1.Empty tomb
During the Lent, we are reflecting on the meaning of the Resurrection by reading the Gospel by Mark. In chapter 16, the Gospel writer described the empty tomb to imply that Jesus was resurrected. Mark’s report is short. The women went to the tomb 3 days after Jesus’ execution and found it empty. Life of Jesus ended with the burial, so will do ours. But Jesus’ case had a unique feature: the tomb was empty. What does it tell us?
Mark wrote that Jesus was put on the cross at 9 o’clock in the Friday morning and died at 3 in the evening. Disciples of Jesus run away meanwhile but the women who followed him stayed near the cross. The Sabbath day begins at sundown on Friday. Therefore Jesus’ body was put in a tomb in a hurry without treated decently to avoid violation of the Law. ; - And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw the place where Jesus was laid.(Mark 15:47)
As the Sabbath day ended with sundown on the following day, the women went to buy perfumed oil to clean up Jesus’ body. Then they brought it to the tomb at the daybreak of the Sunday. Because they wanted to undertake Jesus’ burial adequately. After the earthquake in Tohoku region, many bodies of victims were buried in a cursory way. But the relatives should have intention to carry out the ceremony in respectable way afterwards. The female followers of Jesus wished similarly. Though they didn’t know how to remove the heavy stone which blocked the entrance of the tomb, they hurried to there. When we are completely focussing on the aim, we can’t calculate on the details to reach at it. We begin to act spontaneously and immediately. And the faith must be an act of believing in that way. As long as we reflect rationally, we cannot accept symbolic revelations. We must believe before reasoning, then all the rest follows.
When the women arrived at the tomb, the stone was already removed. Mark didn’t record how or by whom it was done. In that way, he suggested that God acted. Mark seems to mean that God’s power intervened as soon as women took action.
In line with Jewish custom of the era, Jesus’ tomb was cut out of a wall of rock. When the women entered inside, they were surprised by the presence of an angel. And he said to them; - “Don’t be afraid. You are looking for Jesus from Nazareth, who has been crucified. He has risen from the dead; he is not here. Look, here is the place they laid him. Now go and tell his followers and Peter, ‘Jesus is going into Galilee ahead of you, and you will see him there as he told you before.’ “(Mark 16:6-7)
The tomb was empty. So the epitaph should have been, “I am not here.” Because he was resurrected. The word “was resurrected” in Greek is the passive form of “εγείρω,” which means “be surged” again. Mark could have written more explicitly, “Jesus of Nazareth who had been put on the cross was resurrected by God therefore he is not here.”
The angel talked moreover, ; − Now go and tell his followers and Peter, ‘Jesus is going into Galilee ahead of you, and you will see him there as he told you before.’ “(Mark 16:7)
Mark wanted to underline that the Resurrection was not an imaginary event which took place in disciples’ mind. The visible and tangible empty tomb pointed to the fact. So where was Jesus then? The answer was “In Galilee.” And the angle promised them the new meeting with Jesus there. However the women were scared and run away from the tomb and his writing suddenly stopped here. * Some scholars say that he passage after the verse 9 is said to be inserted afterwards. Probably, Mark thought that the presentation of the empty tomb was enough to prove the Resurrection.
* Gospel of Mark (about differing versions) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_Mark#Differing_versions
2.To Galilee
The angel said to the women, “Jesus is going into Galilee ahead of you, and you will see him.” Galilee is the place where Jesus launched the ministry with the slogan, “The right time has come. The kingdom of God is near.”(Mark 1;14-15) It was also the place where Peter and Andre responded to the calling of Jesus. Tax-correctors and prostitutes shares meals with Jesus there too. Many times in Galilee, Jesus healed sick or disabled persons and set women free from social prejudices. For all of those acts, hight priests and law teachers hated him. And, after all, Peter and other disciples were said to go to the very place to see Jesus again.
Let’s see how the disciples reacted to angel’s instruction transmitted by the women. For example, how did Peter felt? On the previous day of Jesus’ arrest, Peter had declared , ; -"Everyone else may stumble in their faith, but I will not.”(Mark 14:29) Nonetheless, the Gospel tells that ; - all of Jesus’ followers left him and ran away, (Mark 14:50) when soldiers came to arrest Jesus.
However Peter followed bounded Jesus till the house of the hight. Indeed, he loved Jesus and worried sincerely about what would happen to him. Nevertheless, when servants of the hight priest challenged Peter, he denied the relationship with Jesus tree times, just as Jesus predicted, ; - “Before the rooster crows twice, you will say three times that you don’t know me.”(Mark 14:72)
So much so, Peter must be filled with strong remorse since then. To that Peter, the angel said, “Jesus is going into Galilee ahead of you, and you will see him.” The message contained no blame or accusation for unfaithful conducts of the disciples. It showed forgiveness alone. Jesus called them for the second time to make them start again from Galilee.
John reported that they left Jerusalem and came back to Galilee. ; - Some of the followers were together: Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the two sons of Zebedee, and two other followers. Simon Peter said, “I am going out to fish.” The others said, “We will go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat. They fished that night but caught nothing. Early the next morning Jesus stood on the shore, but the followers did not know it was Jesus. … He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they did, and they caught so many fish they could not pull the net back into the boat. The follower whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Peter heard him say this, he wrapped his coat around himself. (Peter had taken his clothes off.) Then he jumped into the water. (John 21:2-7)
Peter and other disciples met Jesus in Galilee really after the Resurrection. The legend was given grounds in that way.
3. “Fish for people”
Mark didn’t reported in literal way the encounter of the disciples with Jesus after the Resurrection. However we find several passage which had suggested it ahead. One of examples is today’s invocation verses Mark 1:16-18. ; - When Jesus was walking by Lake Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew throwing a net into the lake because they were fishermen. Jesus said to them, “Come follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” So Simon and Andrew immediately left their nets and followed him.( Mark 1:16-18)
The article is read generally as the scene of Jesus’ first calling to the disciples. However we wonder if they could give up so easily present living bases to follow Jesus. In common sense, it seems very difficult for them to leave family and job to set out with an unknown person. Why and how was it possible for Peter and other disciples to do so? However, how about if we place the event after the Resurrection, instead of at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry? Their conduct might seem more understandable. As we saw earlier, John recorded that the disciples gat back to Galilee after Jesus’ execution to work as fishermen like before. And they met there resurrected Jesus.
The day of the Cross, Peter and other followers were in Jerusalem. Then the women who saw the empty tomb transmitted to them the instruction of the angel to go to Galilee to see Jesus again. At that moment, they couldn’t understand what it meant. The Resurrection must be too difficult for humans to understand. Nonetheless, they went back to Galilee because they had nothing to do in Jerusalem. They had no choice but being fishermen again to make a living. And they met there Jesus who showed them forgiveness alone, without any blaming or accusing words. Instead, he said to them, “Keep my sheep.” Thus they received the calling newly. Then they decided to follow Jesus in authentic sense. They were at last ready to die for the sake of the flock. “Galilee” was named after Hebrew pronunciation “גליל (gimel-lamedh-yodh-lamedh)” which means “district, circuit or region” *
It was a local place far from the center of the country, Jerusalem. But God chose Galilee as the starting point to spread the Good News. And, in general, Christians consider “Galilee” to be the symbol of church because we meet Jesus there. However, in Japanese present circumstances, Galilee for us might be Tohoku. The region was the devastated place by the earthquake and tsunami. And we gat aware that almost all the electricity used in Tokyo was generated there with the nuclear reactors. Now millions of evacuated persons are living in very harsh conditions, not only because of natural disasters but also danger of radiations. Agricultural products of the region are mostly banned, which puts inhabitants under financial difficulties. They had taken probable risks of radioactive in exchange for electricity used in Tokyo and probability turned into reality. We see the same argument in Okinawa. Majority of American army bases in Japan are located in Okinawa, another local region far from Tokyo. Prosper of the capital city was possible at the expense of inhabitants of local regions. But, Gospels say that the arrival of the kingdom of God was declared in that distant place from Jerusalem. Jesus’ disciples set out to spread the Good News from that minor region too. We see now the significance of the facts.
As I mentioned last Sunday, Mieko Kanda, a Japanese psychiatrist who took care of patients of Hansen’s disease, said to them:
— You are infected and suffering in my place. All are stolen from you and you undergo pains of the incredibly harsh illness in my place.
Her words explain the notion of redemption. Recently, we experienced the calamity and leaned from them. The victims there are bearing danger and pain in place of inhabitants in Tokyo. Even before the incident, the region had social and economic difficulties due to aging generation and decreasing population. We must not let the region abandoned. We must support its inhabitants at any rate. We must deal with the issue as a matter of faith, not only by humanitarian means. We must share their sufferings as ours and of this church. That is the very lesson of today’s lecture.
*Galilee http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_of_Galilee#Etymology
http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/b-hebrew/2008-April/035677.html
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