And they said nothing to anyone, since they were afraid
Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2017 11:20 am
Some of the earliest manuscripts of Mark end with this account of the resurrection:
According to Mark, this was the first response to the resurrection: They said nothing to anyone, since they were afraid. The angel said "go, tell His disciples and Peter", and they told nobody.
We don't always get it at first. Eventually, God can break through ... but God is so far beyond our ways that it's not surprising we don't always get it. More than we can ask or imagine ...
Today, we know how it all worked out, and we rejoice at the resurrection of Jesus. So it's surprising to read their emotions - amazed, alarmed, trembling, overwhelmed with astonishment, afraid. We just don't know what to do with this kind of amazing good news - and maybe they weren't sure it was good news at this point, maybe they just didn't know what to make of it.When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so they could go and anoint Him. Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they went to the tomb at sunrise. They were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone from the entrance to the tomb for us?” Looking up, they observed that the stone—which was very large—had been rolled away. When they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a long white robe sitting on the right side; they were amazed and alarmed.
“Don’t be alarmed,” he told them. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has been resurrected! He is not here! See the place where they put Him. But go, tell His disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you to Galilee; you will see Him there just as He told you.’”
So they went out and started running from the tomb, because trembling and astonishment overwhelmed them. And they said nothing to anyone, since they were afraid.
According to Mark, this was the first response to the resurrection: They said nothing to anyone, since they were afraid. The angel said "go, tell His disciples and Peter", and they told nobody.
We don't always get it at first. Eventually, God can break through ... but God is so far beyond our ways that it's not surprising we don't always get it. More than we can ask or imagine ...