Reflection, a thought for the month
“He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him” Mark 16:6
April 22nd, 2011
Do you know the artistic work of M.C. Escher? At first glance, the pictures look like ordinary – if rather elaborate – drawings. But closer examination brings a sense that something is not quite right. As your eye is led around the picture – following a series of steps, or the flow of water – you find that you are back where you started. Something doesn’t add up – yet taken one step at a time, it’s hard to find a fault.
Is Easter the beginning or the end of the Christian picture? For 6 weeks we have been preparing, making our way through Holy Week to the foot of the cross. The joyous celebrations of Easter Day mark both dramatic climax and new beginnings. Mark’s Gospel is especially clever in holding this tension together. The ending is unusual – so much so, that people have felt compelled to invent “rational” explanations (e.g. the front and back covers of the original manuscript have fallen off!) The final few verses of the gospel have been added by an editor; they complete the picture, based on other people’s accounts and experiences, but are probably not Mark’s original intention.
We don’t like untidy endings, or things which upset the workings our logical minds. At the tomb, the women cannot find Jesus – either in the tomb or in the garden. They are sent back to Galilee – back to the beginning. Jesus came from Galilee, and it is there you must go to meet him again. This is the message to the women. Go back to the beginning – because really that is the end. That is where you will find meaning.
And Mark is very clever in this. He records the events – what was happening at the time – but he also speaks to us. Where will we find Jesus today? Not among the tombs of the dead, but among the living. We, like the women, are sent back to Galilee. Back to the start of the gospel. We are deliberately left with an uncomfortable ending. Jesus is not here – so could it be that what he said was really true? That he would suffer and die – yes, we have seen that – but then rise to life again? And we are sent back to the start – to consider all over again who Jesus is. From the place of death, we go to the place of life.
At Easter, we celebrate the joy of Jesus’ resurrection. We rejoice that death did not defeat him, we proclaim that in rising again he offers the gift of life to us all. It’s a message of triumph, a message of hope. But it is also a deeply disturbing message. Because not everyone shares that joy. Not everyone shares the belief that Jesus was God’s son.The challenge of Mark – and the challenge to each of us – is to go back to the beginning – and decide for ourselves what we make of the one who was dead – and is now alive for evermore.
So let’s make this the start of our year – a year in which to examine again the life and work of our Saviour, and to follow him wherever we are sent, even if it seems that he is calling us to rather unexpected places.
Revd Anthony.
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