Don't be alarmed, Go tell and Be careful
Scripture Reading: Mark 16: 1 - 8 (NIV)
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. 2Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb 3and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”
4But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. 5As 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. 7But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’ ”
8Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.
Message: Don’t be alarmed, go tel and be careful
Trembling and bewildered
The Gospels have different versions of what happened on that Sunday morning
In Mark there is the version of the one man in white sitting in the tomb where Jesus was buried, speaking to the women
In the Gospel of John we see the women running back and calling the disciples to come and see that the tomb is open… Peter is outrun by “the other disciple” but they discover the strips of linen that was wrapped around Jesus’ body… Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene in the garden…
In the Gospel of Luke it is two men, gleaming like lightning, that stood alongside them discovering the strips of linen, asking them “why are you looking for Jesus here? He is not here, he is risen!”
Matthew makes a lot of the guarding of the tomb, and an earthquake that happened and an angel coming down from heaven, rolling away the stone and sitting on it and the guards passing out of fear and the angel telling the women that “He is not here, He is risen!” And instructing them go tell it to the disciples…
It is fascinating to consider these different tellings of what happened that Sunday morning
I believe God gave us different versions because we all react differently to events of faith
Unique to our reading from the Gospel of Mark today are the words trembling and bewildered
It certainly was not a reaction of elation and joy initially for the women, but rather a reaction of extreme uncertainty and fear… the fear of what to make of this?
I think it is hard to imagine exactly what the emotional reaction of these women were, but for us today, we can make something of the instruction they received from the man in the white clothes, sitting in the tomb…
Yes, it is Easter Sunday, and we celebrate this year after year - this year, God wants to encourage us in our faith through the interaction between the man and these three women…
Don’t be alarmed
The first thing he said: “Don’t be alarmed”
As if to say: “I know you are not able to make sense of what you have just seen, but don’t let that get the best of you”
“You don’t have an explanation for what you have experienced here, but that is ok, don’t let that hold you back”
That’s hard!
We don’t take easy to things we can’t explain, do we?
Especially in the secular era we live in, we need to have explanations for everything
We don’t like things we can’t google or things that require us to believe
And yet, this day is the core event to our faith - and we have to believe - He is alive
Perhaps we should learn to let go of our obsession to have an explanation for everything?
Go tell
The second thing the man tells them to do is to go and tell…
Yeah right! Who would believe them…
Imagine for a moment how bold this man is asking the women to be…
Go tel mourning men that Jesus is not dead
And even more, that they should pack up and go back to Galilee to meet Him there
There’s great risk in going and telling - they were consciously making themselves vulnerable in going to tell
We need to figure out what “go tell” looks like for us today!
It is easy to say “Happy Easter”!
But to tell, requires a bit more…
It requires language of the resurrection - “He is risen”, “My faith is alive”, “Death is conquered”, “My God is not Dead”
Challenge yourself to do better than “Happy Easter”!
Share something of your faith - Go tell!
Think it through and go tell!
Be careful (thoughtful)
Verse 8 reads: “Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid”
Just hear the language of overcoming their reluctance and doubt
The language of gathering up the guts to go
The story is not that the women were trembling and bewildered… the story is that they acted despite their fear…
I know it not always easy to talk about your faith…
I know we don’t always have the confidence to speak up
But the call is: don’t be alarmed and go tell!
Don’t let this scare you!
Take care and strategize - figure something out
Think about what you want to say, think about how you are going to say it, think about the right moment to say it…
You need to let go of that fear and you need to go and tell!
Be smart about it - think it through, keep it simple and just do it!
Surely people around you must know by now that you are a Christian…
What better opportunity to tell them about your faith than Easter?
So, on this Easter Sunday, don’t be alarmed, go tel and take care in the way you do it!
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