He has risen; he is not here. These words, from the lips of the young man, likely an angel, from the Gospel of Mark, are the first of countless times they have been spoken in some form for the last 2,000 years. He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! This is the Easter proclamation of the Church of Jesus Christ and it will be until the day we worship him face to face in his glorious kingdom. While some churches may no longer say those exact words, they are still proclaimed in their message whenever they speak of the resurrection. And while we celebrated that same resurrection a couple of Sundays ago, it is still proclaimed, not only for the great 50 days of Easter, but constantly, consistently, continually.
Now each of the four Gospels have an account of the resurrection, but Mark is my personal favorite. Matthew speaks of the reaction of the guard and their subsequent bribery to keep the message quiet. Luke reveals the unbelief of the disciples at the good news from the women who had come to tell them, moving on then to the miraculous encounter on the road to Emmaus. John tells the intimate account of Mary Magdalene, who after hearing Jesus speak her name, tells the disciples that she has seen the risen Lord. Mark’s account, however, is most similar to Luke’s. There is no trembling guard, nor do we even see the risen Jesus in the earliest manuscripts. Instead, after hearing the Easter Confession from the angel, the women flee and tell no one for they were afraid.
The reason this story is my favorite is because it accurately portrays us! It’s easy to find that we can be afraid of sharing the good news of the death and resurrection of Jesus, even when we are doing so with people who believe it is true, let alone those who do not yet believe. And this is not said in judgment, for I can confess that there are times when I have failed to speak this same Gospel message out of fear.
All of us can confess this. All of us have been afraid at some point in our life of faith.
But the best news from the Gospel of Mark is that the message is still proclaimed! Even though the earliest copies of the Gospel don’t specifically say so, the women who were at the tomb did share this amazing message, speaking through their fear because of how wonderful and how amazing the news actually is. And the same is true for us. For even though we may have failed at times, we still have the opportunity to share the best news of all time — that Jesus died on the cross, was buried, and he is now risen from the dead! And so let us boldly proclaim those same words of the angel, the women, and countless believers: He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!
