Mark 16:1-8

To be seized by the living Lord is a fierce and a terrible and a beautiful thing. The sort of thing that one never really recovers from. Not really.

I mean, can you imagine it! Can you imagine the gloom of that first Easter morning. That long walk to the tomb, to offer the one, last, final gift that’s left to give. The least they can do is offer a proper burial, finish the process they didn’t have time for before Sabbath. He deserves at least that, right?

Imagine showing up, bracing yourself for such a tragic, final sign of love, barely holding in the waves of grief pounding at your chest, only to show up find that the door is wide open. And the place that’s supposed to have a body is taken up by a stranger, sitting patiently on the edge, almost as if he’s been waiting for you. And this stranger in white simply says, “Don’t freak out! You’re looking for Jesus, who was dead. But he’s alive now, and living people don’t belong in tombs. You better head on back home. He’s waiting for you!”

To be seized by the living Lord is a fierce and a terrible and a beautiful thing. And the reading says the women fled in silence. And can you blame them?!  I mean, have you ever experienced something so extraordinary, so unexpected, that the only possible response was silence?

In my own life, I can tell you that I started to discern a call to ministry when I was 15, prompted by an experience I can only describe as a run-in with the Living God.  And it was a profound experience. One that [clearly!] changed the course of my life. But I’m not exaggerating at all when I tell you that it took me nearly 2 years,  2 years!, to even be able to say the word “pastor” out loud.

And so when I hear about these women who fled, as the Greek reads, in “terror” and “ecstasy”, I don’t blame them! What’s remarkable is not that Mark’s gospel is the only one who records this “great silence”, but that the other gospels don’t!

To be seized by the living Lord is a fierce and a terrible and a beautiful thing. The sort of thing that one never really recovers from. Not really.

Forget your old way of life. It’s gone. God’s doing something new and you better believe it’s going to disturb you! And, as our gospel tells us this morning, Jesus isn’t waiting around for you to figure it all out, to get comfortable with what it all might mean.

Jesus has no intention of giving us time to sit around and ponder whether we believe in this sort of thing or not. He’s already on the move! It’s like a giant, holy game of “catch me if you can”! It’s why we call ourselves followers of Christ. We do not bring or create or form the Kingdom of God. We simply stumble into what God has already done and continues to do.

You know, it’s been said that the gospel of Mark is the most “Lutheran” gospel, simply because in the gospel of Mark, we hear loud and clear that, with or without us, God is on the move. God is at work transforming our hearts of stone into hearts of love. He is building the new creation, one life at a time, over and over again, until the fullness of time.

But make no mistake, the invitation and the call is clear. God may be on the move, but know, without a doubt, that God is doing this for you.

God has gone ahead for your sake. Out of such great love for you, God has gone ahead, has scouted out new territory, is building the new creation. And the call of Christ is to keep your eyes open. Because while the call of the Living God is impossible to ignore, it’s easy to miss. Because more often than not, the Kingdom of God hides in broad daylight, looking suspiciously like every day, ordinary things.

Bread. Wine. Water. Multiple people in the same room at the same time! Remember that?! But it’s more than that, too. The hiddenness of God is no less true outside the wall of the church. What the eyes of the old creation see as strangers walking down the street, or criminals locked behind bars, or families showing up at shelters or pantries, the eyes of faith see Christ himself.

The call of Christ is to keep your eyes open. Because while the call of the living God is impossible to ignore, it’s easy to miss. Because more often than not, the Kingdom of God hides in broad daylight, looking suspiciously like everyday, ordinary things.

But take heart. Wherever you find yourself going, go in faith knowing and trusting that God has gone before you. There is no corner of life or death that God has not preceded you, even into the tomb.

And God has gone ahead of you into new life itself, for you. God is building the new creation for you.

But consider yourselves warned. To really experience the depths of God’s love, to be seized by the living Lord, is a fierce and a terrible and a beautiful thing. The sort of thing that one never really recovers from. Not really. And thank God for that.

Amen.