Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

It is good to see everyone here so early in the morning to remember and to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Friday night we celebrated “Good Friday,” which was a day of remembrance of the agony experienced by Jesus on the cross.

Yet, it was also a day to rejoice in Jesus atonement for our sins.

It was through His blood shed on the cross that Jesus has made God turn to us in mercy and reconciled us with the Father.

Yesterday was Holy Saturday, the name given to the seventh day of the Holy week.

Some churches celebrate Holy Saturday, for they reflect and contemplate on the darkness that would have befallen us if there was no hope of the resurrection.

Finally, today we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.

As the gospel writer Mark notes in 16:1-8, almost 2000 years ago, about this time, at sunrise, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome went to the tomb where Jesus laid and were told by a young man that Jesus had risen.

In consequence, we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection, for if Christ had not been raised, we would have been in dire straits.

As Apostle Paul reminds us in , “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile, and you are still in your sins.”

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Let us make a pit stop, change gears, and talk about films and books for a minute.

Since this subject will interweave with ensuing exposition of Mark’s resurrection narrative.

Let me begin with some questions.

(1) How do you evaluate a movie or book?

(2) What benchmarks do you use to appraise it?

(3) What are some books from your past that left you a lasting memory?

(4) Is the storyline, the character, and the ending important to you? (5) What is the most essential facet of a book or a film?

Here are my guidelines for appraising a film or a book.

I check whether the it is believable.

I also ask myself if the work was entertaining and thought-provoking.

The setting, the storyline, and specially the characters play a significant role in my evaluation.

The characters are essential, and they also need to be complicated.

In real life, people are complicated, so simple characters do not work for me.

I love stories with good dialogues.

Let me give you examples of what I believe to be good film.

Blood Sport with Jean Claude Van Damn is one of them.

If you grew up in the 80s and early 90s, you know what I am talking about.

We have U.S soldier Frank Dux who has been accepted to a kumite.

If you do not know what a kumite is, it is a secret competition where the best fighters of the world come to compete and prove that their styles are the best.

The movie has a great storyline, where Dux needs to show that an American can overcome a stereotype, being that white folks can also fight.

There is even romance, where Dux falls in love with the beautiful reporter Janice Kent.

To top it all, it is based on a true story.

In short, the movie has a great storyline, complex characters, an impressive setting, credibility, and mostly importantly, a great ending.

Great movies also have memorable lines.

Do you recall Forrest Gump?

Do you remember Gump’s famous line?

“Mama said, Life was like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get.”

Again, great films have great endings.

That was the case with E.T. unless you have no heart, who would not cry when E. T’s spaceship comes back to get him.

As E.T is near the spacecraft, his hearts glow.

E.T points to Elliott’s forehead and tells him that he will be there with him always.

Then E.T takes offs.

The movie has a heart-wrenching ending.

You may be asking, what does Mark have anything to do with movies?

Just like a wonderfully made movie, Mark is a beautiful account of Jesus’ story.

Furthermore, Mark’s Gospel parallels to a fast-paced action/drama movie, where Jesus and the disciples quickly move from event to event.

Moreover, Mark appears to have a clear goal, for he wants us to know that Jesus is the Son of God, the true Messiah.

Mark affirms it from the beginning of the gospel and ends it with an account of the Roman soldier asserting Jesus’ divinity.

At this point, I need to bring something to your attention.

Earlier and most reliable manuscripts of Mark’s gospel ends it in verse 8, although your Bibles may have verses extending up to verse 20.

The truth is that some scribes or scholars were not satisfied Mark’s ending, claiming that ending on verse 8 would be intolerably clumsy.

Scholars like David Garland believe that later scribes less than satisfied with the ending, tinkered with the Gospel and attempted to fill the perceived gaps.

But I like to tell you that there is a greater consensus among academics that the gospel indeed ends on verse 8.

Now I can ask, just like a great movie with all the aspects of a great story, why does Mark end his Gospel with such an ambiguous, incomplete ending?

Why does Mark’s ending peters out, giving a feeling of being cheated?

Furthermore, you may be wondering as to why I would choose Mark as opposed to John or Matthew who recount more far-reaching and satisfying endings.

Well, I am here to tell you that there is a higher purpose as to why Mark ends his Gospel in the way he does.

You will also think twice before supposing that is not a suitable text for an Easter message.

I like to give you three points that will hopefully convince you that Mark’s ending is perfectly suitable for an Easter message.

For it will reveal why we should believe and trust in Jesus in light of His resurrection.

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It would do us well to trust the promises of Jesus (1-3)

First, it would do us well to trust the promises of Jesus.

The reality is that we can quickly fail to hear, let alone, believe in Jesus’ promise.

Verses 1-3 begin with the account of Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome.

We know that they were present at the crucifixion, and we also know that both Marys were present when Joseph of Arimathea placed Jesus in the tomb.

It shouldn’t be a surprise that we see these women reappear at the empty tomb.

At a glance, we trust that these three women are special.

In other words, distinct members of Jesus’ circle, insiders of God’s reign.

We also note an unusual feature of Mark for listing the names of the three women.

It appears that Mark wanted to certify by witnesses the integrity of the events that took place.

Women as eyewitnesses to incident attested to the integrity of the resurrection narrative.

For it is noted that the opinion of a woman in those days, particularly in religious matters were not always considered.

Consequently, unless the women were present at the tomb, the early church would not have accepted their testimony.

The majority of scholars expound that the testament of the women was in character with the divine plan since those who are discounted in human society are the first to be included.

Nonetheless, I like to offer you a different perspective concerning the three women.

Beginning with verse 1, we are told that the three women bought spices to anoint Jesus.

However, the procuring of spices and anointing of Jesus’ body speaks of a mistaken outlook in part of the women.

For they should have known from the onset that Jesus would not have been found dead in the tomb.

The women did not go to meet the risen King, but to finalize the burial which was interrupted by the Sabbath.

They should have recognized with a greater assurance that Jesus would not have been present at the tomb.

For He often predicted His resurrection beginning in the earlier accounts of Gospel.

For instance, says, “And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.”

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There is also where Jesus asserts that He will rise after three days; which states that Jesus would rise after three days; and where Jesus tells the disciples not to let anyone what they had seen until He was raised from the dead.

Finally, in , Jesus predicts that all the disciples will desert Him and after He is raised, He would go before them to Galilee.

It is clear that the women, have they listened, should have known that Jesus may not be present at the tomb.

In the end, the women, just like the disciples, did not attend nor had a clear view concerning the death and resurrection of Christ.

In Mark, there is the theme of the disciples as individuals who continuously fail to understand Jesus.

This idea is espoused by the various passages, starting with 4:13, which speaks of the disciple's incapacity to recognize Jesus’ parables (4:13).

Other examples also testify to the disciples’ failures.

This is evident in their confusion of the ritual purity (7:17); Jesus’ feeding of the crowd (8:4); His hard admonitions of the disciple's failure to understand Him (4:40, 6:52, and 8:17).

And finally, the disciple’s ignorance concerning Jesus’ prediction of His suffering and death (8:32), which certainly attest to their failure to understand Him.

In the same manner as the twelve disciples, the three women fall short to listen and realize Jesus’s message.

The conclusion is that just because these people closely followed and served Jesus, it did not signify that they had full trust and faith in His word.

When I look at the three women or the disciples who did not trust in Jesus’ earlier message, I am reminded of my relationship with my wife.

Sometimes it is challenging to understand her, and what she wants of me.

You must observe, listen, and discern her thoughts and feelings.

She expects you to know how she feels, what she likes and dislikes.

Discernment must happen without the need for her to say it out loud.

In turn, it testifies to my lack of awareness, my deficiency in construing her thoughts, in which ensues to my exasperation.