Mark 16:4-5
Have
you ever entered a room that you expected to be empty and found an unexpected
guest? It can be unnerving to find someone where you thought there was no one. Sometimes
it can be a good surprise. Sometimes, not so good. It might be someone you
haven’t seen in years, someone who you have wanted to see. Or it could be
someone you don’t know, someone you see as a threat to your life and limb. And
the moment of surprise knows no difference. Your body reacts in that first
instance in that fear reaction. There is the sudden jump, the racing heartbeat,
probably a yelp, and the adrenaline pumped into your bloodstream. And all this
takes place in a fraction of a second, without any conscious thought or choice.
So
why do I talk about this? Because that Sunday morning, as the women arrive at
the tomb where Jesus body had been placed, they find the stone rolled away,
something they hadn’t expected. Their first internal reaction was probably a startle
reflex. Then their minds would have searched for explanations.
Imagine
walking into a graveyard, looking for a family member’s grave marker. But as
you approach the place where you know the grave is, all you see is a large pile
of dirt next to a large hole. You look around to make sure you are at the right
place. The trees are in the right places. The graves next to the hole are the
ones that should be there. But the grave you seek is open. Who would have dared
to dig up this grave? What a disgrace! What happened to the casket? Where is
Fred?
These
must have been some of the things those women felt and thought as they saw the
opening to the tomb unexpectedly open. Well, maybe they wouldn’t have asked
where Fred was, but otherwise, you know what I mean. There would have been all
these questions running through their heads.
And
then as they step into the tomb, there is someone in there! Yikes! A young
looking man, and dressed in dazzling white. Who is this strange looking person?
Where did they get that white robe? I
wish I could get my clothes that white. But what is he doing here? And where is
Jesus?
Mark
makes an observation about which I am not sure what to do. Mark says that this
man dressed in white was sitting on the right side, not the left, or in the
back, or in any other place. What was it about the right side that was
important to Mark? I think it had something to do with where Jesus’ body had
been placed on that late afternoon. Either he was sitting where Jesus had been
placed, or he was sitting where Jesus wasn’t placed. Either way, it pointed to
the fact that Jesus wasn’t there any longer. He was gone. He wasn’t sitting on
Jesus, and the other places were empty.
The
specifics mentioned in Scripture were important enough for the writers, and to
the Holy Spirit, that they are there for a purpose. This unexpected visitor is
seated in the tomb that should only be holding the dead body of Jesus. These
women have come to say their final goodbyes, something they didn’t think they
would be doing that Sunday morning. Things had moved so fast in the last five
days. That final supper, the goodbye words, the walk to the garden, the agony
in prayer, the arrest, the sham trials, the verdict, the beaten Jesus barely walking,
the indignities, the spikes, the jolt into place, the mocking, the insults, the
grace-filled interactions, the adoption of Mary, the final breaths, the end,
the release, the hasty burial.
And
now the stone is out of place and a strange young man is here where only a body
of Jesus is supposed to be. Too much to take in.