Telling the Easter Story

“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.”

– Mark 16:8.

For those of us in Lectionary-based traditions, this year is the “Year of Mark,” so the Gospel readings appointed for Sunday morning services have come, for the most part, from Mark’s Gospel this year. That means that, between my Holy Week and Easter duties at St. Thomas’s and my attendance at Morning Prayer and Chapel at school, I’ve heard the resurrection account from Mark at least four times this week (it feels like far more than that!).

And each time, I’ve found myself stuck on Mark’s ending, quoted above.

If you were to open up a Bible and look at the ending of the Gospel of Mark, chances are you would see this ending, followed by four more episodes, where Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene, Peter, two other disciples, and then gives what is often called “The Great Commission.” But most biblical scholars agree that Mark originally ends at verse 8. With the women leaving the tomb, too frightened to say anything to anyone, that the later episodes were added by other members of the Marcan community, having found the original ending unsatisfactory for a number of potential reasons.

But we know that those women did not remain silent. Even if none of the other resurrection appearances took place – whether those in Mark or those in the other gospels – at some point, they must have told somebody what had happened. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be a Gospel in the first place.

So why does the evangelist end their gospel in confused, terrified silence?

To challenge us to tell the story.

That’s what Easter calls us to do. Easter isn’t about putting on nice clothes, singing some alleluias, going to church one day a year. Easter is about allowing the Good News of the resurrection take hold of us and drive us out into the world ready to work for resurrection wherever evil and death seem to hold sway. We are called to be like those women who, no matter what Mark says, overcame their terror and amazement, and allowed themselves to be changed by their experience at the empty tomb.

We are called to tell the story of God’s unbounded love within our hearts and out in our world.