"If you can't dance and you long to dance, in the resurrection you'll dance perfectly. If you're lonely, in the resurrection you will have perfect love. If you're empty, in the resurrection you will be fully satisfied." 223
Intro: In every messianic movement in Israel, the messianic leader was killed and the movement collapsed. But after Jesus' death, Christianity spread through the entire Roman empire in 300 years. What caused the explosive growth in Christianity after its founder's death?
Jesus died in mid-afternoon and the Sabbath began at sunset. Joseph of Arimathea goes to Pilate to ask for Jesus' body (Mark 15:37-43). After a Roman centurion bore witness of Jesus' death to Pilate, the body was given to Joseph who wrapped the body in linen, placed it in a tomb cut out of rock, and rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb, which was witnessed by 2 women (Mark 15:44-47). By reporting Jesus' burial in some explicit detail, Mark is "certifying" that Jesus was really dead through specified witnesses (centurion, Joseph, women).
3 times in a few lines, Mark records the names of some women who witnessed these events (Mark 16:1-3). Biblical scholar Richard Bauckham says that Mark is letting us know that he is recording a historical account, not writing a legend. The women's repeated names are source citations, like our footnotes. They must have been alive at the time Mark wrote, or he wouldn't have cited their names. It was Mark's way of saying, "If you want to check out the truth of my story, go talk to the women, who can corroborate everything I said."
The women brought spices to finish the burial rites on Jesus' dead body. But the stone had been rolled away, and a man dressed in white informed them that Jesus has risen, which alarmed them (Mark 16:3-7). But they shouldn't have been surprised, for Jesus had predicted his resurrection on the 3rd day repeatedly, 3 times in 3 chapters (Mark 8:31-32; 9:30-31; 10:32-34), each time with progressively more detail, as recorded by Mark. Mark's writing is characterized by great economy of style; his accounts are short and to the point. So if Mark quotes something 3 times, it probably means that Jesus said this over and over again.
Given that repetition to his disciples, why were there no male disciples around? The women appeared, but only to ceremonially anoint a dead body. Nobody was expecting a resurrection. If you were trying to write a fabrication in order to deceive others to believe a lie, would this be the way you tell it? Jesus repeatedly predicted his resurrection and then not a single person believe it? The truth of the matter is that they did not expect a resurrection at all. It didn't occur to them. The angel had to remind the women: "You will see him, just as he told you" (Mark 16:7).
What's the point? The resurrection was as inconceivable for the 1st disciples, as impossible for them to believe, as it is for many of us today. Celsus, a 2nd century A.D. Greek philosopher, wrote numerous arguments against Christianity. One of them went like this: Christianity can't be true, because the written accounts of the resurrection are based on the testimony of women--and we all know that women are hysterical. Many agreed. For them, that was a major problem. In ancient societies, women were marginalized, and the testimony of women was never given much credence.
If Mark and the Christians made up these stories to get their movement off the ground, they would not have written women into the story as the 1st eyewitnesses to Jesus' empty tomb. The only possible reason is that they were present and simply reported what they saw:
- The stone was rolled away,
- the tomb was empty,
- an angel declared that Jesus has risen.
What was Jesus' resurrection like? Unlike a ghost, Jesus' resurrection body had "flesh and bones" (Luke 24:39). But could they have been hallucinating? No, for Paul records that 500 people claimed to see him at one sighting (1 Cor 15:6). Paul mentions 5 appearances of the risen Christ. 7 appearances are recounted in the 4 Gospels. Acts 1:3-4 says that Jesus appeared constantly to numerous people for 40 days. The size of the groups and the number of sightings make it virtually impossible to conclude that all these people had hallucinations. Either they actually saw Jesus, or 100s of people were part of an elaborate conspiracy that lasted for decades. If this was a hoax, it would have had to last for years, and each of the dozens of conspirators would have had to take the secret to his grave.
Moreover, there has to be an explanation for how the cowardly disciples were transformed into a group of leaders. Many went on to live sacrificial lives, and many were martyred.
3 fundamental lines of evidence intertwine as proof that Jesus rose from the dead:
- the fact of the empty tomb,
- the testimony of numerous eyewitnesses, and
- the long term impact on the lives of Jesus' followers.
When Jesus cried out (Mark 15:34), he echoed Ps 22:1-31, which foretold the circumstances of the cross and what it would accomplish. This Psalm also predicted that Jesus would be mocked and that they would cast lots for his clothing. Toward its end, it moves from suffering to deliverance (Ps 22:20-21, 24, 27-29, 31).
If Jesus did this--if he truly is risen--then the story of the world according to Mark is all true. "Jesus really is the Son of God, the true and perfect King; he came to earth to die on the cross for us; and by trusting in what he has done there, we are spared from eternal judgment and ushered into the presence of God for all eternity." (220) John 11:25-26 tells us that Jesus' death means no death for us. His resurrection means our resurrection (1 Thes 4:14).
But if Jesus is not risen, then the story of the world that Mark told is just fiction, as Paul makes trenchantly clear in 1 Cor 15:13-19. "The truth of the resurrection is of supreme and eternal importance. It is the hinge upon which the story of the world pivots." (221)
A Remembrance of the Future
Does the resurrection mean anything for your life now? Isaiah, Amos, and many prophets wrote about what God wants to bring about in the future--the kingdom of God, the new heaven and new earth, a healed material creation (Isa 11:6; Matt 11:5), absolute wholeness and well-being--physically, spiritually, socially, and economically. There is shalom--complete healing of all the relationships in the creation. We will be reconciled to God; to nature; to one another; and to ourselves.
To the extent that that future is real to you, it will change everything about how you live in the present. Why are so many things so hard: suffering, disability, death, cost to my name or reputation or finances? But if Jesus is risen, then your future is so much more beautiful, and so much more certain. Joni Eareckson Tada reminds herself that in heaven she will be free to jump up, dance, kick, and do aerobics. She said, "I, with shriveled, bent fingers, atrophied muscles, gnarled knees, and no feeling from the shoulders down, will one day have a new body, light, bright, and clothed in righteousness--powerful and dazzling. Can you imagine the hope that the resurrection gives someone who is spinal cord-injured like me?" Only in the gospel do people find such enormous hope to live.
In the resurrection, ordinary life (which
is always falling apart) is what's going to be redeemed. "And if you know that this is not the only world, the only body, the only life you are ever going to have--that you will someday have a perfect life, a real, concrete life--who cares what people do to you? You're free from ultimate anxieties in this life, so you can be brave and take risks. You can face the worst thing...with joy, with hope." (224)When Jesus shows his hands and feet, he is showing them his scars. Previously, the disciples, dreaming of winning a presidential campaign, thought those scars were ruining their lives. Now they understand the scars. The sight and memory of them will increase the glory and joy of the rest of their lives. The scars reminds them of what he did for them--the scars they thought had ruined their lives actually saved their lives. Remembering those scars will help many of them endure their own crucifixions.
On the day of the Lord--the day that God makes every right, the day everything sad comes untrue--on that day the same thing will happen to your own hurts and sadness. "You will find that the worst things that have ever happened to you will in the end only enhance your eternal delight." (224) "The joy of your glory will be that much greater for every scar you bear." (225)
Question: Is your hope in the resurrection?
Chap 1: The Dance (Trinity) (Mark 1:9-11): Do you expect others to dance around you?
Chap 2: The Gospel, The Call (Mark 1:14-20): Is your gospel good news or good advice?
Chap 3: The Healing (Mark 2:1-5): Are your sins against God or people (Ps 51:4)?
Chap 4: The Rest (Mark 2:23-3:6): Are you desperately seeking significance?
Chap 5: The Power (Mark 4:35-41): Do you enjoy goodness and calm in a storm?
Chap 6: The Waiting (Mark 5:21-43): Do you have peace when God delays?
Chap 7: The Stain (Mark 7:1-23): Do you feel unclean, insignificant?
Chap 8: The Approach (Mark 7:24-37): Do you know you’re a dog, yet loved?
Chap 9: The Turn (Mark 8:27-9:1): Why is forgiveness so hard?
Chap 10: The Mountain (Mark 9:2-29): What if you are filled with doubt?
Chap 11: The Trap (Mark 10:17-27): Is money just money to you?
Chap 12: The Ransom (Mark 10:45): Is Jesus all you want and need?
Chap 13: The Temple (Mark 11:1-18): Are you both a lion and a lamb?
Chap 14: The Feast (Mark 14:12-26): Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Chap 15: The Cup (Mark 14:32-36): Are you suppressing your desires/detaching yourself?
Chap 16: The Sword (Mark 14:43-52): Does status, honor, power define you?
Chap 17: The End (Mark 14:53-15:39): Do you know darkness, disorientation, disintegration?
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