I am Convinced that Redemption is Available

Mark 16:1-8

Today is the day that we celebrate the empty tomb; Jesus is alive! Death can’t defeat him, and the grave can’t hold him. This is the reason we have church, because we serve a risen Christ!

Over the past seven weeks, we have been studying through the Gospel According to Mark, specifically, we’ve been looking at how Mark looks at spiritual warfare. This series was conceived by my pastor cluster group, and we came up with the weekly scriptures and sermon titles and a Bible study to go with each week’s message. We called our series: Convinced because we have looked at it all with the reminder: I am convinced that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. We saw Jesus baptized in the Jordan and tempted by Satan in the wilderness. We saw Jesus casting out demons and empowering his disciples to do likewise. We were reminded that God is the source of all strength when dealing with spiritual warfare… or anything else. Through everything, we’ve been reminded that we can be confident that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus!

Today we conclude this series with a powerful statement: I am convinced that redemption is available. In our day and in our culture, it can be easy to forget the surprise of Easter. It can be easy to take for granted what came as a shock. We have grown up in a place where most people at least know about Easter. I was honestly shocked when I was in seminary and a little neighbor boy asked what Easter was all about and I told him that Jesus had risen from the dead, and he had no concept of who Jesus was or even who God was – that there even was a Creator, let alone One with a Son. It shocked me because we’re used to starting from a point well beyond point A when it comes to scripture.

But think of the wonder of Easter. Dead people just don’t come back to life. We see death not only as the great equalizer, but as the eventual winner. People live and then they die, and that’s it. Maybe their memory remains, or maybe they’re forgotten. But Easter changes everything.

But before we get to Easter Sunday, we have to have Good Friday. Before we get to the resurrection, we first have to go through death. Before we get redemption, we have to see failure. I’ll be open with you that one of my greatest fears is the fear of failure. This is an area where God is working on me. As a bit of a perfectionist, my natural tendency is that if I don’t think I can succeed in something, I shouldn’t even try it. After all, who wants to be known as a failure?

Take Bill Buckner, for example. If you’re a baseball fan, the name Bill Buckner is synonymous with failure. Over 2500 games played in 22 seasons with a lifetime batting average of .289. 174 home runs. Though Buckner committed only 128 errors in 13,901 chances, many people remember him for one thing: it was game 6 of the 1986 World Series, Boston was up 3-2 in the series, and a routine ground ball went through Bill Buckner’s legs, scoring the winning run. Boston ended up losing that game and eventually lost the series, all because of one error.

What would it be like to be remembered for an error? What would it be like to be remembered for something that went wrong?

I want to look at two such characters from the scriptures: Jesus and Peter.

Back in Mark 8, Jesus began to teach his disciples that he would suffer, be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. (Mark 8:31) From this point on, Jesus’ ministry and mission is shaped by this truth and everything moves toward the cross.

When Jesus rode into Jerusalem a week ago, he fulfilled Messianic prophecy. His friends and followers excited about the coming King. Finally God was working on their behalf! Now God would redeem his people! But Jesus went about it in a different way than they expected. He continued to tell them that he would be tortured and die. He began telling them about the signs of the end of the age and told them to keep watch. As he was warning his disciples what would happen, the chief priests and teachers of the law were looking for some sly way to arrest Jesus and kill him. (Mark 14:1). And Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them. They were delighted to hear this and promised to give him money. So he watched for an opportunity to hand him over. (Mark 14:10).

Jesus celebrated Passover with his closest friends, declaring that the broken bread they ate was his body, that the cup they drank was his blood, poured out for many. He predicted that all of his disciples would fall away, that even his close friend Peter would deny him three times.

And Jesus was arrested, betrayed by Judas, deserted by his friends. He went to a trumped-up trial full of a parade of false witnesses whose lies didn’t even match up. But Jesus never refuted their lies. When the high priest asked him if he was the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One, Jesus answered, using the name of God: “I Am.” Jesus, the one who was supposed to be the Son of God, the King of Kings, was taken to the Roman governor of Judea, Pontius Pilate. This puppet ruler not only sentenced Jesus to crucifixion, but also had him tortured. And Jesus was crucified, a horrible death, and he was buried.

Such a shame. Such a great teacher who cared so much. And that’s where some would leave him, yet another religious martyr.

Peter was one of Jesus’ best friends. A few weeks ago, we looked at Mark 8, in which Peter correctly identified that Jesus wasn’t just a prophet, that he was the Christ. Other accounts include that Jesus specifically identified Peter as The Rock, upon which Jesus would build his church. Peter was one of Jesus’ closest friends; they were a foursome, Jesus, Peter, James, and John. These were the ones who went to the mountain of Transfiguration. After celebrating Passover with his disciples, they all went to the Garden of Gethsemane, but it was Peter, James, and John who Jesus invited to go along with him to pray.

But upon Jesus’ arrest, Peter denied that he even knew Jesus. He began to call down curses on himself, and he swore to them, “I don’t know this man you’re talking about.” (Mark 14:71) Luke’s gospel includes the detail that just as Peter, for a third time, denied even knowing Jesus: The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. (Luke 22:61a). This is the last time we hear Peter’s voice before Jesus is crucified. Denying that he even knows “this man.” What a way to conclude the great career of being a disciple. He would forever be known as the guy who followed Jesus and left him in his time of need.

Another failure.

Thomas Jefferson was one of our founding fathers, and was famously a Deist. He believed in a God who created and then set his creation loose. In order to substantiate this position, Jefferson had to cut out parts of the Bible that contradicted his beliefs, including all of Jesus’ miracles. The account of Jesus’ crucifixion in the so-called “Jefferson Bible” is maybe the most depressing thing to ever read. The work ends with the words: “Now, in the place where he was crucified, there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid. There laid they Jesus. And rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed.”

To be honest, if the Gospel ended here, honestly, it wouldn’t be gospel at all, because Gospel means “Good News”. But the story doesn’t end in a grave! Jesus was not just a martyr. Because on the third day, on Sunday morning, when the Sabbath was over, the women came with embalming spices to anoint Jesus’ body. It comes as a shock when they reach the tomb and find the stone rolled away. Knowing something was amiss, they went into the tomb, and they saw an angel. The angel tells them not to be alarmed: Jesus has risen! He is not here! This is good news!

Some of us have experienced failure. We have failed God. We have failed our friends and family members. We have failed ourselves. And until Mark 16, we see only failure. But into this world of failure comes a new message: Redemption is available!

The angel gives the women instructions: But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’” (Mark 16:7)

Not only has Jesus overcome death, but he has more to do. He is continuing on to Galilee. And not only is he going ahead of them into Galilee, but he invites his disciples to meet him there. And he specifically mentions Peter, the same one who denied that he even knew Jesus. While John’s Gospel includes Jesus’ explicit reinstatement of Peter, Mark is subtle and to the point: “Go, tell his disciples and Peter.” Jesus is saying that he wants Peter there, too. Knowing what Peter had done, Jesus still wants him in his inner circle. I am convinced that redemption is available!

And the women fled the tomb, trembling and bewildered. I don’t think I ever really noticed this. I’ve studied the book of Mark – I even took a whole seminary class on it – but I don’t think I ever noticed the women’s response to the empty tomb. Not excitement. Not a rush to tell everyone. Nope. Fear. If you’ve been reading through Mark’s Gospel, it might not come as a shock. In Mark 4:41, after Jesus had calmed the storm at sea, his disciples were terrified.

In Mark 5:15, Jesus had cast a “legion” of demons out of a man, and the response of the townspeople upon seeing the man, sitting, dressed, and in his right mind: fear.

In Mark 6:50 the disciples saw Jesus walking on water, and they were terrified. His response to them: Immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

In Mark 9:6, the author includes a parenthetical explanation for Peter’s irrational behavior on the mountain: He did not know what to say, they were so frightened upon seeing Jesus transfigured before them and seeing Moses and Elijah show up.

And in Mark 9:36 as Jesus told his disciples about his upcoming betrayal, death, and resurrection, the disciples didn’t understand what he was talking about and were too afraid to ask him.

Every time when Jesus has revealed his divinity, people are afraid. Jesus shows that he has power over nature. His disciples are afraid. Jesus shows that he has power over demons. The townspeople are afraid. Jesus is transfigured; his closest friends are terrified. Jesus pinpoints his mission; his disciples are afraid. So now, when the women find the empty tomb and hear that Jesus has risen, their response is not great joy and wonder, but fear and trembling. You might have thought that all fear would be gone by now, but Mark focuses on their fear to conclude his theme of discipleship. Every time that Jesus revealed his divinity, the response is fear.

Every step of the way, God has had to reassure his people not to be afraid. I found 74 times in the Bible where God tells his people “do not be afraid.” When God calls Abram, he says, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.” Genesis 15:1

God tells Isaac, Abraham’s son: “Do not be afraid, for I am with you.” (Genesis 26:24)

When Joshua was taking over for Moses as the leader of God’s people (in Deuteronomy 31:8), Moses says to Joshua, “The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

Why does God have to continually tell each generation not to be afraid? I think it’s natural to be afraid. There is so much to be afraid of. We’re trained from a young age that the world is a scary place and there are all kinds of things to be scared of. There are all kinds of things that are out of our control, and it’s frightening.

The women left the tomb bewildered and troubled, not knowing what would come next. And that’s how the earliest manuscripts of Mark end. Mark leaves the story unfinished. Most Bibles include a disclaimer that “The most reliable early manuscripts and other ancient witnesses do not have Mark 16:9-20.” Later, what happened after the resurrection was filled in (and, as an aside, I believe it wholeheartedly), but Mark left it unfinished.

Why might that be? We know what happened next – that Jesus appeared to the disciples, that he reinstated Peter, that he commissioned them to go and make disciples of the whole world, but what we don’t know is how each one of us will respond. Only God knows what will happen next in our lives. God is telling us, just as he told the women (through the angel), that Jesus is alive and that he has a plan for us.

How will you respond? Are you afraid? The Apostle Paul later reminds his young protégé, Timothy: God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. 2 Timothy 1:7.

Are you still stuck back in the failures of the past? Until he rose from the dead, Jesus looked like a failure, but when he rose victorious over sin and death and Satan, he made redemption available for everyone. If you are in Christ, you are no longer defined by those failures. You are defined by His triumph! Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17)

So as we go from this place, recognize the gift Jesus gave us on the cross, the gift of victory over sin and death, the gift of redemption, the gift of a new beginning. I am convinced that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.


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