“Surprised? I’d say so”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Tuesday, September 12, 2023
Mark 16:1-8 (Forward, p. 45) CEV p. 1051
I do not blame either the women who went to the tomb or the male disciples who heard their story one little bit. After all, I worked in a cemetery, and while I can testify to numerous sunken graves—graves where the outer wooden box deteriorated leaving a depression above it—I can never once relate the incidence of an empty grave, a grave where the corpse had somehow disappeared. Somehow I would have found it difficult to believe, and I, likewise would have been surprised and astounded. I too would have been rather confused and more than a wee bit frightened.
However, the Easter morning experience of that small cluster of women was even more astounding. Not only was the body gone, but the massive stone that had once sealed the tomb was rolled away, and an angelic messenger was there at the tomb to greet them and reassure them. All of this was terribly uncanny and spooky, somehow otherworldly and bizarre. It was not something that any of the disciples was expecting—even though Jesus had repeatedly and plainly told them of it. No, anyone experiencing this would have wondered what to make of it and would have been lost for words. No wonder the women were tongue-tied for the moment and didn’t immediately say anything.
Many sceptics make much ado over the fact that the ‘better’ manuscripts end here, with the somewhat dubious note of the women keeping silent. I say, dubious, because other gospel narratives abundantly relate how they did tell others, at least eventually. But that is not all, at least according to some sceptics: they note the varying testimony as to the time of day, the size and composition of the group of women, the angelic presence at the tomb and a number of other details—and try to make a big deal of it, trying to discredit the entire Resurrection narrative. Nevertheless, in spite of their objections and their ‘hair splitting’ a general outline still stands:
-it was very early on the Sunday morning;
-the women went to the tomb to finish the burial procedures;
-when they got there, the tomb was empty, and the stone rolled
away;
-they were greeted by one or more angelic beings;
-they were astounded, frightened as reason would naturally suggest
So, the general account rings true, and all the more so, given its multiple attestation. And so, we have something most surprising and astounding but nevertheless true—true as countless believers have also discovered in their own encounters with Jesus. Jesus is indeed alive and lives forever.
Thanks be to God.
Forward notes: “So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid” (verse 8).
“Once, around the age of 20, I read the whole Gospel of Mark. It wasn’t the first time I had read that gospel. On that night, however, when I reached the end of 16:8, I experienced a wave of fear like the women did at the empty tomb. I don’t know why I had that reaction that day. Somehow, I got caught up in Mark’s story like I never had before.
“As a lifelong participant in grand Easter Sunday celebrations, I had always thought that the resurrection was supposed to evoke joy/. But the resurrection defies everything about the way the world works. When I sit with that truth, I get the women’s ‘terror and amazement.’ I can easily imagine going into flight mode, experiencing shock, confoundedness, and fear right with the women at the tomb. I also believe that such reactions to such an unfathomable act of an incomprehensible God are faithful too.”
Moving Forward: “Consider reading the whole Gospel of Mark. It’s the shortest of the four. What is your response to the women’s initial reaction?”