"Do not be alarmed.": a sermon for Easter (Mark 16:1-8, 1st Corinthians 15:1-11)

“Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.  He has been raised ….” 

Even though Mary Magdalene and her friends were told not to be alarmed, our lesson ends with these words.

So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized the; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

Our gospel lesson for Easter ends with these words.  And, in fact, the oldest known copies of Mark’s gospel end with these words.  Many New Testament scholars (not all, but many) believe that this is the original ending of Mark’s gospel, with the eleven or so verses following to be a later addition.

It’s very interesting if this is the real ending.  The oldest one of the gospels ends with Mary Magdalene and her friends being given the good news of the resurrection, and their response was to run away, to say nothing, and to do nothing, … out of fear.

If this is the real ending, it makes sense in many ways.
·        It fits well into Mark’s gospel.  At many points in Mark’s gospel, Jesus does something spectacular and tells his disciples not to tell anyone about this – yet.  And what do they do?  They tell the immediate world.  Once someone’s told to share the news, what do they do?  They clam up.  It’s called irony.
·        It also fits well into the situation faced by the first generation of Christians that read Mark’s gospel.  They too experienced fear.  It may have comforted them to know that the first people to receive the good news of the resurrection were themselves too afraid to share the news, at least at first.  The fact that the news got out meant that they eventually developed the courage to get the message out.
·        And it also fits well into our situation today.  The world in which we live is a scary place for many people.  Fear has become part of our day-to-day lives, and many politicians and media figures  encourage us to be fearful.

But, the resurrection of Jesus addresses our fear.
·        The resurrection addresses our fear as it addressed the fear of Mary Magdalene and her friends on the first Easter morning.
·        The resurrection addresses our fear as it addressed the fear of that first generation of Christians who first read about Mary’s initial fear when Mark first put pen to papyrus.

The message that the stranger gave Mary Magdalene and her friends was intended to address her fears: 

“Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.  He has been raised; he is not here.  Look, there is the place they laid him.  But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.”

But of course, the first part of the message had the opposite effect: “Do not be alarmed.”  It’s a bit like saying, “Don’t be afraid, but ….”  It often has the opposite effect to that desired.

But part of the good news is that the good news got out.  In our lesson from the First Letter to the Corinthians, Paul speaks of the good news that he received, the good news that he passed on to the Corinthian Church, and the good news which the Corinthians were, in turn passing on:  the good news that Christ was raised, and that that his resurrection was not for his own benefit, but for the benefit of humanity, for the benefit of the same flawed humanity that connived in his death.

“Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.  He has been raised ….” 

And the story did not stop there.  From Mary Magdalene and her friends, the story continued to be told.  The story motivated many people … throughout the centuries … in lands around the world … to overcome their fears … to promote peace, justice, mercy, and reconciliation … to change their world.

And the story continues to be told today.  We are also links in that same chain that began with the message to Mary Magdalene and her friends two thousand  years ago; and we are given the same task that was given to Mary Magdalene and to Paul … to St. Patrick and to St. Nicholas … to St. Francis of Assisi and to John Wesley … to Martin Luther King and to Dietrich Bonhoeffer … to John Flynn and to Father Damian … to St. Mary McKillop and to Mother Theresa … and to you and I and the people on either side of you … the task of keeping alive the message:

“Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.  He has been raised ….”