Who Will Roll Away the Stone for Us? Mark 16:1-8
It was a tremendous obstacle, blocking both the way in and the way out. That it blocked the way out was not the concern of Jesus’ aunt Mary, her younger sister Salome, and his deeply devoted friend Mary Magdalene. They knew the very dead body of their beloved was sealed within the cave-tomb. Their concern was that nobody had properly anointed his bruised, bloodied, broken body, as his burial had been hastily done. They had thus not been able to honor Jewish burial custom. Moreover, they felt the inner weight of an even greater injustice. It is that they were denied one last opportunity to bless the one who had so blessed them, to seek in a light, last touch or a gentle forehead kiss some sort of inner peace to contradict the panic and pain of having watched him suffer so greatly unto his last suffocated breath.
Yes, their collective concern was not how he would get out … for the gravity of their grief grounded their hope from flying much higher than the grave. They just needed to get in, to get beyond the obstacle that surely lay ahead of their loving intentions.
Part of planning ahead involves anticipating any and all obstacles to fulfilling your duty or accomplishing your person mission. There is no sense assuming it’s ever going to be clear sailing; life teaches us to expect the unexpected. The question is whether or not it will be a minor glitch or a major delay, a pebble or a boulder.
Do you have any projects, plans or personal goals you are working toward completing in full right now? Are you ignoring, dreading or addressing possible obstacles?
The three women knew the way to the tomb and knew well what they were called by custom and by their God and by their deep devotion. They just didn’t know how they were going to get around the obstacle of the great stone that had been placed to seal in Jesus’ remains, to shut him up and out once and for all.
They could easily have turned back for home, abandoned the yearning in their hearts to do the right thing; but they did not let knowledge of the obstacle deter them.
They could have stayed home in the first place, stuck in sorrow like a fly on sticky paper; but they did not allow the betrayal of disciples and the conspiratorial worldly powers to crush their courage, to kill their devotion.
They could have chickened out, convinced that the guards posted at the tomb might abuse or arrest them; but they held fast to their spiritual hearts, to their deepest security system.
So they walked ahead, surely quite unsure, yet fully resolved to offer final blessing.
Have you ever felt like some great effort or project wasn’t worth getting off the ground, convinced it was doomed to defeat from the start? Have you ever felt this way but forged ahead despite the apparent odds? If so, what spurred you on?
In the aftermath of witnessing the heart-wrenching horror of Jesus’ crucifixion, these women nonetheless ventured out in steadfast hope. When they finally arrived at their destination, they were handed a giant-sized umbrella of utter amazement to cover their concerns and sorrows. The massive obstacle had been moved aside! The tomb … was empty! Jesus was not there!
The moment that umbrella had been raised, however, there also rose up great concern and fear. Just how and why had this happened? Had someone stolen the body, committed a final, disgusting injustice against Jesus by not even letting him rest in peace? Had the guards been asleep? Or had they allowed it, they who had so delightedly rolled dice to gamble off pieces of his clothing? Why not his entire body? Would they, his truest friends, ever be able to be with and to bless Jesus again? Was there any hope beyond their horror?
Understand that these women were his closest kin, not, technically speaking, his disciples. They may or may not have heard Jesus make a couple key promises before his self-emptying walk to the Cross. They may or may not have heard him foretell that he would rise again after three days in the tomb and how he was going to then go ahead and meet everyone again back in Galilee. They may or may not have heard him foretell that the grave was not at all about to forever swallow up his ministry of holy healing and the forgiveness of sin.
If they had heard, then why didn’t they believe? Was such a holy promise to fantastical to anchor their hope? It’s more likely that had they heard, they most likely did not focus on the promise of a bodily resurrection. We today who are preoccupied with the scientific method, forget that Jewish tradition taught that resurrection was first and foremost about the end-time renewal of all creation. His speaking of a miraculous return, therefore, would have been considered something much grander in divine scheme than just popping back into his broken body.
Even so, Jesus’ promises still stood firm. His ministry was not just about the end-times, but very much about the here and now. Evidence of God’s resurrection power was needed to rally the troops. He was not about to renege on meeting them again in Galilee three days after the evil of this world had done it’s best to rid itself of his saving grace. Nobody knew this better than the angelic young man who sat in the empty tomb. His dazzling white robe clearly identified him as a heavenly ambassador sent to let the women know that Jesus was loose in the world once more.
Have you ever had an obstacle to your plans, your dreams, your duties removed in some seemingly miraculous sort of way? If so, was there anyone in your life at that time who helped you confirm that greater, holier plans are always afoot? Someone who said something like, “When one door closes, God opens another?”
Interestingly enough, the women did not react with relief. It was not a particularly liberating joy and comfort to have the answer to the question about who would roll the stone away. It was, of course, God who rolled it away. It was God, “because there are some things that even the monstrous power of death cannot digest.” <!–[if !supportFootnotes]–>[i]<!–[endif]–> But by God trumping the grave, by sending Jesus back to Galilee where his ministry began, it was clear to the women that the sacred journey with Jesus was restarting. And this meant having to once again go out and face a world the both desperately needed him, while simultaneously dismissing and mocking him. It meant that his followers would need to endure their own crosses until that final end-times day of promised renewal.
We bear our crosses for Jesus. We daily live with the reality of seemingly immoveable obstacles to faith, hope and love. They are always just ahead of us on our faith journeys. We want to serve our Risen Lord, to be his utterly devoted friends and disciples, yet we aren’t always confident in His promises. We don’t always remember that God rolled away the biggest boulder sized burden on our heart – that of death — once and for all. God did so to show us that all fear-mongering, despair-inducing obstacles can and shall be moved by the resurrecting love of Christ Jesus. To this we must hold fast in faith, that by grace we will go out and catch up with the Lord of All who always goes ahead of us to show us the Way, the Truth and the Life.
We see apparently sealed up tombs every day in the news. Innocent lives gunned down; cities swallowed by earthquakes; economies crawling through a cloud of doom; modern-day pirates terrorizing alongside saber-rattling dictators and jihadists; war snatching the lives of both brave defenders and people just trying to live their lives, to raise their families, to live peaceably in constant contexts of hostility and chaos.
How do we get beyond such boulder-sized burdens and into the tomb with Jesus? We don’t. The boulder isn’t there. It’s been removed. He isn’t there. He out and about! We must turn around, constantly and faithfully, and head with hope toward the Galilee’s of today, and on through to the New Jerusalem. Jesus awaits us. He is Risen! Alleluia, let’s meet up with him and by the amazing grace of God, keep up the holy work! Amen.
<!–[endif]–>
<!–[if !supportFootnotes]–>[i]<!–[endif]–> Rev. Dr. Scott Black Johnson, http://day1.org/1241-deadly_things
