Believing Without Seeing!
Every once in a while when you are reading a book or watching a movie, the story ends quite abruptly and leaves the reader wondering what really happened. When am I going to find out how it all end? Sometimes it is rather frustrating.
Today in Mark's version of the resurrection, in a similar way, we are wondering how it is all going to end. Although the angels tell the women that He is Risen, they are still uncertain and afraid. They leave the scene trembling. Of course they were afraid because of the possible repercussions of being associated with Jesus, but they are also charged with going to the other disciples and telling them He had risen, just as He had told them. In other versions Jesus appears to both Mary and the disciples which helps them to believe, but in this one the women are left wondering what to do.
Of course we like the neater ending, but there is a reality to this one that I believe has something to say to us. How do we react when the ending isn't made abundantly clear? Do we step out in faith because Jesus told us to believe what He had told us? Although we believe in the factual truth of the literal bodily resurrection, Jesus said to Thomas after he felt the scars on his hands, "Blessed who believe without seeing". This is what faith is all about and what I think Mark's version teaches us.
Jesus Has Risen
16 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. 2 Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb 3 and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”
4 But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. 5 As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.
6 “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’”
8 Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.
Today in Mark's version of the resurrection, in a similar way, we are wondering how it is all going to end. Although the angels tell the women that He is Risen, they are still uncertain and afraid. They leave the scene trembling. Of course they were afraid because of the possible repercussions of being associated with Jesus, but they are also charged with going to the other disciples and telling them He had risen, just as He had told them. In other versions Jesus appears to both Mary and the disciples which helps them to believe, but in this one the women are left wondering what to do.
Of course we like the neater ending, but there is a reality to this one that I believe has something to say to us. How do we react when the ending isn't made abundantly clear? Do we step out in faith because Jesus told us to believe what He had told us? Although we believe in the factual truth of the literal bodily resurrection, Jesus said to Thomas after he felt the scars on his hands, "Blessed who believe without seeing". This is what faith is all about and what I think Mark's version teaches us.
Jesus Has Risen
16 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. 2 Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb 3 and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”
4 But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. 5 As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.
6 “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’”
8 Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.
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