Mark 16:1-8

Last week one of the folks who were here worshipping with us asked why we were doing the Passion of Jesus on the Sunday before Thanksgiving. I explained that we have been going through the Gospel of Mark and that was where we landed that last Sunday. This Sunday will be even more confusing for sure! We have Thanksgiving, the first Sunday of Advent, and the text is about Easter! We were not able to have any live worship on Easter this last year, so we are playing catch up! All of these ideas of course do fit together! Jesus had to be born in order to go to the cross and be born again at the time of the resurrection, for which we are all the most thankful unto God in heaven for! Merry Thanks-Easter-mas!

I remember the old days, before heightened airport security, when you could go right up to the gate at the airport to meet family and friends. What a joy it always was to see that door from the ramp opening up and all of the people filing out. My heart would always start pumping faster at the sound of the latch opening and the door swinging wide to reveal the passengers from the plane. Then, that person that you had been waiting for finally comes into view and there is so much excitement in the air!

At the airport in Lihue, you still get that effect as you wait in the baggage claim area. There is one automatic sliding door (You know the one I mean) that has the motion detector only on the inside. Only somebody coming out can make the door move. You can jump up and down as much as you want on the outside, only somebody coming out and can activate the door to open. All you can do is follow the advice on the door itself, which says “Stand Clear.”

So, what would happen if you were standing there at the airport in the baggage claim area, you have several leis draped over one arm ready to give to the person you are expecting. You are waiting for the door to open. Then, suddenly you see the door opening from the other side but the person you had bought the leis for was not there. Instead, you see a young man dressed in a white robe (Maybe he is part of the cleaning crew), and he sees you and says: “You’re waiting for Joe? Joe already left! Maybe you can catch him at the hotel if you hurry.”

Now, we know that Jesus traveled light. You see, if he had to claim his luggage outside the tomb he would have had to wait for hours! You know how sometimes the airlines put your luggage on the next flight?! For Jesus, the luggage would probably only show up after the next resurrection—the Second Coming!

The three women (Magdalena, James the lesser’s mother, and Salome) had come to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body after death. I can only imagine the excitement in their hearts as they walked to the tomb. They did not know what they would find there at the tomb. You see, Jesus had promised to rise from the dead. They knew this. According to the Gospel of Mark, Jesus had told them this not once, not twice, but three times. Here in Mark 10:32-34 (super-titled: “A Third Time Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection”) we read, “They were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them; they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, ‘See, we are going to go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death; then they will hand him over to the Gentiles, they will mock him, and spit on him, and flog him, and kill him; and after three days, he will rise again.’”

Three times Jesus had made the future resurrection known to those who followed him. He was very precise in what was going to happen and the timing of it all. In three days time, he would rise from the dead! I am sure that this was running through the backs of these women’s minds as they approached the tomb. After all, if I told you three times when my flight was coming in, you would not be so surprised to see me coming through the door at baggage claim in Lihue. In fact, the greater surprise might be if I were not there!

We must approach the tomb with that same kind of expectation and excitement. You see, the fact that Jesus has risen from the tomb means that everything Jesus has ever said must also be true! It is all true! Jesus also foretold in Mark 13 of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. This happened in 70 AD. He foretold of the persecution of his followers. He told of His second coming in Mark 13:26-27, “Then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect form the four winds, from the ends of the earth and the ends of heaven.” It is all true. Jesus came once at Christmas. Jesus is coming again—Merry Re-Christmas! “Joy to the World” was actually written for the Second Coming even though we sing it at Christmas. We will sing that in a bit. It is all one story. One gospel. It is the imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation as our own text this morning points out.

If we go back to page one of the Gospel of Mark, we see that Mark writes all of this down for the purpose of sharing the imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation. Mark writes simply in 1:1 “The beginning of the good news.” And, he continues with the ancient proclamation as stated by the Prophet Isaiah.

We should note here that Mark does not begin with a Christmas story of Christ’s birth but with this promise of the coming of eternal salvation. God is breaking down the barrier, rolling the stone away, going through that one-way airport door, to be with us again.

God can open our barriers from the inside. Your soul can rise just as Christ’s did! If you want to meet Jesus in this eternal life, start by going back to the beginning. Where did it all start with Jesus? It started with the angels announcing his birth first to Mary and then to all who gathered at the stable on Christmas morning. Where does our text for today tell us to go? Back to Galilee because Jesus is going ahead of us there! That is where this angel is telling the three women to go.

Actually he is not just telling them to go to Galilee, he is reminding them that Jesus himself has commanded this. You all know by now that I was supposed to go to Israel this last year, but that those plans were delayed because of the pandemic. But, I still will go one day for sure when this is over—Jesus told us to go to Galilee!

What Galilee stands for in this case for all of us believers who really may never actually go to Galilee is that place where the ministry of Jesus was most strong. Galilee is where the healings took place. Galilee is where the feeding of the five thousand took place. Galilee is where the disciples were first called and where the baptisms took place. That is where we meet Jesus the first time, and the next time in this story given to us by Mark. Galilee is the beginning of our personal faith.

Now, Mark is very clear that we are to go from East to West in this action of proclaiming the gospel. I want you to consider the geography of the Israel and realize that everything to the west is really the sea. It is water. Yet, on the other side of the sea is Rome. This call is to take the message of eternal salvation out of Israel to the entire Roman Empire—the known world in those days.

This last week at the Tuesday afternoon Bible study I was asked out of the blue why the Bible was written in Greek. The answer quite simply is that the Greeks were the sailors of the day. They were the merchant marine. They controlled shipping. Yes, the Romans had the armies of foot soldiers, but they never like sailing and left it up to the Greeks. The Greeks to this day still have a huge merchant marine fleet.

Where did the original early Christian church grow and come of age? Greece—and later Rome. So, listen to your inner angels and go without fear to where you are being called in your lives right now! Go to where the miracles will happen once more in Christ’s name.

Wherever you go, remember that as Mark points out that you must share that imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation with you! Jesus came to save us. Jesus died on the cross that we might have eternal life.

Amen