Author: Wesley White

They went out, and fled from the tomb, for they were trembling and bewildered; and they did not say a word to anyone, for they were frightened.

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filled with too much information
our mothers were flabbergasted

this will take some gestation
before it can speak on its own

from outside appearing overcome
great pondering deepens distance

a wilderness widens to welcome
urgency transfigures to enough

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The Greek and its traditional translations into English leaves much to be desired. Victoria Phillips, in Levine₂₃₃, affirms that,

The three emotional responses of the women (‘fear’, φοβος; ‘astonishment’, ἔκστασις; and ‘trembling, τρόμος) have positive ethical connotations through­out the Gospel.”

“Trembling” and “ecstasy” (better translations) are different than “terror” and “dread”. Sabin2₁₉₉ reflects,

…the meaning of the women’s “fear” is contextualized not only by the precedents of the disciples’ awe but also by their “trembling and ecstasy” (tromos kai ekstasis)—which are, in Mark, the feelings that accompany a breakthrough in human perception.

Religious “fear” throws us into creative confusion as we are consciously caught between the models of our everyday and what might yet be. My own preferred last word is not an undifferentiated “fear” but either “awed” or “flabbergasted”.

Aichele₁₇₃ concludes that “the reader has yet to encounter the resurrected Jesus.” Those yearning for such an encounter will take heart from a later poet, T.S. Eliot—

With the drawing of this Love and the voice of this Calling
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.

We are left with a basic choice of storing this story away to see what our unconscious will do with it or returning to the beginning to re-read the story through the lens of every character encountered and with an appreciation of our own partnering in such a story.

Who knew? A second take? That can happen in many places in Mark—at heart it is a Wisdom tale.

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But go, and say to his disciples and to Peter ‘He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see him, as he told you.’”

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to you is entrusted
an everyday still available
for you and more than you

the dead have been buried
you are to unearth the living
to trust rising together

you have said thanks
now comes living yes
welcome to G*D’s presence

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With a strong command to “Go! Tell!” the Three Wise Women are given an apostolic (those sent forth) task to witness to the scattered men (Peter being their leader).

The women are to do so out of their experience of an “empty” tomb.

So often Jesus has instructed people who have experienced a mysterious return to life to remain quiet about it. Here what is to be told is a double announcement—we are leaving this tomb and claiming our life for Jesus is risen from this tomb. This double announcement about ourself and the universe is to be told.

What is to be told is that Jesus’ rising happened before the women arrive. It is already accomplished. There is no opportunity here for John’s story of Peter and another disciple beating Mary Magdalene into the tomb to be the first to note its emptiness. Nor is Luke’s version of bringing the men to the tomb to confirm its emptiness. Not even Matthew’s similar tale is sufficient as it still leaves the male disciples in charge a commission intended for all.

Galilee is a reminder that the last identifier of Jesus is that he is from Nazareth in Galilee. The Sea in Galilee is the locus of a first call to Simon and Andrew, James and John. Like the Geresene, they are not to follow Jesus away from everyday life, but return to their home base and tell what they experienced with Jesus—to incorporate the Wisdom, the Mystery of New Life, into their own—to move from student to a next teacher (not a replica or faint image but a full-partner or colleague). In terms of theosis, to become as that which is beyond.

The first effect of Jesus’ rising is a recapitulation of the last becoming first. The background of women, supportive in Galilee, has become a foreground of women. Women are transformed.

We might view this whole Day One as a trance such as a Day of Ecstasy. Such a state is etymologically connected with a G*D-initiated trance for a new beginning (Genesis 2:21) and covenant (Genesis 15:12). Walking through ordinariness to rising anew.

But go, and say to his disciples and to Peter ‘He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see him, as he told you.’”

---

to you is entrusted
an everyday still available
for you and more than you

the dead have been buried
you are to unearth the living
to trust rising together

you have said thanks
now comes living yes
welcome to G*D’s presence

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Women are always getting the short-stick of diakonia—they “serve” while men “minister”. Here they are told to ὑπάγετε(hupagete, “off with you!”, “depart”).

In Mark’s gospel, we do not hear of Judas dying. Readers might wonder why Peter, especially, needs to be told. Is his betrayal greater than that of Judas? Judas’ betrayal proactively moved Jesus to the suffering and death components of his envisioned journey. Peter’s betrayal was reactive in his self-protective denial.

The “especially” translation may be too dramatic. To honor Mark’s tendency toward ambivalence, it is better to translate it more toward a more general, “including Peter”.

When Jesus is “going ahead of you” or “going before” you, we are not in another glorious or mocking parade (depending on how you see the earlier entrance into Jerusalem). This is a temporal, not spacial precedence. Jesus is already present in everyday settings.

For those who distinguish different types of grace, this places a risen Jesus in the position of prevenience (already present, much like practice that leads to Preemptive or Premeditated Mercy).

It is in Galilee, everyday life, where fishing is fishing, a business, not an allusive luring of a witness or apostle, that Jesus will be “seen”. Those who have been watching for some apocalyptic scene will need to recalculate their position to arrive at the learning of wisdom in everyday terms—not the glory of a rebuilt Jerusalem and Temple repeating its fall to authorizing death and away from a house of prayer for “all”.

Aichle₅₅ helps us wonder:

Insofar as the young man here speaks for Jesus, is he telling the women (who may hear for the reader) that the resurrection has not yet occurred? Is he implying that the resurrection is even now, at the present moment of the reader’s reading, a future event?

but he said to them, “Do not be dismayed; you are looking for Jesus, the Nazarene, who has been crucified; he has risen, he is not here! Look! Here is the place where they laid him.

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a first order of business
acknowledge fear’s failure
point to an ever-present
cheshire cat’s smile
quietly beckon resolve
relax breathe listen

you are searching
the wrong soil
for a seed already harvested
it is not safely stored away
but already invested
in feeding thousands

you won’t find here
what you came looking for
all that’s present
is a changed life
the question left is
not surety but trust

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Readers may remember the contested “Son of G*D” language from 1:1. As it is not attested to in the earliest manuscripts, I prefer to delete it.

Either way, though, 1:1 identifies Jesus as “Christ”—“Messiah”, “Anointed”. That’s the starting identifier.

Here at the end of Mark Jesus is known as “of Nazareth”, which is in Galilee. This returns Jesus to his pre-baptism identifier (1:9)—“Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee”.

After all those titles along the way of “Son of G*D”, “Son of Man” (ben ’adam or image of Adam), “Son of David”, “Son of Mary”, “the Beloved Son” “the Anointed”, “Messiah”, we are left with the mystery of Jesus (a human, one from a no-place like Nazareth) being like G*D. This can be taken as a confirmation of a “divine” image in every human (Eastern Orthodox vision of theosis). Now we can look back to the early Galilean disciples—to be invited to “fish for people” is to move into the image of G*D, to come to one’s S*lf, and be a lure attracting others to follow in like manner: to follow their path to wholeness.

Life is never confinable to a tomb. Life rises. In recent applications of the conservation of matter and energy, it may be differently located, but not lost or erased. The old ballad of Barbara Allen gives an image here of rose and briar growing from graves to form a true lover’s knot.

Look. Your assumptions, expectations, religious constructs, and fears have tricked you. You’ve not been “Watching”. Look.

Look!

Going into the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on their right, in a white robe, and they were dismayed;

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ready for a stink
surprise

surprised by surprise
startle

a stone rolled away
surprise

a live body
startle

a young body
surprise

dressed in white
startle

too much to take in
surprise

struck immobile
startle

we’d far rather
a stink

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After finally recognizing there was going to be a stone to be rolled away that they were not prepared to do and being surprised when that impediment had been taken care of, there comes a question of how to proceed.

Do they stop, afraid to go further? Is there a hesitant peek in? Is a confident striding in available to them?

However they enter the relative dark of a tomb, they eventually made out a figure in white, seated.

Following typical human responses to the unexpected, their reptilian brain kicked in with the usual flight or fight reaction. In Greek this is ἐξεθαμβήθησαν (exethambēthēsan, to throw into terror or amazement, to thoroughly alarm). This compound verb is only found here in the authorized Christian scriptures.

Similar words in 1:22 and 1:27 lean toward amazement or astonishment. Those are options to come to after an initial gasp and re-orientation to the situation. Initially, though, surprise upon surprise, as in a horror film strikes the characters far harder than those watching with an expectation of a next body to fall.

The last time we heard about a young man (15:61–52) he had his linen cloth pulled from him as he ran away. Now a young man is seated and dressed (in his right mind?) as was the Geresene (5:15). If Mark is putting these two scenes together, we might expect to hear a message of mercy that the Geresene was to pass on to those in the Decapolis (his Galilee). This mercy has connections with changed lives and hearts that began Jesus’ ministry after his experiences of baptism and wilderness.

But, on looking up, they saw that the stone had already been rolled back; it was a very large one.

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well look at that
our fears failed again
onward

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To look up is to re-engage with reality. We can get so caught up with our speculations and emotions that we lose track of what is actually happening around us. This common experience extends to our spiritual experiences as well.

To look up is to again “watch” as doorkeepers in Jesus’ parable (14:33–37). Our attention is again activated. We are able to see more than “walking trees”.

Of course, inquiring minds want to know how it was moved. The quickest and easiest response is, “G*D did it”. Myers₂₀₆ moves in this direction:

The verb here expresses the perfect tense and the passive voice—the grammar of divine action. This stone has been rolled away by an ulterior leverage, by a force from beyond the bounds of story and history with the power to regenerate both.

This is in line with Matthew’s account (Matthew 28:2) which is not comfortable with Mark’s usual ambiguity. Matthew enlists an earthquake and an angel to effect the stone’s movement. Matthew also has the women hurrying away to tell the disciples (wherever they might be scattered). Before they get far Jesus appears to give them explicit instructions about Galilee.

One way out of this mystery is to posit that the earliest form of the passion narrative ended with Jesus’ burial and Mark has added an empty tomb to it (Ludger Schenke as referenced in Collins₁₁₇).

There are extra-biblical accounts of the stone moving of its own accord at a command from the heavens (Gospel of Peter 9).

LaVerdiere₃₂₀ connects the stone with a return to the beginning of Mark and baptism.

In terms of Mark’s story of the passion-resurrection, the stone was a baptismal symbol, blocking the way for someone effectively to be buried with Christ. The passion was a story not just of Jesus dying but of the challenge for the disciples to die with Christ.

All in all, I appreciate Mark’s simplicity at this point. If we have had a numinous experience, we know any attempt to explain it beyond its surface will be disappointing for both ourself and others.

They were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?”

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there is always one more thing
usually its something small
and we can work around it

every once in a while its big
huger than we ever imagined
that takes more than we have

before we can close the door
on all that has come our way
we need to open it again

we’ve got what we need out here
but how in the world will we
ever complete our closure out here

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It is not unusual for us to get so caught up with intentions that we miss some critical piece of information. The women have been focused on the incomplete burial they witnessed and thinking about making it through Sabbath to bring spices and complete the burial with an anointing.

They hustle to purchase the spices in the dark after Sabbath. They hurry on their way at sunrise.

As they draw near to the tomb it dawns that there is an impediment—that stone rolled over the entrance. Where are James and Joses when you need them? They help to identify Mary as Jesus’ mother, but they are not close enough to help move a stone. Their absence reminds us that all the male disciples, having run away, are also not available.

If we take a step back, we can see that Mark is using the stone as a signifier of death. It is not just Pilate and a centurion who authenticate Jesus’ death. Creation itself testifies that dead is dead. This is a stone that cannot be removed.

The stone is mentioned 4 times in 5 verses. LaVerdiere2₃₂₀ picks up on Mark’s penchant for emphasis through repetition:

Mark underlined its importance. In this part, Mark’s story is not so much about the empty tomb as about the rolling away of the stone.

The symbol of the stone is connected not with Jesus’ resurrection but with his burial. The stone was not rolled against the exit from the tomb but against the entrance to the tomb.

The blocking of the entrance was not just about hindering the bringing of spices, which would be a cultural/cultic confirmation of death.  The stone would also keep out a disciple-come-lately who, at the last minute, might have tried to literally follow and be buried with Jesus as a way to force their way into rising.

Very early on the first day of the week they went to the tomb, after sunrise.

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yawn that market opened early
I’m still exhausted from our vigil

was it only two days ago
I really needed that sabbath

well it’s a new week of creation
let’s listen for a new word

hey you’re forgetting we’re still beloved
we’ve got all the words we need

well yeah for sure of course
but we’re still going to a tomb

oh yeah that’s right
I keep forgetting that

well it’s not far now
what shall we do after

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There has been much made of rising on the third day. There has been a long road trod since the Transfiguration event. All along that timeline we have heard about suffering, death, rising and third days.

Now we hear a different reference—a first day.

A third day rising has baffled character after character. It seems to have a null set that could never be factored in because there was so much resistance to the suffering and death.

When the arrest happened, no one suggested being ready to start a countdown as the suffering and death proceeded to deepen and darken. There was no anticipation of a bright-sun day.

After reminding us that the first day is not related to the rising as an event, but its proclamation, LaVerdiere2₃₁₉ goes on:

Normally, the Greek expression for “the first day” should have been written with an ordinal numeral, prote (“first”), as we find it in translation. Instead what we find in Greek is a cardinal numeral, mia (“one”), making for a very awkward expression in Greek, “the day one,” instead of “the first day.”

The significance of this begins to dawn when we know that the Septuagint (Greek Hebrew scripture used during Jesus’ time) did this same number play for the first day of Creati*n (day one). This eventually connects with those who follow Jesus to have this be day one, a new creation. As per usual, the characters are not aware of this.

When the Sabbath was over, Mary of Magdala, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought some spices, so that they might go and anoint the body of Jesus.

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let’s see
where were we
before yesterday
oh yes
the day before

with a day to process
our starting hope
and a closing scene
we’ll honor our hope
by honoring its dashedness

we’re ready for marketeers
wanting a strong first sale
to token the rest of their day
the cheapest spice
leaves more for beggars

we at least learned
how to love our neighbors
at the material level
and that’s a tough learning
so on to the tomb

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In Mark’s way of structuring his story, the suffering and death part of Jesus’ expectation was begun with an unexpected anointing by an unknown woman and is now about to be concluded with an expected anointing by three named women. [Note: If it weren’t going to be these three women, there was a guild of women in Jerusalem who would attend to the bodies of the crucified to give them as much respect in death as they could provide.]

Given that an unknown woman has already anointed Jesus—in good story-telling process, a Reader may intuit that three named women will not be successful in their quest.

Their only hope may be a present shift from their past. From other sources we hear the sordid background of Mary Magdalene. Earlier, in 4:31–35 Mary, mother of James, was demoted from blood family status to Partner of G*D status. There are stories of Salome’s being Herod’s daughter who asked for Baptizer John’s head. Anyone who changes their hearts and lives might yet find possibilities previously undreamt.

As Mark’s story hurries to its end-point, we will soon find out if their anticipated anointing adds anything but a bracketing of Jesus’ trial and death.

For Mark’s purposes, this storyline with the women does provide a counter-narrative to that of the authorities where Jesus’ body has been notarized as dead, carried away, wrapped, and deposited in a tomb with a large stone to seal him away to stinkily decompose and, later, have his bones cleared away to make room for a next body.

Mary of Magdala and Mary, the mother of Joseph, were watching to see where he was laid.

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it’s late late afternoon
preparation for tomorrow
will have to take care of itself
while we trail this guy

having watched thus far
we can’t not finish
the movie of a life
without watching the credits

who knows maybe
there might be
an easter egg
still to come

a sequel doesn’t seem likely
so let’s let this settle
ahh it’s a final resting place
now we can get back to tomorrow

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Joseph is able to put the tomb behind him—mission accomplished. It is the outsider portion (women) of the insider disciples that are left to perceive where the tomb is.

The word for “saw” is θεωρέω (theōreō,perception). Sabin1₁₉₆ would say, “spiritual perception”. Mark has previously used this word: when demons perceive Jesus’ identity (3:11), the people of Gerasene come to behold what had happened to the pigs and were as afraid of Jesus as the demons (5:15), Jesus sees through the grief of the Jairus’ household to see life still available (5:38), Jesus discerned the import of the widow giving her last coin to the Temple (12:41), and the two Marys and Salome watching a sign of the beginning of the end—Jesus’ death (14:40).

The two Marys are the last two to have an investment in Jesus’ body. They have come a long way from being supporters in Galilee. They have probably heard the stories of various women having been healed and often tell about the woman who anointed Jesus. This has held them while they watched crucifixions from a distance. Now they are steadily progressing closer to Mark’s end game. Jesus’ resting place in the center of a never-ending wilderness of power and privilege, greed and authority has been noted.

Even these last two witnesses have not run the last of their quest. They are already beginning a turn away—they have identified Jesus’ location as a tomb—a tomb from which none return.

Even as they see Jesus’ dead body closed in by a large stone, they see the sun going down. It is so close to Sabbath—a Sabbath made for them, not them for the Sabbath—they wither and turn away.