November 10th, 2024

After a slight change of direction with the celebrations of the Reformation and All Saints Day on the previous two Sundays, the focus goes back to the number of Sundays after Pentecost, and that number is currently twenty-five. The Gospel Reading for this Sunday is Mark 12:38-44, and we are getting closer to the end of the church year, and along with that comes the emphasis, and a certainly appropriate one, of the Last Day.

Throughout this past church year, in these website writings we have been going through the Gospel according to Mark, in the order in which the writer laid it out, a relatively significant amount at a time. Most recently we have been going back and looking at some of the more unique things of that account, particularly the historical presents (when a past-tense verb is expected in the text, but a present-tense verb appears). We have also been connecting these historical presents to the living creature of the Lord’s throne that has been frequently connected to the Gospel according to Mark, that of the lion.

Last week’s writing presented the largest and greatest concentration of historical presents with a look at a resurrection of the dead—not the one of Jesus, but that of Jairus’ daughter. And those historical presents were a combination of actions and speaking, much like a lion is known for its quick (one could say immediate) movement and for its voice (more specifically, its roar).

One of the most interesting things about the Gospel according to Mark is its ending, its very abrupt ending. There does not seem to be much of a resurrection of the dead. And, regarding this point, there is much that could be said.

Here again is a somewhat-literal translation of the final verse of the Gospel according to Mark (16:8): And having come out, they fled from the tomb, for it had them trembling and ecstasy, and to no one, nothing they said, for they were afraid. What kind of ending is that?

The last page was not lost. That ending could simply be called a short-sighted ending. There are two more accounts after this one, the Gospel according to Luke and the Gospel according to John, and both of those help give a much broader perspective when it comes to the resurrection.

In the previous verses, the angel promised the women that they would see Jesus in Galilee, just as he promised his followers. And Jesus keeps his promises. They sometimes are not fulfilled immediately. Today’s Christians can also be very short-sighted.

What is interesting is that the last three historical presents of the Gospel according to Mark, the historical presents that are connected to the resurrection, these are the same three that are connected to the resurrection of the little girl. With these connections, there is an answer to the fear, the uproar, the weeping, and the crying aloud. Words are important. There are so many of them these days that they can easily become very unimportant. But words are still important to the One who started talking in the beginning, the VERY beginning. His words bring his gifts in very gentle and loving ways.

Here are the translations of these two sections; again, they are somewhat-literal translations. And the historical presents are in capital letters:

(Mark 5:38-39) And THEY COME into the house of the arch-synagogue, and HE BEHOLDS an uproar, and weeping and crying aloud, much; and having come into, HE SAYS to them, “Why you make an uproar and weep? The child did not die, but on the contrary, sleeps.

(Mark 16:2-7) And very early the first of the Sabbath, THEY COME upon the tomb, having risen the sun, and they were saying toward themselves, “Who will roll away for us the stone out of the door of the tomb?” And having looked up, THEY BEHOLD that it has been rolled back, the stone, for it was mega, exceedingly. And having entered into the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right, having been clothed, robe, white, and they were marveled out. Now the one, HE SAYS to them, “Do not be marveled out; Jesus you are seeking, the Nazarene, the one having been crucified; he was raised, not he is here; see the place where they put him. But on the contrary, go back, tell the disciples of him and the Peter that he goes before you into the Galilee; there, him you will see, just as he said to you.”

If you would like to know something more about this, it is also interesting to note that the same three historical presents also show up when Jesus cast out the legion of demons a bit earlier in chapter five. Here is that text, given in the same translation style:

(Mark 5:15-19) And THEY COME toward the Jesus, and THEY BEHOLD the demon-possessed one, sitting, having been clothed and being of sound mind, the one having had the legion, and they feared. And they described to them, the ones having seen how it happened to the demon-possessed one and about the pigs. And they began to exhort him to come away from the regions of them.

And embarking, he, into the boat, he was exhorting him, the one demon-possessed, that with him he might be. And not he permitted him, but on the contrary, HE SAYS to him, “Go into the house of you, toward the ones, yours, and report to them what things the Lord to you has done, and he had mercy on you.”
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Demon possession and dead people are both bad things. But the Lord has something good to say in response to both those things, as well as to the other effects of sin. Jesus was pointing out the cross and the resurrection to his followers along the way to Jerusalem. He took all that sin upon himself on the cross. And he paid the price in full. And the Lord of all continues to do some very wonderful things.