April 5, 2015, Easter Sunday: Mark 16:1-8

It is never taking the easy way out to preach Mark’s Gospel on Easter Sunday. The first time I tried it, I spent more time than usual in study. I looked for connections to the shock and awe the women at the tomb felt, and I contemplated their reasons for telling no one. I worked hard to make sure my sermon would explain how Mark’s account is unique but without becoming the sort of thing that’s more compelling in the footnotes than in the preaching.

The bulletin clearly listed the passage: Mark 16:1–8. I listened as the reader reached the end, “So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” I took a breath and prepared to stand and move to the pulpit—but wait! Clearly convinced that the bulletin contained a misprint, she continued to read. “Now after he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons.”

The story seemed incomplete to her. She thought that of course she was supposed to go on and read the contested longer ending of Mark, which describes various appearances by the risen Christ and names the signs of power passed on to his disciples, including the ability to handle snakes. Terror and amazement seized me, and I quickly considered the possibilities. If it hadn’t been for the snakes, I might have let her continue. Instead I went to the lectern and quietly said, “We are stopping at verse 8 today.”