March 31, 2024
Easter Sunday, March 31, 2024 – Acts 10:34A, 34-43; Colossians 5:6B-8; John 20:1-9
There was a famous newscaster who died about fifteen years ago. His name was Paul Harvey and his tagline for his broadcast was, “And now, the rest of the story.” There’s one more line in today’s gospel that the church does not give us on Easter Sunday, probably because it ends the gospel on a sour note. But the last line of this reading goes like this, “Then they went out and fled from the tomb, seized with trembling and bewilderment, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” There’s another modern translation that says, “They went forth from the tomb half overjoyed, half fearful, and said nothing to anyone because of their great fear.” Clearly it can’t be both at the same time.
St. Mark’s Gospel is the first Gospel that tells the story of the resurrection. And clearly, Mark wants us to understand that there is conflict and disillusion surrounding the event of the empty tomb. Just for the fun of it, I looked up the words that are used in the Greek language when Mark wrote it. And what he said at that point was tremblore and ekstasis. The women were filled with tremblore and ekstasis. Tremblore you can sort of figure out for yourself. That’s the root of the English word tremble. So, they were shaking, trembling. Most people tremble with fear or anxiety. But that second word is tricky. It’s ekstasis, from which we get the English word ecstasy. For us, the word ecstasy means a dreamlike state, usually filled with intense joy. But the actual Greek word comes from two little, tiny Greek words - ek and stasis, which means to stand outside. So, I’m standing outside myself. We have an English expression that says I was beside myself. We can be beside ourselves with joy. Beside ourselves with sorrow. Beside ourselves with confusion. You name it, we can be beside ourselves with anything.
St. Jerome, when he came to translate the gospel into Latin from the Greek, when faced with this difficult choice of how to translate these words, chose fear and trembling. The words he used were tremblore, which is just a carryover from the Greek, and pavis, which means - I looked it up - means nothing else except fear. No other choices. And that’s where we get the English expression fear and trembling. He was in fear and trembling. So, St. Jerome opted on only one choice, fear, but there are a number of choices. And you can understand why.
Think of what the women had gone through. Jesus was their very dear friend. And what gets them through the tragedy of a friend’s dying is the job they are assigned in Jewish society. Women go and care for the dead body. They couldn’t do it on Friday because the sabbath was close at hand. And so, they had to wait a day and a half to do what ordinarily they would have done the moment that Jesus’ body was taken down from the cross. So, even though they are sad – that’s their emotion - they are relieved by the fact that they have something to do. Something that gets them over. Until they get there and find that the tomb is empty. It doesn’t really make any difference what the young man says. In their minds they say, “Oh God, what is this? Now what do I do?” And they may have responded by thinking to themselves, “Oh, my God, is it really true that he has come back to life?” Or they might have thought, “Oh, my God, what do I do now? Where do I turn now? What does this all mean?” There are many reactions they might have had to having their whole understanding of what is means having to deal with death turned upside down.
So, what did you feel when I read the story? You know, we don’t usually think about feelings with regard to these gospels. We think about facts and intellect. This is what we were taught, yeah, Jesus rose from the dead. But each of us has a response to that deep inside. You know? And our response could have been very much like that of the women. “Oh, he’s risen! That changes everything!” And God whispers to us, “Yes, it does.” Or we might have responded with anger. “Now that changes everything! Changes the way that I look at life.” And God whispers to us, “Yes, it does.” Or we might have been very sad and taken aback. “Well this changes everything. I thought I understood and now I don’t understand. Now what am I going to do?” And God says to us, “Yes, that’s a problem.” And so, we leave the Church filled with what? Tremblore and ekstasis. All mixed up. And God says to us, “Yes, yes you are. Happy Easter.”