Mark
16:9-11
After
rising from the dead, Jesus appeared early on Sunday morning to Mary
Magdalene … . She went to his former companions … and told them.
When they heard her report that she had seen him alive and well,
they didn't believe her.
It
was a daring bank robbery. A man came to the teller’s window,
pretended to want to cash a check, then claimed to have a gun and
demanded money. The robber got his cash and quickly left. The only
problem was that he had left something behind – his ID. The police
were waiting for him when he got home. This is one of those things
that happens in this world that is so strange that no one could have
possibly made it up – sort of like the resurrection.
The
resurrection story is strange. It is strange because Jesus was
crucified, dead and buried. It is strange because a dead messiah was
a failed messiah. It is strange because Jesus first appeared to
women and not to the men. It is strange that Jesus appeared to a
woman who had once been demon possessed. It is strange because God
doesn’t raise convicts from the dead. It is strange because the
resurrection was only supposed to happen at the end of time when God
renewed the world.
This
is a strange story – a story so strange that it has to be – well
– true. It has to be true because no one was expecting Jesus to be
raised. It has to be true because the disciples would never have
invented the fact that Jesus first appeared to the women. It has to
true because no new religious movement would ask people to follow
disciples who had not believed in a miracle about its founder. It
has to be true because no one would have made it up.
The
resurrection story is strange. Yet the resurrection is the heart of
our faith. It is the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth that shows us
that death and sin have been defeated and that radically new life is
possible. It is Jesus’ resurrection that shows us that eternal
life is possible for us as well.
So
on this Easter day, let us give thanks for this strange story that it
might continue to give us hope day in and day out as we strive to
faithfully follow the risen, reigning Christ.
John
Judson
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