Acts 10:34-43
Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Mark 16:1-8
"A funny thing happened on the way to the tomb" seems an irreverent title for an Easter sermon, so I will not use it this year, just as I have refrained from using it in years past. But it does seem apt, especially when the Easter story is told according to Mark. Mark ends the story with a great cliff-hanger, worthy of The Perils of Pauline or an episode of Alias. The tomb is empty, except for a stranger, oddly dressed, who tells the three women that Jesus is not at tomb, presently, but that he has been raised, and further, they should go and tell his disciples (and Peter) that he is going ahead of them to Galilee, and will meet them there.
So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to any one, for they were afraid.
And that is how the story ends.
Leaving the listener with the questions:
Is Jesus raised?
Will the women get the message to the disciples in time?
Will they see Jesus in Galilee?
Tune in next week....
We can logically assume that the women (Mary, and Mary, and Salome) must have recovered from their terror and amazement, and eventually must have told someone, otherwise, how could we be reading the story now, a few thousand years after the fact?
And when they recovered themselves, and drew up the courage to tell their story, might they have begun with... "Peter, a funny thing happened on the way to the tomb this morning."
No comments:
Post a Comment