He’s Here – Indeed!

The Rev. Dr. Whitworth Ferguson III
Manassas Presbyterian Church
Manassas, Virginia
April 4, 2010: Easter

He’s Here – Indeed!
Mark 16:1-8

I don’t know this for a fact,
but I am guessing that of the four gospel accounts
of that first Easter,
Mark’s is probably the least popular.
After all – did you hear how it ended?
“So they went out and fled from the tomb,
for terror and amazement had seized them;
and they said nothing to anyone,
for they were afraid.”

What kind of an Easter story is that?
Where is "alleluia"?
Where is “he is risen!”?
…Where is Jesus?

Matthew’s gospel was written after Mark’s
and he gives us Jesus:
the women run from the tomb
just as they did in Mark’s version,
but they are not filled with terror;
they are filled with joy
as they run to tell the disciples what the angel told them.
And then, when they’ve run only a few yards,
Matthew tells us, there stands Jesus,
and the women recognize him immediately.
They see him, touch him, hear his voice:
(Matthew 28:8-10)
Matthew gives us “he is risen!”
Matthew gives us Easter!

Luke’s gospel gives us Jesus not once but twice:
the first time later on that first Easter day
as two of the disciples walk from Jerusalem to Emmaus.
Jesus joins them, walks with them and talks with them.
At first they don’t recognize him,
but when Jesus breaks bread with them,
their eyes are opened and they recognize him!

Jesus appears a second time later that same evening,
this time appearing to all the disciples gathered together,
all of them still filled with fear.
“Why are you frightened,” he asks them.
“And why do doubts arise in your hearts?
Touch me and see.”
(Luke 24:13ff)
Luke gives us “he is risen!”
Luke gives us Easter!

John’s gospel, the last of the four,
gives us the risen Jesus right in the garden,
just by the tomb.
Do you remember the scene:
the grieving Mary Magdalene,
distraught over finding the tomb empty,
fearing that someone had stolen Jesus’ body.
She sees a man she assumes to be the gardener,
but as soon as he speaks,
Mary knows he is Jesus.
(John 20:11ff)
John gives us “he is risen!”
John gives us Easter!

Mark is the odd man out.
He doesn’t seem to want to give us Easter;
he doesn’t give us the risen Jesus.
All he gives us is the empty tomb,
and a very unsatisfying ending.
In fact two later editors thought that Mark’s ending
was so unsatisfactory
that they tacked on two new endings,
an earlier writer adding just one sentence,
and a later writer adding a whole section.
But in the process both gave us “he is risen!”
Both gave us Easter.

Why didn’t Mark give us “he is risen”?
Why didn’t Mark give us an appearance?
Easter isn’t the empty tomb,
Easter is the Resurrection;
it is the Risen Christ.

Ah, but that’s the very essence of faith, isn’t it?
It is believing even when we don’t see.
Perhaps Mark was familiar with Jesus’ words
recorded in John’s gospel,
“blessed are those who have not seen
and yet come to believe.”
(John 20:29)

And we do believe, don’t we?
Even if we have our moments from time to time
when we question, when we doubt,
when our faith seems weak.
Still, we believe in the risen Christ.
We believe in the resurrection.
We believe that in raising Christ from the dead
God vanquished the power of death,
God vanquished the power of sin.
We believe that in the resurrection
you and I are graced with new life in Christ.
This is why we shout out our alleluias!

We believe in the risen Christ
even in the face of Mark’s version,
for we see the risen Christ,
we know he is risen,
we know he is here.
We know he is here indeed!

It is not the memory of Christ,
it isn’t the historic teachings of Christ,
that draw us here, gathered together
this Sunday and every Sunday.

It is the Risen Christ, the living Christ,
who draws us here, draws us together,
draws us into community,
calls us into the body,
all of us followers, believers.

To think otherwise would mean that all we are doing on Sunday,
any Sunday, including Easter,
is simply having a reunion, a memorial,
a time of remembrance
for one who lived, but no longer lives.

It is the Risen Christ here with us now
who calls us to this Table.
This is his Table that is here before us.
The Risen Christ our host,
the one who invites us to sit at table with him,
with one another,
with believers in every time and place.

We may be the hands that sliced the bread,
and filled the cups,
but it is our Living Lord who feeds us
with the bread of life,
and offers us the cup of salvation.
It is our Living Lord who nourishes us,
who feeds us in a way that no one else can,
who quenches our thirst in a way nothing else can.

The Living Christ is here offering us new life;
Our Living Lord waits for us to embrace this new life,
the life of the spirit,
the truly Christ-like life.

This is a life filled with love;
this is a life marked by grace,
This is a life filled with hope,
even in the most difficult of times;
a life in which we know mercy,
and so we can offer mercy;
a life in which we know forgiveness,
and so we can offer forgiveness.

In this new life we shed all the old ways of thinking
all those ways that keep us from
fully embracing the living Christ.
In this new life we embrace Christ’s call
to work for peace and reconciliation
In this new life we embrace Christ’s call
to work for justice and righteousness,
to break down all those barriers we create
between and among one another.
In this new life we embrace Christ’s call
to healing and wholeness for ourselves, for all,
offering healing and wholeness
in every possible way without regard
for politics or ideology.

Christ’s Resurrection is an invitation to new life.
But more than that, it is a charge,
a charge to us, “to live as Jesus lived,
[to walk through] a doorway to a life in which
meals are shared with enemies,
healing is offered to the hopeless,
prophetic challenges are issued to the powerful.”
(N.C. Pittman, Feasting on the Word, 353)

Christ’s Resurrection is a charge to us
individually and together
to take the good news out into the world,
to go out and share God’s grace and love
given us in Christ.

Christ is risen.
He is here with us now;
He is here calling us to new life -
the life that God wants for us,
the life God created each of us for,
the life that completes us,
the life that makes us whole.

Mark’s gospel seems like it is a story in need of ending,
but that makes sense doesn’t it?
For through the risen, living Christ,
the story has not ended;
the story continues through each of us,
each of us doing our part to build the Kingdom.

Christ is risen.
Christ is here.
He is here indeed!
Christ our Lord,
raised to life,
raised to give us life.
Alleluia indeed!
AMEN