Mark 16:1-8 What do we do with Jesus

Theological Proposition/Focus: That something significant occurred on Easter is not up for debate, the real question is what will you do about it?

Homiletical Proposition/Application: Determine to share the good news of Easter.

Introduction: Memory Verse 1 Peter 5:7

Image: Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades

Have you heard that phrase before? I dealt with it a lot as a math teacher. You see in elementary, middle, and high school we train students that math is all about earning as much partial credit as you can. Think about it. Many students who get a B on a math test did not get a single question right. One of the things that I did a few times teaching was demanded mastery. I gave full credit or no credit and told students that I was going to ask easier questions but expected perfection. Many students struggled and a few complained to me that this seemed unfair. My response, next time you drive over a big bridge do you want to drive over the one designed by the guy who never got a single problem right but got close or the guy who consistently got it perfect. That generally silenced the complaints.

In life we often strive for partial credit but I want to encourage you that when it comes to Jesus we should aim to get it right. Getting close is simply not going to cut it.

Setting the Stage:

Mark's Gospel is written in a way intended to allow us to visualize the events and see the motion forward in God's plan. Throughout the Gospel we have been introduced to Jesus. The Savior of the World. However, the biggest twist is that this Savior has been killed. Mark 15 marks the death of Jesus. So, what happens next? Well in verses 42-47 exactly what we might expect is what happens.

Read Mark 15:42-47

Jesus was buried. And likely Joseph followed exactly the cultural practices of the time.

• Quick Burial: It was customary to bury the deceased as soon as possible, preferably on the same day as death. This practice was based on the idea of respecting the sanctity of the body and preventing any undue delay in laying the deceased to rest.
• Simple Burial: Jewish burials were typically simple affairs. The deceased was wrapped in a linen shroud, and the body was placed in a tomb or a burial cave. The use of spices and perfumes was common to mask the odor of decomposition. Unlike the Egyptians bodies were not embalmed instead decay was expected until the point where all flesh had decayed and the bones would be placed in an ossuary.
• Mourning Period: There was a period of mourning after the burial, during which family and friends would express their grief. This period varied but commonly lasted for seven days (Shivah). The immediate family members might observe a longer mourning period, and certain mourning customs included sitting on low stools, refraining from work, and receiving condolences from others.
• Ritual Washing (Tahara): The body was ceremonially washed and purified before burial. This practice aimed to show respect for the deceased and to symbolize the departure of the soul from the physical body.
• Burial in Tombs or Caves: The wealthy often had family tombs or burial caves. Tombs were hewn into rock, and the bodies were placed in niches or on shelves within the tomb. This practice is reflected in the Gospel accounts of Jesus' burial in a tomb.

The ultimate question that each of us needs to answer is "What will you do with Jesus." Here, we see that Joseph of Arimathea has done exactly what would be expected. If we combine this with the account of John 19:38-42 we learn that Nicodemus was also present and had brought 75 pounds of spices. What will you do with Jesus? For Nicodemus and Joseph, the answer was to show great honor at great personal expense. But let me propose something to you right here and now.

Body

Let my begin by telling you that

The common, maybe even natural, response to Jesus is to seek to show him honor (1-2).

As already mentioned, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus both showed Jesus great honor at great personal expense. But it was not just those two

Three women sought to show Jesus great honor in his burial.

After the Sabbath shops would open up and purchases could be made. Since Jewish bodies were not embalmed they quickly began to stink from decay. Joseph and Nicodemus had already brought some spices but these women also wanted to honor Jesus themselves. So, the previous night they bought spices and early the following morning they began their trek.

These women do what is natural to do, show honor to Jesus. I want to state, this is a natural response to someone like Jesus showing honor to Jesus is a good thing. In fact, throughout his ministry, many people showed honor to Jesus.

Earlier, a ruler sought to show Jesus honor in His title (Luke 18:18-19).

We don't know a ton about this man other than that he was some sort of ruler. Perhaps he was a member of the Sanhedrin, the religious ruling body in Judaism. This ruler, knowing some of Jesus, gave him the label of Good. In this man's mind he was probably bestowing some honor on Jesus. The problem, as Jesus identified, is that the man did not go far enough. Either Jesus was God or he was not. There was no intermediate level of honor.

But, this is not the only time this happened to Jesus.

A Samaritan woman sought to show Jesus honor by identifying Him as a prophet (John 4:19-26).

When Jesus encountered this woman he told her things that only made sense if Jesus had some sort of supernatural knowledge. So, the women thought, he must speak for God. The problem Jesus was not just a prophet here to solve a minor theological misunderstanding or dispute. Jesus was God himself come to solve the problem of sin. Jesus was nothing short of the Christ, the anointed one of Israel who had come to save the world from sin. The title of prophet was an honor for most people but for Jesus the title prophet did not go far enough.

Image: Real honor demands more than just a title.

Working at the university led to some interesting situations surrounding titles. Generally, the freshman coming in straight from high school don't really know what to call their teachers. It is further complicated because most of their teachers have doctorates at the university, but some are just graduate students without a doctorate. The title professor is actually, in general, a higher title than Dr. as not everyone with a doctorate has a professor appointment. It is just messy and it always made me laugh to hear students struggle to understand the titles that were appropriate to a particular individual. What was even more fun to watch was watching people get offended when the wrong title was used. Little Johny Freshman comes into Analytic Number Theory and asks a question of his teacher "Mr. Ramanujan I have a question..." Before even getting to the question his teacher interrupts him "It is Dr. Ramanujan." And with that the question becomes irrelevant. Johhny Freshman thought he was showing honor but in fact he had not shown honor. Dr. Ramanujan wanted the honor of a title but really that is not real honor.

We need to honor Jesus with more than just a label or a title.

MTR: Evaluate yourself, are you honoring Jesus as just a good man?

C.S. Lewis argued for a theological trilema. Jesus is either Lunatic, Liar, or Lord. Anything else fails to show Jesus honor.

The reality is that Jesus is anything but common and so a common response is not enough (3-7)

There is nothing common or natural about the resurrection.

I have heard people state that the reason they don't buy Christianity is that they just can't believe the resurrection. In reality, these people are much closer to truth than we sometimes give them credit. The resurrection is anything but natural, anything but common. We should be shocked and alarmed at the resurrection. Mark's description in verses 3 and 4 is a reminder, the women did not expect to find an empty tomb.

Look at all the details. A large stone is blocking the tomb, what are we going to do about that? The answer, they did not need to do anything about the stone. Matthew 28:3 tells us that it was an angel who rolled back the stone and Matthew 28:6 suggests that Jesus had already left the tomb before the angel rolled back the stone. The removal of the stone was not for the sake of Jesus to get out. The removal of the stone was so that others could see the tomb was empty.

Inside the tomb, the shock and alarm continue. Instead of a corpse, these women find an angel. Again, there is nothing common or natural about the resurrection. Things are not as they are expected to be.

When the angel speaks we are again reminded that this is not natural or common. The angel interprets this unnatural situation. The tomb is empty because Jesus has risen. The empty tomb invites the question, what happened to Jesus, the angel provides the answer. He has risen.

However, the reality of God's divine plan should lead us from a common response, shock and alarm, to a proper response acceptance and worship.

That shock and alarm follow the news of the resurrection is really no surprise. This is an unnatural event. In fact, the question of what happened to the body of Jesus continues to drive people crazy.

Through the centuries skeptics have answered in a variety of ways: the disciples stole the body; the Jewish or Roman authorities took possession of it; the women went to the wrong tomb; Jesus somehow survived and escaped the tomb. These claims are all answered decisively by God’s own explanation delivered through his messenger: “He has risen!”

So, what is the right response? Well we need to accept that God did something amazing here and ultimately worship.

Following acceptance and worship we should move onto the commanded response of proclamation.

Look at verse 7. The angel gives a profound command. Go and tell the disciples. The command is profound the women are to go and let others know of this most uncommon event. Moreover, there is a promise and reminder embedded in verse 7. During the Last Supper when discussing the Denial of Peter Jesus had told his disciples that they would be scattered but in Mark 14:28 he had promised "But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee." Now the angel brings this up again. Telling these women they have an important job. Tell others, prepare others for the ministry.

Jesus called his first disciples in Galilee, ministry started in Galilee, and most of the ministry happened in Galilee. Now Jesus is ready for the enxt stage of ministry and the restoration of the disciples. To do so Jesus intends to meet them in Galilee but central is the need to let them know what is happening. To proclaim.

Image: An uncommon response requires preparation and practice.

I really enjoy going up in the airplane and just practicing landings with Emily. We practice standard landings, she works some of her skills toward landing the airplane, and we just work together to land the airplane. However, one of my favorite exercises I have done with Emily is a simulated engine failure. We will be flying close enough to the airport to be safe. And after warning her, I cut the power. I immediately take the controls of the airplane and start maneuvering for the runway. Emily grabs the checklist and begins asking me call and response questions. Together we go through all the emergency procedures as I am maneuvering to touch down on the runway. The whole process from start to end takes less than a minute and we are on the ground rolling out. You might ask, why would you do that? Simple, if it ever happens in real life and we are at 1000 feet or less we have less than one minute to land the airplane. If we take 15 seconds of that time for a common response of freaking out then we will not make it. If our engine fails we will need an uncommon response so we practice so that the uncommon response becomes our natural response.

The problem is that we commonly fail to properly respond (8).

Initially, the women who were first tasked with telling the disciples failed.

In Luke 24 we learn that eventually, they did tell the disciples. However, here the women don't immediately respond. Actually, this is consistent with Mark's writing. In Mark's writing characters regularly ask the question "who is this?" and Mark chooses to leave the question unanswered. I think this is another type of such a technique. The question that Mark wants each of us to answer is what will we do with Jesus?

The ending of Mark is abrupt and odd but that is okay. Remember, there is nothing common about Jesus. And because there is nothing common people regularly fail to respond properly to Jesus. Eventually, these women responded properly but Mark tells us that their first response was a miss. This also should give us hope. Even if your first response misses the mark you can still respond properly.

The disciples tried to return to life as before (John 21:1-3).

I find the post-resurrection account of John 21 to be particularly interesting. After having seen Jesus the disciples do return to Galilee and we come across Peter. What does Peter say? "I guess I will get back to work." What I see here is the disciples trying to resume life like it was before.

The problem, if you have really met Jesus you can't go back.

On praise team we enjoy the song "Here Again" The first line states

Can't go back to the beginning

Can't control what tomorrow will bring

But I know here in the middle

Is the place where You promise to be

We enjoy telling Myra that we are not allowed to start the song from the beginning a second time but the deeper reality is that once you know Jesus you are changed. And since you are changed you must do more than merely celebrate and worship. You need to proclaim.

We often celebrate and worship but fail to proclaim.

We need to embrace Matthew 28:19-20

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”