After his death on the cross, Jesus' body had been hastily wrapped in cloths and put in the nearest open tomb; to avoid breaking the Sabbath. It was a practical thing to do. The tomb was closed with a great stone to protect the body, but the burial preparations had not been completed. So Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome had with them spices and all that was needed to prepare the body for proper burial. And as walked to the tomb so early, they had no doubt at all that Jesus was dead. Their mission was practical - they had to finish the job - the only thing that concerned them was practical - Who will roll away the stone for us? Now the stone was very large, and probably wedged with smaller stones to prevent its movement, so for the women, this was an important thing to consider.
As it happened, they didn't have to worry about the stone at all, it was already rolled back, and they saw, instead of the dead body of Jesus, something that filled them with terror and amazement, so that they ran for their lives, too frightened even to tell anyone about what they had experienced.
Imagine the scene; three women, carrying their bags of spices, enter the garden and make for the tomb. It is early in the morning, no more than half light, but as they come closer they see that the stone has been moved. Has someone arrived before them? Has someone disturbed the body? Have those who crucified Jesus come to commit yet another indignity on his dead body? They hurry forward, in fear and anger to confront whoever has disturbed Jesus' body. When they enter the tomb, the body has gone, Jesus is not there. Instead there is a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting there, waiting for them. The women turn to him to demand an explanation. But the young man tries to reassure them, "Do not be alarmed," he says "you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised, he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him."
And are the women reassured? - obviously not, for terror and amazement seized them, and they fled, disregarding the young man's instructions to tell Peter and the other disciples, for they were afraid.
And that is the end of the Gospel of Mark. Later on, other writers tried to bring the story to a better conclusion and in the most ancient manuscripts we have two such attempts; but we have before us what is probably the original end. Mark's story of the resurrection has some strange points. Why is there fear and terror? Who was the mysterious young man in white? Where was the body of Jesus? Who moved the stone? Well, to this day, there are no answers to these questions. The Bible gives us few clues, and we can't ask Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome. Historians argue and theologians write long books, but the mystery remains.
Which is a good thing for us. When we see the beauty of a rainbow, we don't want a science lesson about refraction and the wavelengths of light, we want to enjoy the rainbow. In the same way, we don't need to explain the details of the resurrection. What we want is the fear, the wonder, the mystery. We want to be filled with the power and love of God which needs to be felt and seen and touched.
So we take the resurrection as Mark brings it to us, and we try to find the same sort of experience in our lives. We search the events in our lives so that we can say, "Yes, this, for me, is the resurrection."
Almost everyone is looking for something to make their life complete, something that is more than money or power or possessions or family. Those who do not know about the resurrection, and those who do not believe it, will never know that they have missed the very thing they are looking for.
Those who know the story, for whom resurrection is part of their belief, can experience and live the resurrection every day of their lives.
The bible tells us that the resurrection was a surprise, it was terrifying, it was mystifying. The resurrection is always a surprise; Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome were not expecting anything more than a dead body which needed caring for; the resurrection turned their lives upside down.The disciples were lost in its mystery, amazed, incredulous, doubting, fearful, and perhaps that is the way we should approach life - as if every moment is the resurrection.
We approach our lives with a sense of wonder, a sense of the mysterious presence of a power greater than our own. It amazes us and surprises us. What does it mean to live? To die? How is it that I can look at myself in a mirror, and say, "I am alive". This great power whom we may call God, how do I experience this?
We approach our lives with doubting and fear - What is happening to me now? What will happen to me next? How can I live through this day? Can I bear the load that I have to carry? How does God help me?
We are like the three women, faced with the unexpected, and we feel the same as they do. But we know that the resurrection is just the beginning of life; that's what it means. The facts of the resurrection, whatever they were, however they were experienced were just the beginning of new life in Christ. Every day, from the first Sunday, the road to Emmaus, Pentecost, the road to Damascus, new discoveries are being made. Those three women, and all who turned to the resurrection discovered more and more about themselves, about Jesus the Christ and about God. The resurrection is the beginning of a new journey of discovery and it is the attitude which allows us to make discoveries. Those who live with no expectations will receive what they expect. Those who live in the resurrection are those who make discoveries. Those who live in the resurrection are living in hope, and those who live in this kind of hope are those who will find what they are looking for.