New Beginnings

A Second Covid Easter

Grace and peace to you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Today's Readings: Isaiah 25:6-9; Acts 10:34-43; Mark 16:1-8

Alleluia, Christ is risen! Nothing brings me more joy throughout the Church year than this proclamation on Easter morning. Yet, this year we hear a not so joyful gospel text. The women who loved Jesus and cared for Jesus throughout his life and ministry are in mourning. Their son, friend, messianic hope is dead. In their grief they do what we all do when someone we love dies – we prepare for the funeral and burial. These women do not approach the tomb expecting Jesus to be alive, let alone missing completely! They approached the tomb expecting to anoint Jesus’ body with the proper spices for burial. Can you blame them for their shock and terror when they find the tomb empty?!

It’s no secret that this ending to Mark’s gospel has disturbed many throughout history. If you have your Bible open in front of you, you may even notice that there have been alternate endings added later on, because well.. you just can’t possibly end this story with the women saying nothing to anyone because they were afraid! Nevertheless, Mark has always been my favorite gospel and favorite ending and I’ll tell you why..

When I was in college I spent a great deal of time in therapy processing all the things life had thrown at me before I was even 18. (and before you say anything, YES – it’s okay to have Jesus and a therapist too!) So anyways, a couple of weeks before graduation I went to see this movie “The Age of Adaline,” maybe you’ve seen it; it’s a cute little movie. Now, I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet, but it’s been six years so – you had plenty of time! Basically, it’s a tragic story of a woman who cannot age and therefore cannot keep relationships too long, or more importantly, cannot grow old with anyone. The movie ends with the curse being broken, she found her soulmate and they lived happily ever after! Yet I found myself crying in the car afterwards.. and not just silent tears falling down my face, but a full on, gasping for air kind of cry.

At the time, I chalked it up to the fact that my lifelong companion, my dog Skip had just died. And who wouldn’t sob over this little guy, I mean, come-on! He was the greatest, but that wasn’t the root of my tears. No, I was crying because the movie had a happy ending. I was crying because I was in the beginning stage of accepting that in real life there are no happy endings. If you like to and are able to romanticize your life, please don’t let me take the wind out of your sails. But whether we want to accept it or not, there is truth in this.. and there is even some beauty in it too.

This is why I love Mark’s ending the most. It doesn’t try to tie this monumentous story up into a neat little bow, rather it speaks to that lesson that there are no happy endings. And the fact that people later plopped an alterative ending in there speaks to our human need to overcome disappointment, our need for order, for closure and endings; it speaks to our fear of chaos and of the unknown. But once we move past that fear we can begin to see the beauty in the cyclical nature of life… in the reality that there aren’t actually any endings at all – for every ending is a new beginning. We know this isn’t the end of the story, we know that the women DID overcome their fear and tell others, or we wouldn’t be sharing this story today. The story is left open-ended because the story isn’t over. The story continues even today with you and me and the story will live on after we are gone.

Before the women run away, the angel ends Mark’s account with an open-ended promise: that they will find Jesus in Galilee, just like Jesus told them they would. This is not only a promise, but a call back to the beginning of the gospel account. Jesus’ ministry began in Galilee and it is there you will find him. We have come full circle! Christ’s death, what seems to be an ending, is just beginning again. There is beauty in the cyclical nature of life… in the reality that there aren’t actually any endings at all – for every ending is a new beginning.. and there is certainly no ending to God’s work in the world. What then shall we fear!?

My life began anew that day crying in the car, because I was finally able to let go of the notion that all the bad things in life were behind me and only good things lay ahead. That might be a platitude we toss around to quell our fear and that might be how movies work, but that is certainly not the way of life. Life is in constant motion. The one constant truth is that change is coming. There will always, without a doubt, be another sorrow ahead, but that ALSO means there will always, without a doubt, be another reason for joy. Life is cyclical, it ebbs and flows, and it is constantly in flux. This is an uncomfortable truth, but it is also a beautiful one. For every death there is a resurrection. This is the way of our Lord.. and it is enough.

One day the cycle WILL end. As we heard Isaiah prophesy this morning: one day “death will be swallowed up forever and the Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of the people GOD will take away from all the earth. It will be said on that day, ‘Lo, this is our God; for whom we have waited, so that we might be saved. This is the LORD for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in the LORD’S salvation!’” (Is. 25:8-9) This is the promise God will keep; the promise foretold in the amazing and terrifying resurrection of Christ Jesus. We don’t know when Christ will come again, bringing the Kingdom of God in it’s fullness, but that also does not mean that we have to live in fear. Rather, this is the promise we take with us as we put our grieving hearts back together and head out for Galilee.. for Jesus is alive, and there’s work to do. This is just the beginning. Amen.