The Wonder Of The Risen Lord

In everyday speech, we tend to use words like “wonderful” and “awesome” quite a bit. “That cake was wonderful.” “I got out of work early today and had an awesome afternoon.” “What a wonderful service.” Usually we just mean something was nice, or convenient, or was pleasing to the senses. But I want you to think about the word “wonderful,” for a second. It means “to be filled with wonder.” When was the last time you were filled with wonder or awe? When was the last time you were overwhelmed by power, or mystery, or even terror?

I remember when I was about 5 or 6 years old, growing up in Iowa, and a terrible storm was headed our way. The sky grew dark, and even when the lightning and low rumblings of thunder were distant, you could feel the sense of foreboding. But as the storm drew near, and the sky became like night, the tornado sirens went off. It’s a sound you never forget. As three or four of them sounded one by one, we headed for the basement. Around that time our electricity went out and I remember a terrible noise like the whole world was splitting in half. And, since a little kid can sleep through anything, around this time I fell asleep curled up in my Dad’s lap. When I woke up the next morning, we went upstairs and surveyed the damage. Trees were ripped up from the ground and thrown hundreds of yards. Our neighbor’s fencing was thrown a mile and a half away. And though the physical damage was relatively light for a tornado, I’ll always remember the sense of wonder and terror I felt through the experience.

Truth be told, when we are really filled with wonder or awe, there is almost always an element of terror with it. We are experiencing something completely unexpected and totally out of our control. This is what the women who visited Jesus’ tomb must have experienced. They had come to anoint his body as a final act of devotion. The fact that they intended to do so, suggests they had given up hope that his claims would come true. They expected to find a dead man, one they would weep over and mourn for. But their senses were affronted with an unfathomable site.

The heavy stone they had so fretted about moving was rolled away. It wasn’t rolled away so that Jesus could escape the tomb, as we can see from John’s gospel that not even locked doors could hold him back. It was rolled away as an invitation, for them and for us to enter in and witness the wondrous work which had happened. Instead of Jesus’ body, a young man is there, whom they had never seen, but whose very presence unnerved them to their core. He proclaims comfort and an impossible reality. The same Jesus who was tortured and crucified is risen from the dead! He whose movement they were sure only moments ago was an abysmal failure and a sure defeat had been transformed into the greatest victory ever proclaimed in the history of the World, a victory that not even the Romans or any modern superpower could ever boast of.

And it is at this moment that these women were completely filled with wonder and fear. But the story doesn’t end there, the angel gives them a command, a challenge: go and tell the disciples, and especially Peter, that the Lord is risen! Peter is expressly named because only hours ago, he had repeatedly denied Jesus after swearing he would never do so. As one ancient Greek commentator notes, he likely felt that in his shame, he was no longer a disciple, having betrayed the One he had sworn to love. But Jesus, even in his moment of triumph, continues to show us that his victory is not built on subjugation but mercy. Unlike so many empires before and since, he did not grind down the broken, but lifted up and restored all who returned to him.

And so, with the end of verse 8, the earliest manuscripts of Mark’s gospel abruptly end. Though there is much debate as to why, I believe the women’s flight to the tomb is meant to draw us into the moment; to see and feel what the women were experiencing. And just like the women, we are confronted with the reality of the empty tomb and are faced with the same choice: Will we, in our fear of a seemingly uncertain future, run from the mystery and the promise of the resurrection? Or will we, in the faith that God will raise us up just as He raised Jesus, be faithful to his call? We know from the context of the other gospels that the women became the first preachers of the gospel, as they went on to tell the disciples of the Risen Lord. Will we follow their lead, and embracing the wonder and awe of this moment, proclaim the Risen Lord to the ends of the earth?

Delivered Apr. 01, 2018 at First Church of the Nazarene, La Junta, CO