What Will You Believe?
Video: https://youtu.be/QqGauUSvmo0
Written by Rev. Philip Stonhouse
Throughout the gospel of Mark we have been given two sides. On one side, we have been shown the world and where all of it’s sin leads and on the opposite side, we are shown God’s Kingdom and the immense hope that it is creating in our midst as a promise of an even greater realization to come. We are continually asked to choose, but no more than today. As we witness again to Jesus’ death and the empty tomb, we are left with questions that we have to decide for our own faith. Why did Jesus die? And what does the empty tomb mean?
Mark has worked throughout this gospel to help us make that decision for ourselves. He has shown us God’s love breaking through in seemingly impossible places and the way in which His Kingdom and authority is overpowering the world and sin, but ultimately faith is a decision. We have been given Jesus’ faithfulness. Now will we choose to follow it? It should be an obvious and easy decision, because there isn’t another choice that will really bring us to life and wholeness, but even those present to Jesus have a hard time.
Last week we ended with a cliffhanger, as Jesus was hanging on the cross. Now, we hear that in the middle of the day, when the sun should have been at its brightest, darkness comes over the land. It would seem that darkness and evil has won. Evil is killing the light of the world, the source of our life. Naturally, the created order follows suit. All light is blotted out, to show the world what they are truly doing, how they have given into darkness. At the same time it is also showing us what distance from God is. It is the absence of light. It is removal from the source of all life. Distance from God is the de-creation effects of fear, isolation, and death.
The world is being shown this reality, but Jesus is living through it to the extreme. God is present for all of us, but in this moment Jesus is experiencing utter isolation. None of his friends have stuck around, God seems distant, which means his very identity seems distant, even those that are present don’t understand his cries. It would seem that no one is there to hear Jesus and yet, even in this separation Jesus is still faithful. He could have cursed, he could have called on the angels for retribution, he could have yelled in anger out of his pain and agony, but God shows Himself even now to be long-suffering, patient, forgiving and faithful. I don’t think I can stress this enough. When it would seem as if all hope and love has been destroyed, when evil has come to power and all that is left is pain, isolation and death - to the extent that we have never and will never experience, Jesus remains faithful. Why? Well, because that is who He is, but the gospel has already shown us that things are more than they appear. Hope and love is never vanquished in God, in contrast this is the moment that evil and death are defeated. Separation from God is no more a given as the temple curtain is torn in two.
The people around Jesus think that he is calling to Elijah. Why? Why wouldn't Jesus be calling to God? Especially since Jesus is literally quoting a well known Psalm. Not only are they experiencing the disconnection with God, but they can’t even imagine a real relationship with God. What a thing to be trapped in, to not be able to see beyond your own isolation and ego? For too much of this world, this would seem utterly normal as many people live in this, but what a loss not to understand what they are actually experiencing in the darkness of their lives, but also to not even imagine a closeness and relationship with their creator. All that would be left is absence of real value in a random world. And we can see that as we look around.
When Jesus yells for God, Eloi, Eloi, Lama Sabachthani. Something else is happening. As mentioned, He is quoting psalm 22. That psalm continues to show us everything that Jesus is experiencing. Then Psalm 22 is followed by Psalm 23, which we just read and psalm 24. “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for . . . God is with me”. Jesus is once again pointing us forward, even in his hardest times to see the hope that remains. The hope that is always there, even if it is so hard to see.
Jesus is also showing us once again his faithfulness. Scripture is so ingrained in Him that one of his last cries is a quote of Scripture. He finds himself embedded in the story of God’s revelation and redemption of humanity and so even right now Jesus joins in David’s lamentation, it reminds us all that God’s history of restoration will repeat itself for us as well. It reminds us that God’s word is not just good for our direction, but also for our sustenance and life. It is the place where we meet Him, even when we can’t see Him, even when our isolation seems absolute. God’s word always remains out our fingertips and if we are like Chirst on our lips.
Jesus cries out and breathes his last. It is hard to imagine what this would have sounded like. The utter agony and yet his holding on to the last and only hope. I think it would do us well to take time to just imagine this cry. What could this one cry tell us about our own suffering and our getting through it? This cry did something amazing to the centurion watching. It was unlikely he knew anything about the curtain being torn, so it was likely this cry, that brought forward his statement of faith. Think about it. Here is this man who is a professional killer, he has not gotten to his high position commanding thousands without seeing countless people die. There was something so special about Jesus’ death that this commander was willing to speak treason. Caesar was believed to be the son of God, so this statement would be the centurion challenging caesar's authority and position. Something powerful in Jesus’ cry and death did this to him and he decided to believe in something that would challenge everything.
I wish I had more time to talk about the woman watching from a distance or Joseph of Arimathea or Pilate. They all show faithfulness, but one that keeps God at a distance and acts too late. It is honourable that they should care for what is left, but it also challenges us to ask, “Why do we so often not love and care until it is too late?” We rush around in self-protection, in our business, not realizing that any moment could be the last for us or those we love or even those we meet on the street. If we were to realize the direness of every encounter, would that make a difference?
So finally, we come to the empty tomb. The women come to the tomb. They are already feeling the separation and desperation as they don’t even know how they will roll away the stone to care for Jesus’ body. I can only imagine how heavy the rock larger than a door would be, but add this on top of the distance and separation of death and lost hope and that’s what they were experiencing.
Yet they get there and the stone is rolled away. What a relief that would have been? That is the extent of relief we are ready for, but they couldn’t even imagine what is coming, and so often, we can’t either. They get to the tomb and they look inside to see a young man dressed in white robes. They are alarmed. He tries to calm their fears and direct them to a greater hope and truth than they can imagine. This angelic young man tells them that Jesus has risen from the dead and now has gone ahead of them and they will see him again.
What a reversal of emotion, expectation, and reality. We have been raised with this idea so it is hard for us to imagine how this would have changed everything. The world has become a different place, because of it; there is not one thing in the whole world that would have not been affected and so the expansiveness of Christ’s resurrected hope would be utterly terrifying. It would have been something so fundamental like gravity suddenly reversing itself. God’s overturning is absolute, it is powerful and it is filled with every hope and potential. We should be afraid.
The whole gospel of Mark ends, at least in its original version, with the woman fleeing, being too afraid to say anything to anyone, and in this version we never see Jesus showing himself. The empty tomb leaves us with a decision to make. What do we believe happened? We have countless testimonies of Jesus’ supreme and life changing hope, as Mark’s community would have had, but we are left with an empty tomb in our hearts and minds. Are we going to fill it with death through the things of this world, or are we going to see in it a new day, a new week, a new light, a new world and a whole new life. There is nothing that offers a greater hope or life, but there is nothing that is more frightening as it challenges everything we have held onto.
