Mark 16:1-8

Easter – Year B

Mark 16:1-8

Mary, Mary, and Salome, now representing the discipleship narrative once held by James, John, and Peter, were practical to wait until Sunday dawn to go to a tomb. Tombs are dark enough in daylight and to do so after dark would add difficulty to difficulty. They were not practical in their uncertainty about being able to get in when they got there. Where was Martha who would have organized this expedition so they would know they could enter when they arrived?

Well, it turned out the spirit of Martha had been on duty after all – the door was open and they walked right in.

I suppose they might have known that things were already falling apart in their orderly world when the stone had been moved. It doesn't begin to sink in, though, until they enter to find another transfigured figure who transfixed them with words unimagined – "Jesus ain't here, he's on the way to Galilee. Tell those behind you that Jesus has gone on ahead of you (sort of a John the Baptizer reprise)."

Well, what now? Our question about the stone sure had a response we weren't looking for. Now there too many more questions suddenly swirling within. We can't even talk to one another yet.

When practical and caring women go quiet, look out – gestation is taking place and birth will come in its own time.

What questions are taking root in you? What has surprised you into silence that it might become you? [Note: remember to read the phrase, "become you" in several ways.] Eventually you will "go ahead" too, so enjoy the growth going on now and the going ahead will be more joyous.

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In today's WUMFSA reading of Say to This Mountain: Mark’s Story of Discipleship by Ched Myers, Marie Dennis, Joseph Nangle, OFM, Cynthia Moe-Lobeda, and Stuart Taylor we hear:
     ". . . as the reader buckles under the weight of this ignominious end, Mark tells a curious story.
     "In a parenthetical comment, we learn about a "young man" who flees with the other disciples (14:51). This naked flight symbolizes the shame of the discipleship community, leaving behind a "linen cloth." The garment will reappear as the burial wrap of Jesus (see 15:46), and the young man will reappear in Jesus' empty tomb, fully clothed in white robes (see 16:5). We shall see that this transformation of clothing, as in Jesus' transfiguration (9:3ff), represents both a promise and challenge to the reader."

How are you tying various parts of this story together?