Mark 16:8

Posted by DJL on Apr 12, 2012 in Daily Bread | 0 comments

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.

Fair warning: I don’t think we can give this verse the attention it deserves in one reflection, so I plan on spending a couple of days on this particular – as in particularly intriguing, particularly important, and particularly vexing – verse. 🙂

There are two halves to this verse – and at first glance the first doesn’t surprise us while the second does. I mean, the fact that they fled the tomb in terror and amazement makes a fair amount of sense. They’d come to the tomb looking for a dead body and instead were greeted by a young man dressed all in white telling them that the impossible had happened. It’s good news, but pretty hard to believe, as in totally hard to believe. But he seems to know them and know their circumstances – after all, how could he give them such specific instructions? – so maybe he’s legit.

All in all, pretty tumultuous, pretty outrageous, pretty world-disrupting – so, yeah, I can see them fleeing in terror and amazement. But then you expect them to calm down, get a grip on themselves, and share the message.

But they don’t – and that’s what’s disturbing – they tell don’t say a word to anyone.

So what’s going on? Are they just proto-Lutherans (I’ll pick on my own tribe for a moment) – you know, they’ve heard the good news but can’t imagine sharing it? Are they absolute failures? Did they not catch the good-news signal or misunderstand the clear directions? Are they worried this is an awful hoax? What?

Mark gives us the key: they were afraid. Fear does that – it paralyzes and mutes. Gripped by fear, things that are normally easy become incredibly difficult. Gripped by fear, it’s hard even to name our fear, let alone move beyond it. Fear robs of us the ability to act and speak, it traps us inside of ourselves where the only reality we can imagine is the one our fears suggests is inevitable.

We’ve all been there – so afraid we could hardly speak, let alone act, and all we can think of doing is running, as far and as fast as we can, away from that which terries us. Remember?

So maybe we shouldn’t be too hard on these disciples, questing their motives or wondering about their fidelity. We all know what it’s like to be gripped by fear. We all know what it’s like to be these women.

There’ll be more to say, but for now, let us join these women in a moment of solidarity and pray that in our day and week to come we know no moments of such absolute fear.

Prayer: Dear God, we are not the first, and will not be the last, of your disciples to be afraid. When we are afraid, come to us. When we are afraid, surround us by your love and the love of others dear to us. When we are afraid, reach out to us through the people in our live. When we are afraid, grant us courage, that we may not be dominated by fear but infused with your love, for only love casts out fear. In Jesus’ name, Amen.