Jesus Has Risen
(Mark 16:1~18)
A deaconess who had suffered from sterility left our church, laying down her ministry of small group leader after having a child. Surely faith is a gift. Gratitude and resurrection do not always come from good circumstances. The goal of our life is neither money nor victory, but holiness. Holiness can be called maturity in worldly terms. It is also the theme of the Bible, which we cant understand without knowing Jesus resurrection. Lets see how it is known to us.
1. Mary Magdalen, the star witness of resurrection saw it. In the passage, three unrecognized women are mentioned as the key witnesses of Jesus resurrection. Likely the writer wants to show us that the women followed Jesus to the last moment unlike his disciples. Lets see what Mary Magdalen, the first witness did and what happened to her.
1 Worrying: Mary Magdalen and other women went to Jesus tomb, worrying about who would roll the stone away from the tomb. When sharing the gospel, we worry that people wont accept it and we will be rejected by them publicly. However, despite our concern for salvation, we often notice the big stone has already been taken away in the time of our actual ministry. Its because evangelism is not done by our own power.
2. Looking for the corpse: The women, who loved Jesus, anxiously look for the dead body of Jesus the Nazarene. They might have wanted to be consoled even by retrieving the corpse of the one they had loved. The young man dressed in a white robe asks them why they are looking for dead Jesus now that he has risen. To me, my husbands sudden death was astonishing news. However, much greater than that was the news of his salvation. Through the Word of Ezekiel, I realized that I should not look for the dead body of my husband, who had already risen from death to salvation. In verse 6, the young man points at the place where Jesus was laid. The empty tomb is the true sign that distinguishes Christianity from other religions. Thus Jesus has risen from the power of death.
3. Receiving Mission: Those who meet the Lord of resurrection receive a mission under all circumstances. Jesus commanded the three women to tell Peter who had disowned him that they saw Jesus resurrected and that he was going ahead of them to Galilee. To Jesus disciples, Galilee must be the place of shame where they first met Jesus, yet ran away from him. Nevertheless, as believers, they should go back to the place of their daily life and mission.
4. Nursing: In the book of Matthew, an angel of the Lord reminded the women that Jesus had said that he would rise from death and the women, filled with joy, ran to tell Jesus disciples. Thus they enjoyed great joy thanks to the angels nursing.
2. It was told to the unbelieving disciples of Jesus. No wonder the disciples, who didnt believe in Jesus resurrection didnt believe what Mary Magdalene said to them. Without the Holy Spirit, no one believes in resurrection. The disciples didnt believe what Mary Magdalene said even more because she was a prostitute, once possessed by demons. I also delivered the message of my husbands salvation through Ezekiel 18. While the women in the same place as I rejoiced it, pastors didnt just as the disciples didnt believe the message of resurrection. The disciples also didnt believe the report of the two disciples, who met Jesus on their way to Emmaus (v.12). Noticing their unbelief, Jesus appeared to them while they were eating, lowered himself to a human being who eats with them, and rebuked them. We also need to lower ourselves to do what we hate to do for others salvation. The disciples had love for Jesus, some sense of duty, and an identity. Yet they had no faith, which prevented them from doing their ministry. Feeling for them, Jesus kept nursing them with his affectionate rebuke.
3. It calls for our mission of evangelism. Jesus commanded his disciples to preach the gospel to the end of the earth even though they had no faith at all. We can carry out this mission by staying in the structure of a true worship service in our church community and small group. Jesus pushes us out to go preach the gospel regardless of our faith. This is how he trains us. He promised that unbelievers would be condemned while believers will be accompanied by many signs. He also promised that he would enable the believers to dispel the power of their devil father in his name. Thus we will believe, live, and enjoy his grace, speaking in new tongues. The new tongues are Im sorry, Thank you! and Its my fault. They are the languages of those who lower themselves and serve others, seeing their sins.
Heres a confession from a deacon of our church. 'On April 5th, I received a message from the hospital that my son passed away three hours after he left home to check his swollen tonsillitis. He fainted after taking the contrast medium till he died of cardiac arrest one hour later. During the five-day funeral after the autopsy, our family had the deepest sharing, a sharing that it had never had before. We were united and reconciled in the funeral worship service, where we repented in tears of our bitterness and asked one another to forgive our heartlessness. Thus God received my son as a living sacrifice for the salvation of our family, leaving our two grandsons as the remnant seeds. Now I believe my son is blessed and enjoying his eternal peace and rest in the heavenly kingdom after finishing his mission. At first I wailed to God, asking why he had taken away my son so fast. But God consoled me with this thought while listening to the hymn 'The bright, heavenly way' during the funeral.' What a great application of a believer, demonstrating the faith in our Lord of resurrection! Thus the deacon was blessed to meet the resurrected Jesus in her funeral, finding her mission as a senior small group leader and a witness of the gospel. May Gods grace be upon our way to the heavenly kingdom from now and forever!
'Dont be alarmed,' he said. 'You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.' (Mk 16:6)
