Resurrection of the Lord (Year B, RCL)

Last fall a friend of mine attended a lecture at the University of Mississippi delivered by Stanley Hauerwas. His talk was followed by an invigorating, hour-long question-and-answer dialogue. My friend reported that afterward he and some students, another minister and several laypeople went to someone’s house and talked about God for another hour or so. How novel.

If Mark’s ending creates discomfort and uncertainty, it is partly due to our knowledge of how the Easter story is told in the other Gospels.

Is this any way to run a resurrection? Is this enough to persuade, to stir new life in the followers of Jesus?

What has God done? Everything. What have we done in return? Nothing.

"Were you there?" asks the song. No, no one was.