Humility, Not Glory
Mark 16:1–8
Christ is risen! In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
St. Mark 16:1-8 [1] Now when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome brought spices that they might come and anoint [Jesus’ body]. [2] Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. [3] And they said among themselves, “Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?” [4] But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away – for it was very large. [5] And entering the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a long white robe sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. [6] But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. [7] But go, tell His disciples – and Peter – that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as He said to you.” [8] So they went out quickly and fled from the tomb, for they trembled and were amazed. And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
Dear fellow worshipers of the risen Christ… Sometimes you just have to see it to believe it; that is a reasonable approach to life. For example, in business dealings, it is always wise to read the contract before you sign it. “Put it in writing.” These are familiar comments to many people. They are filled with common sense.
But St. Mark brings to us a puzzling picture. In today’s Gospel, he gives us his resurrection account. However, his account is different from the other Gospel writers. The difference is that there is no Jesus; there is no sighting of Him. St. Mark reports to us that people are talking about Jesus’ resurrection, but there still is no Jesus. And this is troubling; it sounds like a myth in its infant stages. Could it be? If we don’t see Jesus with our own eyes, did He really rise from the dead? It’s almost like a common phrase that many people use today: “Show me the pictures, or it didn’t happen.”
This story is too good to be true. You know how people normally react to things that are too good to be true. They conclude that those things are false. In this account, there is no evidence that Jesus is alive. “Oh, really? Where is He?” questions the skeptic and, by the way, the realistic person too.
But when a person questions Jesus’ resurrection, then the crucifixion itself must be questioned as well. If the crucifixion is questioned, then Jesus’ birth and life must be questioned. If the birth and life of Jesus is questioned, then His conception by the Holy Spirit must be questioned. The whole life of Jesus, from conception to ascension, all fits together as one message. The bottom line is that when a person doubts the resurrection, then he also doubts God and His promises to us throughout history. It has a destructive effect on faith and salvation.
The promises of God in the Old and the New Testament bring to us a Savior, a Lamb, a Redeemer. The message is that God Himself will take our place – not just any lamb, not just any redeemer, or not just any human. Rather, the human must be God Himself, who could be given in exchange for our sins. The life of the God-man must be given in exchange for the life of all humanity. These are the promises the Church has heard ever since sin entered into the world. The Lamb of God was sacrificed once for all people, and in His resurrection He proclaims His victory over death.
However, the resurrection is the victory proclamation of the power of Jesus to overcome death. It is not the resurrection that saved us. Jesus did not earn the forgiveness of sins in His descent into hell or in His resurrection. The resurrection is the “I told you so!” of the Gospel message; it is the exclamation point! It is a moment of glory for our Lord. Indeed, Jesus defeated death by His resurrection. But Jesus earned salvation and forgiveness for us through the humility of the cross, not the glory of the resurrection. Still, everything hinges on this outcome of the life and death of Jesus.
Jesus saved us through the humility of his miraculous conception, life, suffering, and death. We need to remember that all people, believers and unbelievers, will rise from the dead. Murderers, sex offenders, liars, and nice people will all rise from the dead. Hitler, Saddam Hussein, Jeffrey Dahmer, and other people who participated in atrocious evil actions will rise from the dead. True, the unbelievers’ bodies will rise to be eternally condemned along with their souls, and the believers’ bodies will rise to be eternally saved along with their soul. So, the message of Easter is not just about our resurrection, but the resurrection of Jesus.
Just as the crucifixion is not merely about the death of just anybody, so also the resurrection is not just about any resurrection. After all, other people were crucified throughout history, and Lazarus and others were raised from the dead. So, what makes Easter different? What makes Good Friday different? What makes St. Mark’s report of the resurrection different?
Mark’s Gospel provides us with the testimony of the angel and the fulfillment of the promises of God’s Word. It shows the reality of our daily lives. We could easily be substituted for the women at the tomb.
In Mark’s Gospel, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome went to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus. Sounds peaceful, doesn’t it? Do we not sometimes wish we were there that glorious Easter morning? Wouldn’t that be exciting?
However, could Mark’s account of this story be a picture of unbelief? Did these three women doubt the Word of God? Did they believe Jesus when He proclaimed His resurrection? Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome went to the tomb to anoint the dead body of Jesus. They were not expecting an empty tomb. They were acting as if Jesus was not going to rise from the dead.
Those of us who live two thousand years later can easily look down on these women and others who did not live faithfully according to God’s Word. Yet it still bugs us because they were there, they saw Jesus. They watched Him walk around, perform miracles, and preach in the temple. It seems that they should have had an advantage that we don’t have.
But let me ask you: If you saw Jesus today, would you believe He is God? Would you believe He was even before the world was created? Would you think this man who is walking around performing miracles and claiming to raise people from the dead is the same God who created the world? Did Jesus look like God when He was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane? Would you think for a moment that God would actually die? Did Jesus look like God when He was stripped, beaten, and mocked? Did Jesus appear to be God as He hung on the cross and crucified like a common criminal? Did He seem like God when He cried out, “I thirst!” and “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Maybe we would be more like the three women if were we alive then. It is very likely, at least for the sake of friendship, that we, too, would have taken spices with us to the tomb early on the first day of the week, because we believed that a lifeless body was to be found in the tomb. To trust our Lord’s words when He spoke of a kingdom that would never end, or how He would go away and then return, or that He truly was the resurrection and the life, is against all human reason and common sense.
But that is the point. It is not about human reason or common sense. It is about God’s powerful and true Word and His promises throughout history. The resurrection becomes the proclamation of the fulfillment of God’s promises; it is the very evidence we have that Christ has conquered sin and death. Yet whether it is the young man in white robes of Easter morning speaking to the three women or you and I reading God’s Word, our faith must grasp what we read and trust it.
The Gospel is the work of God. Our reason or common-sense rebels against the Holy Spirit as He comes to us through the Word. He must even create the very faith that grasps the Word of the Gospel, for we cannot by our own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ our Lord or come to Him. Our sinful minds will try to reason things out and then see if we can conclude that this crucified man is God and that He really could have risen from the dead.
Just as Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome had only the word of God’s messenger, so we, too, have God’s messengers to provide us with the promises of the Gospel. It is only faith that believes God’s Word. Only by faith can we confess that Jesus is true God and true man. Only by faith can we confess that Jesus’ conception was of the Holy Spirit. Only faith can grasp that God made Mary’s womb His throne-room for nine months. It is faith alone which caused Elizabeth to confess that Mary is the mother of her Lord. Only faith can look at the body of Jesus on the cross and proclaim that the glory of God is in this death, for of a truth, God is the one who died for our sins.
The resurrection is also a matter of trusting God’s Word, whether it is the word of the young man in the tomb or St. Mark’s recording of that event. We must repent of our unbelief when we second-guess God and His Word. We are in the same circumstances as the three women. St. Mark’s account of the resurrection is no different from what we know in our lives.
Yet we might think back and cry out, “But they were there and eventually saw Jesus.” Yes, that is true, and it reminds us that our Lord knows you need His physical presence as well. His grace, mercy, and forgiveness come to us only where He said He would be present, only where He promised to be for us – in His Word and Sacraments.
What this really means is this: every time the Lord’s Supper is celebrated, it is Easter! In the Holy Supper, God Himself is present, not because He is the Creator and all-powerful God, but rather because in, with, and under the humility of bread and wine and in the spoken Word He proclaims Himself to have risen from the dead. The very work of the crucifixion, the benefit of Christ’s payment for our sins, comes to us through this Holy Meal. Here He appears to you in this Easter celebration, in His Word, and in His very body and blood. Through faith, through trust in His Word, we receive Him into our presence and enjoy the forgiveness of our sins.
So, as you approach the altar today, let the words of the young man in white robes ring in your ears, “There you will see him, just as he told you” (Mk 16:7).
There He is in His Supper for you. In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
