Easter Message 2018; Mark 16:1-8

Rev. George Miller
April 1, 2018
Mark 16:1-8

Though we live in a rapidly changing technological world of Snapchat, Firestick, and Amazon Prime, I’m still a little bit old-school.

I get Netflix through the mail, my DVD player also plays videotapes, and I prefer to read books made of paper that can be held, bent and written in.

So when my Emerson 6 CD Direct Access Changer System, circa 2004, decided to stop working, I was not happy.

For weeks there were some problems: the tray eject would stop half way through or a CD wouldn’t play.

No problem, it was easy to fix; nothing that a good whack on the side or tap on the top could not fix.

But then last week, at an inopportune time, it decided to die. It was the day the Adoption Specialist was coming over to update my Home Study so I could continue the adoption process.

On her last visit, she wrote that my home had a calm, warm atmosphere, due to the music I played.

Sooo, I had to make sure she got to experience my smooth grooves once again.

There was the most perfect line-up of CDs ready in the player, but when I hit play, nothing.

First the screen said no CD. Then when the changer button was pushed, it just whirred and clicked.

Wanting nothing more than to present a calm and warm environment to the Adoption Specialist I whacked the side of the stereo. I smacked the top! One hand, two hand; three times, four!

No luck.

I shut it off, unplugged it, said my prayers, doing all I could, until finally, a CD began to play, and not wanting to take any chances, I just hit “repeat”.

The next day a representative from Home Depot come over to give a quote on new windows. I decided to turn on the CD player.

But this time, not only wouldn’t it play, the changer wouldn’t move, whir or do anything.

I resigned myself to the fact that I’d have to head to Habitat for Humanity to get a new stereo, or go online and fork over $200 for a brand new one.

Home Depot comes over, does what they do, giving a quote $11,000 to replace 13 windows!

Not today!!!

So when they left, with sticker shock rattling my spirit, and an uneasy silence in my home, I looked over at that Emerson 6 CD Direct Access Changer System, circa 2004, and thought:

“Oh, you may be playing dead, but I’m gonna figure out a way to make you work!”

And with a sense of fear and purpose born out of that sticker shock, I went to task taking that sucker apart.

Me: who just a few weeks ago had to ask someone at the hardware store what was the difference was between 2 light bulbs,

and just a few months ago learned that there are screws with drill bits built into them…

I was going to fix that CD player!!!

I took it apart, lifted the top of the stereo…

…and I was transfixed by what I saw.

First, I found the causes of the problem- one CD was laying on top of another, while one CD stood at a slant between the trays, preventing it from moving.

With one mystery solved and easily fixed, I sought out the answer to another mystery: how do multi-CD players actually work?

With the Mr. Emerson plugged in, 5 of the 6 CD trays loaded, and the top off, I began hitting all the buttons.

It may sound silly, but for me to see how the trays turned, how they ejected out, how the CDS were lifted up and spun fascinated me.

I was surprised that when the “stop” button was hit, the CD was not dropped back into place, but kept suspended, until the next instruction was given.

I learned that the CDs were played from the back of the machine, not from the front as I would have assumed.

I discovered that though the tray ejection was clunky and slow, it was nowhere near broken, and if well cared for, the system will last a long, long time.

I also discovered something else- the inside of the CD player reminded me very much like a tomb.

There was nothing super fancy about it. There was nothing colorful about it; nothing that seemed alive.

There were 6 slots to place 6 CDs, but I only had 5, and the slot that was empty seemed really, really bare.

And the CDs themselves; they’re basically nothing: flat, lifeless discs with somewhat shiny backs that have little smudges and scratches.

The stereo is basically a CD cemetery, until you hit play, the trays shift, a beam of light hits the disc, and then…sweet, sweet sounds emerge.

In some ways I felt like I experienced my own technological type of resurrection, but of course, Easter is in no ways at all like a CD player.

Easter is like nothing at all.

Easter is a day when we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, and unlike a light bulb, or a screw, or a CD player, the Resurrection is not something anyone can truly figure out at all.

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is not a narrative that is easy to take apart; it is not an electronic that’s easy to assemble.

The Resurrection is one of the greatest mysteries of all time.

Why can we say that?

Because none of the parts fit.

All 4 of the Gospels tell about the Resurrection completely different.

When you read Mathew, Mark, Luke and John it’s not clear just how many days Jesus was really dead. Or who went to the tomb. Or who was at the tomb.

Or, who this guy inside the tomb?

What does it mean to say Jesus has been raised? Like a zombie, or a ghost, or like Frankenstein?

Theories abound and people make assumptions, but that is all they are- assumptions, because no one really knows, and unlike CD players and light bulbs,

I don’t think we’re supposed to know.

And if you notice, the way in which Mark tells his version of the resurrection is very curious.

Mark was the 1st of the Gospel writers to write his account down, and almost all scholars agree that his story ends right here, at verse 8, with the expression “for they were afraid.”

There is no vision of the Resurrected Christ, there is no appearance of Peter, there are no tears in the garden.

Just this scene of three women fleeing in fear from the tomb where the body of Jesus once laid.

“…for they were afraid” is how Mark ends his account of his Gospel.

And we wonder- why fear? How is fear a proper way to end a story about Easter Sunday? How can fear connect us to Good News?

…I’ve been thinking about this all week, and came to this conclusion- “Who says fear is such a bad thing?”

After all, emotions are just emotions, neither good nor bad, until we attach qualifiers to them.

Think about the times you’ve been afraid and how it may have saved your life.

The time you just didn’t feel right walking down a street and something inside you said to leave, now.

The time you didn’t feel safe driving your car and sure enough there was an accident or the check engine came on.

That’s fear as intuition, meant to keep us alive and well.

Then there is the kind of fear that’s attached to new beginnings, or something good that is about to happen.

For those who’ve been happily married, think of that sense of fear the night before and the day of your wedding; jitters that cause one to wonder if they’re doing the right thing.

For those who decide to go back to school or to seek out a new career- there’s an element of fear that can certainly freeze you in your tracks:

Am I doing the right thing? Am I too old? Can I still learn?

For those who have children, and either went through pregnancy or the adoption process, think of all the fear and mystery that was involved.

The not knowing, the waiting, the hoping, the worrying.

For anyone who buys a home- there are all sorts of fears. Can we afford it? Will the closing go smooth? How do we move all our stuff in?

These are just 4 life events that almost always involve some sort of fear, but they can also involve and create some kind of joy, happiness, and glee.

Mark chooses to tell the Easter story through the lens of fear, and in doing so, he lets us know that sometimes being afraid is ok.

When the women flee from the tomb full of terror and amazement, it meant they were very much alive.

It meant they were present.

It meant there was still much more of the story to be told.

And their fear signaled something new- that Jesus was no longer tied down to an earthly realm and limited to bodily form.

Yes- Mark tells us about the Resurrection and chooses to talk about fear. But that is not such a bad thing.

Fear can be used to dismantle systems that no longer work

Fear can be used to create new beginnings.

Fear can push one to discover that they are smarter, stronger, more capable of success than they ever thought before.

Fear can be used to change the world.

Fear can make complacent people get involved to go out and vote, or inspire students to march.

Fear is almost a component of anything worth doing.

Think of our Shepherd’s Pantry. How worried people were in the beginning. How it took a year of meetings to get it off the ground.

How people were afraid it wouldn’t work; we were afraid the money would run out; we were afraid the people would not come.

And look where we are now- feeding over 100 families a month with over $5,000 in our account.

…“Go to Galilee, and there you will see him,” the women are told.

Though they flee in fear, there is no doubt that this fear allowed them to go out into the world and experience Christ in a whole new way.

Perhaps this fear allowed them to discover how Christ is there in the wilderness and the seashores, how Christ is there in the community and in our homes.

How even in death, and in illness, in the unknown and in things that seem broken, and beyond repair- Christ is there.

The Resurrection will always be a mystery, but what a wonderful mystery it is, because no matter how it is told, it is a reminder that God is not done amazing us.

And if we learn how to embrace our fears, we can even amaze ourselves.

For that, we can say amen and amen.