Reverend Ref +

EASTER DAY

Every once in awhile, I have to wonder about the people who put the lectionary together. This is one of those days. If you look at your bulletins, you'll notice that the selected gospel passage for today is Mark 16:1-8; and that is what I read . . . for the most part. What's missing from the reading is what is normally called "The Shorter Ending of Mark." This part of verse 8 reads: And all that had been commanded them they told briefly to those around Peter. And afterward Jesus himself sent out through them, from east to west, the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation.

I don't know why the designers of the lectionary chose to leave that part out, but they did. I personally think it was a mistake, simply because it leaves the listener with a negative view of the women. The young man, an angel probably, told the women to go and tell the disciples and Peter that they would see Jesus in Galilee. The women flee the tomb in terror and amazement and don't tell anyone. It's in the next half of verse 8, the omitted section, that we hear the women did exactly what they were told.

I think this is important because, generally speaking, Mark doesn't paint a very good picture of the disciples. They often misinterpret the mission of Jesus, they don't get the parables and have to have them explained over and over again, and they just don't get it. At some point, they all fail. Peter, James and John fall asleep while Jesus is praying. Judas betrays him. Nine of them simply vanish. Peter denies him. All of the disciples, at some point, fail.

But notice something here: after the resurrection, Jesus invites them all (except Judas) back into his presence. The angel tells the women to tell "his disciples and Peter" that Jesus would see them in Galilee as promised. After all that has happened, the apathy, the betrayal, the abandonment, the denials, after all of that, Jesus is still wanting them in his presence.

The women are just as much disciples and apostles as the 11 men are. The Orthodox Church refers to Mary Magdalene as "the apostle to the apostles." That's high praise. But still, these women who have been part of Jesus' ministry for a long time, who did not desert Jesus during his Passion, who followed him as he carried his cross to Golgotha, and who stood by him as he died on that cross, even these women are prone to failure in Mark's gospel.

And this is it. "Go and tell his disciples and Peter that . . . [they] will see him in Galilee." And they fled and said nothing to anyone. The women failed. At the last, they couldn't follow Jesus completely. By cutting off the last part of verse 8, we don't hear abou the women being redeemed. We don't hear that Jesus accepted them back into the family. And I think that is a mistake.

At Easter, we are reminded that Christ conquered death. It is through him that we have everlasting life. It is through him that our sins are forgiven. It is through him that we are welcomed back into the family of God.

Here I stuck a little ad-lib stuff particular to each parish that I can't remember, but seemed to work ... you had to be there for this.

Jesus still wants you in the family of God; won't you join him?