Sermon: St. Mark 16:9-18
THE REST OF THE EASTER STORY IS JESUS TAKING AWAY DOUBTS
Sermon Text, Mark 16:9-18. 9 Now when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons. 10 She went and told those who had been with Him, as they mourned and wept. 11 And when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe. 12 After that, He appeared in another form to two of them as they walked and went into the country. 13 And they went and told it to the rest, but they did not believe them either. 14 Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. 15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. 17 “And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18 they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
Lord, this is Your Word and these are Your words. Sanctify us by the truth. Your Word is truth. O risen Lord, how patient You were with Your disciples who did not believe, every time someone came and told them You were risen from the dead! We too need this patience of Yours. Our faith in You is often weak. Please be patient with us, Lord, and as You appeared to Your disciples to take away their doubts, we pray that You would come to us in Your Word and Sacraments to strengthen our faith and remove all our doubts, that our joy may be great. Amen!
Dear people loved by God in Christ who is risen, so that my preaching is not empty, your faith is not empty and you are no longer in your sins: Grace to you and peace from Jesus Christ, who lives, and was dead, and behold, He is alive forevermore. Amen.
Earlier we heard Thomas saying, “unless” this, “unless” that, “I will not believe.” But here allthe disciples get a black eye.
First, Mary Magdalene tells them that Jesus is alive, but “when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe.” Then two others in Jesus’ larger group of disciples said that Jesus had appeared to them while they were walking; this is the “road to Emmaus” story. Mark tells it in just one verse, then adds: “They [the Eleven] did not believe them either.” Then Mark says “later” Jesus Himself appeared and rebuked them “because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen.”
Mark’s gospel is covering a lot of ground in a short time. In the other gospels, you take more time with each appearance of the risen Jesus. The story of the memorable hike to Emmaus in Luke is 23 verses long. In John, you walk through the events of the day Jesus rose, there’s a scene with Jesus and Mary Magdalene, then it’s 7 days later when Thomas is there, then a whole chapter of another time Jesus appeared to some of the disciples as they were fishing. These stories of the risen Jesus savor every moment, it’s like a dream world where you don’t want to wake up, you don’t want it to end.
But in Mark, it’s a harsh reality. It’s: “They did not believe … They did not believe them either … They did not believe those who had seen Him.” Then a stinging shot from Jesus: “He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart.” Mark is telling us the rest of the Easter story. It isn’t pretty.
That’s because this part of the Easter story is about faith. And while we think lovely things about “our faith,” often it isn’t a pretty picture. It’s a struggle. Believing can be hard.
You may not have a hard time believing that God made the world, that Jesus is God and Man, or that He died and rose again, or did miracles. But it’s like the story of when Martin Luther looked up and saw his wife Katie coming downstairs dressed in black, and he asked why. She responded that she assumed God had died, from the way Luther was moping around.
You too have times when you feel things are hopeless and bleak, you mope around, you are so worried or you have a deep sadness. You don’t have a thankful heart, you become bitter about your life and hard on others. You may even doubt if the Bible is true or God is real, or doubt that God is in control, or be unsure if God forgives you. The world encourages such doubts.
Of course this isn’t all life consists of. We do other things. We distract ourselves, just like we see Jesus’ disciples fishing or taking a long walk to try to forget their sadness. But in leaving out thosedetails, and repetitively declaring, “but they did not believe,” Mark is reminding us that in the end, the distractions don’t work. Those other experiences come to an end.
The one thing that’s important is our faith. So what do we do when this is lacking or this is missing? Our natural impulse is to struggle to believe. We naturally think of believing as our action. It’s our struggle, it’s up to us.
1. We learn that faith isn’t your work, it’s God’s work.
We need to hear this We have our own doubting problem. Doubt comes from having a stubborn, hard heart. Doubt is refusing to believe, like Thomas. Life in the world hardens you more, makes you cynical, skeptical, expecting the worst. But your stubborn heart is “on you,” it shows that on your own you can’t believe, just as the catechism teaches: “I cannot by my own reason and strength believe in Jesus Christ” – or keep believing.
But Mark shows us that it’s only when Jesus Himself shows up that they believe. Until then, “they mourned and wept” – Mark is careful to show us that – and “they did not believe.” Jesus does rebuke them, because they should have believed. Mark lets us hear Jesus saying they have a “hardness of heart,” so we can realize what actually happens when Jesus appears.
Here is the point: Jesus gave them soft hearts. That’s what faith is: God giving a soft heart that listens to Him and believes in Him. See how it was with the disciples: Before Jesus is with them they don’t believe. Then when Jesus appears, they do believe. Now, this isn’t just applying to them. But this is a promise that this is what happens when Jesus appears. Faith happens.
This is a great promise for you! – When the risen Jesus appears to you, you will be given faith, that’s the promise. You are given a soft heart, filled with childlike trust in Him and filled with big-hearted love. You have this faith and this soft, tender heart not because you worked hard for it but because He puts it into you. This faith is the gift of God, not of works.
2. We learn how and where He gives this faith.
Mark skips over a whole bunch of days. Jesus’ appearance to His disciples in His risen, glorified body, lasts just one verse. Then we skip to when Jesus is about to ascend to heaven, 40 days after His resurrection. What we want to notice is that this part before His ascension is about how faith comes to people.
What would we do without these verses? We hear Jesus say, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature,” that is, every person. Then we hear Him say, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned.”
Notice, incredibly, it’s right after Jesus rebukes them for not believing the reports of His resurrection that He tells these very men, who had difficulty believing and who had doubts, to preach the Word and baptize. Faith comes through the Word and Sacraments preached and given by sinful men.
All of it is about how Jesus gives faith now. You don’t see Him with your eyes like the disciples did. You don’t get to put your fingers in the nail wounds like Thomas did.
But what do you think is happening when a person is baptized, and the words “I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” are spoken? The risen Jesus Himself is appearing to you, His blood is in the water to wash sins away, and to create a soft heart, a clean heart.
What’s happening when I preach the Gospel to you, or in the absolution I say, “I forgive you all your sins,” or you receive Jesus’ body and blood in His Supper for the remission of sins? The risen Jesus Himself is appearing to you, speaking these words that forgive your sins. He creates in you a clean heart.
What’s happening when you hug your children, tell them all is forgiven? Or when you can’t cope with a death and someone tells you that you will see your loved one again? Or when a Sunday School teacher teaches children a story about Jesus? The risen Jesus Himself is saying this to you through them.
This is how the Holy Spirit gives you faith and keeps giving you faith. He gives you Jesus. The risen Jesus appears before you just as with His disciples, but now it’s in His Word and Sacraments. His appearance to the disciples wasn’t greater than how He comes to you now in these “means of grace.” In His Word, He is putting faith into you. He gives you a soft heart full of trust and love. He takes away your doubts. Only His Word can do it.
This is the point of those “signs” that Jesus mentions. Speaking in tongues, healing the sick, handling snakes and surviving poison aren’t a part of what the church does now; but originally Jesus gave this power to “accompany” His Word, as proofs that His Word is true and powerful to create faith.
This is powerful in you. It’s no accident that at the very beginning of Mark’s gospel, the first word from Jesus’ lips is: “Repent and believe the Gospel,” and virtually the last word Jesus utters in Mark is: “he who believes will be saved.” Jesus speaks faith into you. Faith comes through the Word.
Your life is the rest of the Easter story: Jesus takes away doubts as you hear Him speaking – speaking faith into you, speaking you to heaven. Amen!