"Forgiveness and New Life" Resurrection of Our Lord B Sermon

Resurrection of Our Lord B

“Forgiveness and New Life”

April 8, 2012

Acts 10.34-43; Mark 16.1-8

Somebody talked. Otherwise, why would you be here today? Somebody must have talked. For almost 2,000 years, church folk have been uncomfortable with the ending to Mark’s gospel, or non-ending if you will. Grammatically, when you look at the original Greek, it ends in the middle of a sentence. Theologically, the gospel ends without any resurrection appearance of Jesus. Sure, the ending could have been lost, which is why there have been a couple of attempts to finish it. But those folk that make a living studying these things are beginning to think Mark did this on purpose, that he intentionally made his gospel open-ended. I tend to agree with them.

This Lent, we have been contemplating various aspects of forgiveness, a huge deal for us who call ourselves Christians. On Ash Wednesday, we heard about the need to come clean about our brokenness. We’ve also heard about the scandal of forgiveness through God’s amazing grace, some ways we might forgive others, forgive ourselves, and even forgive God. On Maundy Thursday we heard how God gives himself to us in the bread and wine of Communion so that we have forgiveness to hold onto. On Good Friday we heard how Jesus, as God’s agent of forgiveness, took all of our brokenness upon himself and gave us his righteousness.

But, when we asked the question, “Can we really forgive and forget?” the answer was a resounding, “No!” We are to forgive, but we cannot forget. In fact, there are things we must remember so they don’t happen again. In doing so, we exposed the insidious character of the notion of “closure” that is so prevalent in our society today. I heard this again on the news last night. There was funeral in Winona for a baby found dead in the river. They have been calling her “Baby Angela” because of some angel artifacts that were found with her. The woman who had found her explained the funeral by saying they needed “closure.” How can there be closure when the baby is still unknown. And even if they do find the parents, how can anyone forget this baby who died prematurely? There can be no closure because life isn’t tied up in pretty bows.

The ending of Mark actually takes us back to opening verse of his gospel, that this is “the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” Just as the empty tomb cannot contain the resurrected Christ, neither can Mark’s story. With God, there is always more to come. Mark’s version of Jesus’ resurrection shows us that God doesn’t fix bad endings. Rather, God meets us in the midst of our brokenness and does some pretty new and amazing things. This is not a “do over” where Jesus pops back to life as if nothing ever happened. Resurrection is a whole new thing.

Our first reading from Acts, where Peter preaches this amazing sermon on the resurrection, is remarkable on many levels. First, this is the same Peter who denied Jesus three times and abandoned Jesus in his time of greatest need. Even so, this is not the same Peter. This is the forgiven Peter who, through the power of forgiveness, has been given new life. The falling away of the disciples and the denial of Peter are not the end of God’s plan for them. When Peter is talking about forgiveness and new life, he is not talking about some abstract ideal he learned from a book. He knows forgiveness personally and he is open to the new possibilities God gives him through Jesus Christ, including welcoming unclean Gentiles!

Somebody talked, and when they did, there was no containing the good news any more than the empty tomb could contain Jesus. Forgiveness means a release from the present so that we can have a different future. Somebody talked to the Pennsylvania Amish who released others into new future after a horrific slaughter of their children. Somebody talked to the people of South Africa who envisioned a post-Apartheid society through Truth in Reconciliation based on forgiveness. Somebody talked and the young man is looking to reconnect with his biological father after some years of separation. Where is God meeting you in your brokenness, doing amazing things, and drawing you into a new future? Christ is risen! Christ is risen, indeed; Alleluia!