prevent animals entering.
Three women waited with incredible anxiety all through the Sabbath. They
could not go on the Sabbath, so had to wait until the next day....as soon as
the first tiny rays lightened the sky, they were up. They had not had time to
say goodbye properly, so they made their way to the garden where the tomb was,
to weep and to grieve the loss of someone they loved so dearly.
They arrive to find the stone rolled away, the tomb empty, and a man
dressed in white sitting where Jesus had been laid. As in all appearances of
messengers or angels, the man said “Don’t be afraid.” ....but they were, and in
the first ending of the Mark story, they ran away and did not tell anyone,
because of their fear. The earliest manuscripts do not have verses 9-20 of
Mark, hence those verses are known as the “second ending”.
The Gospel of Mary is found in Papyrus Berolinensis 8502. The book (or
"codex") is dated to the early 2C, copied and bound in the fifth
century. It was purchased in the 1800’s in Cairo and taken to Germany. Its
publication was delayed until 1955 because of two world wars.
The story throughout this weekend has made a point that the people who
stayed with Jesus to the end, were the women, and two men peripherally. Joseph
of Arimathea and Zaccheus did take the body off the cross and look after the
burial rites, but they were not at the crucifixion. In every one of the
stories, consistently, it’s Mary Magdalene who is there; to pour ointment over
Jesus’ feet, and wipe them with her hair. It’s Mary Magdalene who stands near
the cross with Jesus’ mother, and Mary goes to the tomb with the others. It’s Mary
Magdalene who is considered to be the first believer and the first disciple.
Mary Magdalene sees Jesus; in John’s Gospel she thinks he is the
gardener - and then recognises him, and he speaks to her. In Mary’s story, she
and Jesus have a conversation about the nature of life and death, and new life.
She returns to the others and tells them what Jesus said to her. Andrew says
Jesus could not possibly have said these things, as they were just too strange
to come from Jesus - hence they had to be Mary’s imagination. Peter accuses her
of lying, of making up a story. How could Jesus possibly have said those things
to her? He would surely have said them to the men first, wouldn’t he? In other
words, why would he say anything to Mary when he said nothing to Peter or any
of the others.
Levi steps in and chastises the others, noting that it was nothing more
than ego which prompted them to suggest she would fabricate a story. For me this
was a beginning – a recognition that there was something more which *could* be
found in the here and now. I believe it was that elusive ‘realm of God’ which
Jesus talked about so often, and which his followers finally understood after
he died. When Mary returned with her story of seeing, not recognizing, then
knowing and talking – they did finally understand, and they went out and began
to teach what Jesus taught them. They recognized the importance of their
community and solidarity.
At the end of the book “Grounded”, Diana Butler Bass focuses the current
spiritual revolution into four threads which each build on the one before:
Commons – a place of gathering, such as the dining commons at a college.
Tidy little villages with a green open space, a commons. Public squares are a ‘commons’.
One of the things I most enjoyed in Denver in Colorado was the number of public
places surrounded by small shops or restaurants – I remember sitting and
talking to people at the next tables. .
Out of ‘commons’, the followers of Jesus became ‘communitas’. Communitas
is that ‘spirit of community’ which transcends and often forms outside institutions
and organisations, and which creates a profound sense of equality and
togetherness. Note that Levi manages to stop a breaking of the followers, and brings
them back to communitas – and they go out and carry on the work and the
teachings of Jesus. The hope we have in our churches is that we form that ‘communitas’,
a spirit which transcends, opens, and welcomes
– reaching out to others.
Communion is the word we use to define service, the service Jesus taught
to the followers. Communion is the Spirit of Relationship. We do it today – for
the sharing of food around a table in memory of Jesus – wherever it may be, is
service. We proclaim that this is God’s table, at which anyone is welcome,
regardless of who they are or what they believe. What about sitting down at a
table with completely different people – those designated by some as outcast,
those who don’t believe the same way we do, or in the way Jesus did, and share
a meal? Isn’t that ‘communion’? Its where relationship and community are found.
Out of this commons, communitas, communion – grows the most important,
compassion.
From the Latin ‘compassio’ – to pity, to suffer with, to endure with
another. Compassion is at the heart of every belief system. Compassion, mercy,
grace- the gifts of God for all the people of God, of whatever form and colour.
A man is executed as a political criminal. He is buried in a tomb, but
the next morning when the women arrive, he is no longer there. They are asked
why they look for the living among the dead. Years of arguments and discussion
have gone on about what happened, yet no one knows. Yet when the tiny group of
followers accepted that Jesus had died, yet somehow was still alive, something
else happened. They truly became ‘communitas’, the community; they lived and
worked and taught in the spirit of community. They remembered Jesus’ words, remembered
things he had done at dinner, and began to do the same – a celebration of
relationship not just in memory of Jesus, but in and for the community they had
developed. They preached, healed, taught – and grew in compassion and care, and
those who knew them grew in compassion and care.
Isn’t that the message of the living Jesus? The Spirit which lives on in
the world? To begin with the commonality, see the Spirit move and community
grow, work to make community grow, share food and life together around a common
table, and in the sharing grow in a life of compassion. Jesus insisted the ‘realm
of God’ was near – and it is – available for us all the time. It’s always there
for the creating. Communitas, communion, compassion – those are the things which
bring about the realm. That for me is the meaning of Easter, the meaning of
resurrection – that Jesus does indeed live on. Amen
Sources:
1. “Women at the Tomb”
- Mark 16:1- 10 Easter Morning Sunrise Service, Humber United Church, Fran Ota
2. Bass, Diana Butler: ‘Grounded: Finding God in the World A Spiritual
Revolution. HarperOne, 2015.
No comments:
Post a Comment