Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation
Speaker 1: Church and.
Speaker 2: This is our podcast.
Speaker 1: I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 2: Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Speaker 1: Hope it gives you perspective to see God has moving
Speaker 1: in your life.
Speaker 2: Enjoy the message. Mark chapter sixteen, verse one.
Speaker 1: When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene and married, the
Speaker 1: mother of James, and Salome brought spices so that they
Speaker 1: might go and anoint him. And very early on the
Speaker 1: first day of the week, when the sun had risen,
Speaker 1: they went to the tomb, and they were saying to
Speaker 1: one another, who will roll the stone for us? From
Speaker 1: the entrance of the tomb, Who's going to do it?
Speaker 1: And looking up, they saw that the stone had been
Speaker 1: rolled back.
Speaker 2: It was very large.
Speaker 1: Entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on
Speaker 1: the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they
Speaker 1: were alarmed.
Speaker 2: And he said to them, don't freak out.
Speaker 1: You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.
Speaker 2: He has risen.
Speaker 1: He is not here see the place where they laid him,
Speaker 1: But go and tell his disciples.
Speaker 2: In other words, you can.
Speaker 1: Look but don't stay long, because he is not here
Speaker 1: in this dead place. He is not here. He has arisen.
Speaker 1: So go tell his disciples and Peter that he is
Speaker 1: going before you to Galilee. There you will see him
Speaker 1: just as he told you.
Speaker 2: And they went out and fled from.
Speaker 1: I wonder what you're running from today, because sometimes when
Speaker 1: life disappoints our expectations, we find ourselves hiding from the
Speaker 1: very places that we came to looking for God. They
Speaker 1: fled from the tomb for trembling and astonishment had seized them,
Speaker 1: and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
Speaker 2: And on that note, Mark's Gospel ends. It's an anti
Speaker 2: clomactic ending.
Speaker 1: It's not how we would expect it to end, but
Speaker 1: that's how it ends. And there is an announcement that
Speaker 1: I want to give to you. In fact, I want
Speaker 1: you to give it to your neighbor. So pick one.
Speaker 1: Look them in the eyes. Tell them, neighbor, it can't
Speaker 1: end like this. Look at your other neighbor, the one
Speaker 1: you were secretly hoping you'd get to talk to. Tell
Speaker 1: them it can't end like this. Father, anoint your word
Speaker 1: and open our hearts.
Speaker 2: To hear it. In Jesus' name, Amen, you may be seated.
Speaker 2: If you're reading along.
Speaker 1: In your own copy of the Bible, you may see
Speaker 1: verse nine, ten, eleven, and twelve. But those were put
Speaker 1: there much later. By second century scribes. The oldest manuscripts
Speaker 1: of the Greek New Testament, after they had been transcribed
Speaker 1: for centuries, took on some additions. It was almost as
Speaker 1: if the ending, and they went out and fled from
Speaker 1: the tomb, for trembling in astonishment had seized them. And
Speaker 1: they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. Whoever
Speaker 1: was copying it thought, well, it can't end like this,
Speaker 1: But it ends in the original manuscript on a note
Speaker 1: of uncertainty. It ends right there, right there. There's a
Speaker 1: tendency for us sometimes to want to make faith something
Speaker 1: that it's not. I wonder can I appreach to you today,
Speaker 1: like we're real people. It may be that people outside
Speaker 1: of the faith sometimes get the wrong idea about the
Speaker 1: nature of faith, and they think that faith is chiefly
Speaker 1: a matter of imagination. So people who have faith have
Speaker 1: really good ability to suspend their disbelief and think about
Speaker 1: this world that doesn't really exist. But faith for me
Speaker 1: is not a matter of imagination. It's a matter of interpretation.
Speaker 1: What I mean by that is, for me, faith is
Speaker 1: not a denial of reality, but it is a deeper
Speaker 1: reality than the reality that I see, that governs the
Speaker 1: way that I live. This is the essence of faith
Speaker 1: in Mark's Gospel. It is always a demonstration. It is
Speaker 1: not always visible. But just because you can't see it
Speaker 1: doesn't mean it isn't real. It isn't it powerful and
Speaker 1: profound that the greatest demonstration of God's power came in
Speaker 1: the moment when Jesus wasn't there. The greatest demonstration of
Speaker 1: God's power was his absence in the place where the
Speaker 1: women looked for him. Touch the person next to you
Speaker 1: and say, it can't end like this. It can't end
Speaker 1: like this. And sometimes our faith leaves us at a
Speaker 1: place of frustration. The atmosphere of this text in Mark
Speaker 1: chapter sixteen is an atmosphere of frustration, specifically for these women.
Speaker 1: They bought spices. Now, remember Peter in the garden drew
Speaker 1: a sword because he had strength as long as he
Speaker 1: was in control of the outcome. But if you look
Speaker 1: on Sunday morning, Jesus has been dead now for three days.
Speaker 1: According to the Jewish way of counting days. And these women,
Speaker 1: they didn't draw swords in the garden.
Speaker 2: They had a different kind of strength.
Speaker 1: These spice girls watch Out had the kind of quiet
Speaker 1: strength that would enable them, even in the midst of disappointment,
Speaker 1: to still go to the place where their dream died
Speaker 1: and do the best they could with what they had.
Speaker 1: Notice who is missing in the text. It's not only
Speaker 1: Jesus who's missing in the text. He was expected to
Speaker 1: be in the grave and he wasn't there. But where
Speaker 1: is Peter? Where is Peter? Waving his sword and talking
Speaker 1: so loud? Have you ever noticed how sometimes the loudest
Speaker 1: people aren't the most loyal. I noticed it at a
Speaker 1: panther's game. There was a lady in front of me.
Speaker 2: She was so loud. She was gone in the third
Speaker 2: quarter two.
Speaker 1: Because sometimes the people who are the loudest are not
Speaker 1: the most loyal.
Speaker 2: Where's Peter?
Speaker 1: This is what the women are trying to figure out,
Speaker 1: because the men who should have been with them to
Speaker 1: help them move the stone away. Remember, it's much easier
Speaker 1: to roll the stone that is at the mouth of
Speaker 1: this cave, which we call a tomb, but it was
Speaker 1: more like a cave and Mark points out of detail.
Speaker 1: He says, it was a very heavy stone, so we
Speaker 1: can't do this by ourselves, and upon realizing that we've
Speaker 1: got the spices, watch this, but we don't have.
Speaker 2: The strength to roll the stone away.
Speaker 1: I think it's an indictment on the men. I think
Speaker 1: it is an indictment on the eleven disciples. I thought
Speaker 1: there were twelve. Judas is dead is already a different
Speaker 1: thing for him. He's already gone. He couldn't hang on,
Speaker 1: he couldn't face himself after it. And Peter, well, well,
Speaker 1: Peter who's going to preach in fifty days on the
Speaker 1: day of Pentecost, is so disappointed.
Speaker 2: That he can't potentially show his face.
Speaker 1: Or maybe he doesn't want to venture out into the
Speaker 1: darkness and risk greater disappointment. I found out that the
Speaker 1: greater the faith, the deeper the disappointment when you really
Speaker 1: believe in something, And this is why some of you
Speaker 1: don't expect much out of life anymore. It is your
Speaker 1: defense mechanism against disappointment, because if you don't venture out,
Speaker 1: you don't have to be vulnerable. Hope is very vulnerable.
Speaker 1: Faith is very fragile. It puts you in a place
Speaker 1: where you're actually expecting something. And as Peter stood there
Speaker 1: considering the cost of discipleship in the shadow of the cross,
Speaker 1: it shot through his central nervous system that this was
Speaker 1: the end and he's not with the women. Neither is James.
Speaker 1: Neither is John for that matter, or Barthel. There were
Speaker 1: plenty of people who could have been with them, but
Speaker 1: they weren't. And so now the women they got their spices.
Speaker 1: They're not talking much. It's not a happy processional, but
Speaker 1: they're on their way, and on their way they realize, hey,
Speaker 1: wait a minute, when we get there, we can't do
Speaker 1: what we need to do, to do what we came
Speaker 1: to do, because we have spices, but we're not strong enough.
Speaker 1: Have you ever felt like there was something in your way?
Speaker 2: Now?
Speaker 1: It could be depression, it could be addiction, It could
Speaker 1: be genetics, it could be your history, it could be
Speaker 1: your mental conditioning.
Speaker 2: Have you ever felt like there.
Speaker 1: Was something in your way that, no matter how great
Speaker 1: or how high your faith would rise or become, there
Speaker 1: was something in your way, some stone in your way.
Speaker 1: I love what the Bible says, because the women are
Speaker 1: walking and they're worried, Well, you can't do it? Well,
Speaker 1: you can't do it. Well, Mary, you should have. Well,
Speaker 1: don't tell me what I should have done. Salome, I'm
Speaker 1: not the one who's mom named her after Deli meat.
Speaker 2: You should have done it. You should have thought, where's Peter?
Speaker 1: But instead of resenting who wasn't with him? They asked
Speaker 1: the question, who will roll the stone away? I got
Speaker 1: good gospel news this Easter. God is already working out
Speaker 1: what you're worried about. God already has your miracle in
Speaker 1: motion if you will take a step in faith. The
Speaker 1: Bible says when they got there, not only was the
Speaker 1: stone gone, but there was a young man. Most theologians
Speaker 1: believe because of the Synoptic gospel accounts that confirmed the report,
Speaker 1: that this was an angel who had not only rolled.
Speaker 2: The stone away, but sat down on it.
Speaker 1: Now, the reason he sat down is not because he
Speaker 1: was tired. This angel did CrossFit and had excellent cardiovascular conditioning. No,
Speaker 1: this angel came down, rolled the stone and sat down
Speaker 1: because in Jewish custom, when a teacher got ready to teach,
Speaker 1: they sat in a seat of authority.
Speaker 2: So the message is.
Speaker 1: This what you thought you couldn't get through. I'm already
Speaker 1: over what you thought you couldn't do, has already been done,
Speaker 1: and all power and authority belongs to Jesus.
Speaker 2: And I believe stones still roll.
Speaker 1: I believe God is working on what you're worried about.
Speaker 1: Why would you stay up late crying about? See, we
Speaker 1: don't understand a lot of times. What's happening as we're walking?
Speaker 1: What's happening as we're walking. Matthew gives us a detail
Speaker 1: that Mark omitted because he said, at some point, while
Speaker 1: these women between three and six am, in the darkness
Speaker 1: of despair, doubt, and disappointment.
Speaker 2: This is the atmosphere of the text.
Speaker 1: And in their great frustration because of their lack of
Speaker 1: strength and ability, while they were walking, God was working.
Speaker 1: While they were walking, God was working. Watch the second
Speaker 1: verse of the last chapter of Matthew. It's a different ending.
Speaker 1: It's a little bit of a different detail that we
Speaker 1: don't get in Mark's gospel. It says that behold, there
Speaker 1: was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord
Speaker 1: descended from heaven and came and rolled back.
Speaker 2: The stone and sat down on it.
Speaker 1: The angel was already on the way while the women
Speaker 1: were walking to the tomb. Now, dare you to look
Speaker 1: at somebody and say your angel is already on the way.
Speaker 1: So don't stress out about it, and don't you dare
Speaker 1: turn around and go back home, because while you're worrying,
Speaker 1: God is working. God does some of his best work
Speaker 1: in the tark and just because you can't see it
Speaker 1: doesn't mean it's not in progress.
Speaker 2: Can't end like this?
Speaker 1: Do you think God would let these women get all
Speaker 1: the way to the tomb and let a stone stand
Speaker 1: in their way? God says, when you do what you
Speaker 1: can do, I will do what you cannot do. I'll
Speaker 1: help you raise those kids. I'll help you stay married
Speaker 1: to that man. Ah help you make it through another wig. Ah,
Speaker 1: help you help us.
Speaker 2: All the way.
Speaker 1: It can't end in frustration. It can't end in my frustration.
Speaker 1: And it can't end in failure either. It can't end
Speaker 1: in frustration. They can't end in failure. Touch somebody say,
Speaker 1: it can't end like this. See, when you know the director,
Speaker 1: you have a pretty good sense.
Speaker 2: Of how the film is going to end.
Speaker 1: God, I wish somebody came to help me preach and
Speaker 1: not just look at me today. When you know who
Speaker 1: made the movie, when you know how it ends. When
Speaker 1: Jesus sat down with Peter, he said, you're going to fail.
Speaker 1: You're gonna deny me, not once, not twice.
Speaker 2: But check out this.
Speaker 1: King James English thrice by the time the rooster crows.
Speaker 1: But don't worry about it, Peter, I've got a job
Speaker 1: for you to do on the other side of failure.
Speaker 2: When the Angel said I I'm gonna meet you in.
Speaker 1: Galilee, it was more than a geographical arrangement.
Speaker 2: It was a statement of mission.
Speaker 1: For many of you, remember that Galilee was the place
Speaker 1: where Jesus did most of his miracles. It was the
Speaker 1: place where he first called Peter. It was the sea
Speaker 1: of Galilee where Peter took Jesus all around to preach
Speaker 1: and heal and deliver. So when the Angel said that
Speaker 1: your story can't end here, turn around and go tell
Speaker 1: the disciples that I will meet them in Galilee, he
Speaker 1: was saying, in effect, this can't end in a grave
Speaker 1: because there's something more that I want to do. Meet
Speaker 1: me in Galilee. Now that's good news all on its own.
Speaker 1: For you to know that God is not through with you,
Speaker 1: for you to know that if the devil could have
Speaker 1: killed you, he would have by now, for you to
Speaker 1: know that the testimony of your purpose is the very
Speaker 1: fact of your survival, the fact that you're still here. Well,
Speaker 1: that's the reason to celebrate because of two words. Go
Speaker 1: tell his disciples Verse seven, Please and Peter. That hit
Speaker 1: me hard that the one who disappointed Jesus the most
Speaker 1: deeply was the one he singled out by name for redemption.
Speaker 1: And it gives me this hope that maybe my name
Speaker 1: can go there too. I'm going back to Galilee because
Speaker 1: I don't believe this story ends at a grade. It
Speaker 1: can end like this. Go tell Peter to start practicing,
Speaker 1: practicing what practicing his preaching. Tell him to get all
Speaker 1: of his fishing out of his system, because I need
Speaker 1: him in fifty days. I need him on the day
Speaker 1: of Pentecost, when the spirit it comes. I want the
Speaker 1: one who failed the greatest to be the trophy of
Speaker 1: my triumph and transformation. And there is someone here who
Speaker 1: is standing over a grave of your own failure. Today
Speaker 1: now realizing that resurrection is an expectation that allows you
Speaker 1: to experience life not through the lens of your failure,
Speaker 1: but through the lens of grace.
Speaker 2: And that's a really beautiful truth for Peter.
Speaker 1: But until it is personal for you, you will stay stuck.
Speaker 1: In what God has called you out of. It can end.
Speaker 1: I know it can end like this. I know that
Speaker 1: my story can't end in failure, because God has already
Speaker 1: promised me his grace for every failure that I would
Speaker 1: face in this life.
Speaker 2: And Peter, and Peter, make sure you make sure.
Speaker 1: Ps tell, Peter, tell the one that's snuck into church
Speaker 1: that really doesn't even want to be here. I'll meet
Speaker 1: you in Galilee. Failure is not the end. It's the hinge.
Speaker 1: It's the hinge on which the doors of God's grace
Speaker 1: swing wide open for you to experience His forgiveness at
Speaker 1: a greater level.
Speaker 2: Don't you see it? Peter?
Speaker 1: He called you by name, and the women responded in
Speaker 1: a surprising way.
Speaker 2: You know, I never could get over this.
Speaker 1: I understand why they were so disappointed when he died,
Speaker 1: but I never got why they were so surprised.
Speaker 2: He told them this three times. I'm going to die.
Speaker 1: They're gonna mock me, they're gonna scourge me, they're gonna
Speaker 1: spit on me.
Speaker 2: But after three days.
Speaker 1: Dot dot, I viewed resurrection a little differently Now. I
Speaker 1: used to think resurrection was God's exclamation point. You know,
Speaker 1: it is finished. He has risen. But now I see
Speaker 1: it more like three dots to see whether or not
Speaker 1: your story is going to end here in your fear,
Speaker 1: Because the final note of Mark's Gospel is fear. They
Speaker 1: were afraid. It's such a strange note to end on.
Speaker 1: It's such a crazy way to end your gospel. Maybe
Speaker 1: there was more to the manuscript. I don't know, and
Speaker 1: it got lost. That's one theory. Or maybe verse nine
Speaker 1: is up to us. Maybe fear is not the end.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's an invitation. See in Marx's Gospel, usually when
Speaker 1: it talks about fear, something comes after it.
Speaker 2: In marx Gospel, there's.
Speaker 1: A pattern that emerges is over and over again in
Speaker 1: Mark's Gospel.
Speaker 2: So like in chapter five.
Speaker 1: There's a woman who has an issue, and an issue.
Speaker 2: Of blood, and nobody can make her better.
Speaker 1: The Bible says that she spent all that she had,
Speaker 1: but instead of getting better, she got worse. She shoved
Speaker 1: more stuff into her life, she got busier, and she
Speaker 1: just got brokeer. She spent more time trying to be liked,
Speaker 1: and she only felt more lonely. And then she comes
Speaker 1: up and touches Jesus, and everybody wants to know who
Speaker 1: did it because there was a big crowd.
Speaker 2: Around and they didn't know, but she did so.
Speaker 1: The Bible says that trembling, she fell down in fear
Speaker 1: on her.
Speaker 2: Face before Jesus. But it wasn't the.
Speaker 1: End of the story, because when Mark says fear, something follows.
Speaker 2: It's not the end.
Speaker 1: Somebody say it's not the end, it's a new beginning.
Speaker 1: And after her fear, Jesus looked at her and said, daughter,
Speaker 1: your faith has healed you. Now go in peace, because
Speaker 1: fear is not the end.
Speaker 2: Fear is the beginning.
Speaker 1: Right after this, a man named Gyros has a little
Speaker 1: daughter who has died.
Speaker 2: While Jesus is on his way to heal her.
Speaker 1: The crowd says, don't worry about it, she's already dead.
Speaker 2: Jesus said, no, she's just asleep.
Speaker 1: Don't be afraid, Gyros, because when I get there, something
Speaker 1: is going to happen that is going.
Speaker 2: To overrule and overturn.
Speaker 1: The verdict of earthly principles. She's gonna get up, and
Speaker 1: the little girl got up.
Speaker 2: Because fear is not the end. One night, the disciples
Speaker 2: were in a great storm.
Speaker 1: The wind was blowing so hard they thought, surely we're
Speaker 1: going down this time. No, you can't die here. There's
Speaker 1: something left for you to do. The Bible says they
Speaker 1: were greatly afraid, but fear was not the end. The
Speaker 1: moment they felt the fear, Jesus spoke the word peace.
Speaker 2: Be still.
Speaker 1: I feel him speaking peace to somebody today.
Speaker 2: Fear is not the end. It can't end like this.
Speaker 2: It can't end like this.
Speaker 1: God's got more for you to do, he said, meet
Speaker 1: me in Galilee dot dot dot Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
Speaker 2: The stone is already rolled.
Speaker 1: God has already done what the law was powerless to do,
Speaker 1: and that it was weakened by the sinful nature. I
Speaker 1: know you're weak, I know you're frustrated, but frustration is
Speaker 1: not the end. Frustration is the hinge on which the
Speaker 1: door to surrender swings wide open, to say, I need
Speaker 1: you to do for me God what I can't do
Speaker 1: for myself. It's not the end. Your failure is not
Speaker 1: the end. God's going to use the one who knows
Speaker 1: their need for grace to show others what his grace
Speaker 1: is capable of. It can't end like this. Your story
Speaker 1: can't end in this grave. You are needed in Galilee, Peter.
Speaker 1: There's more for you to do. It can't end like this,
Speaker 1: It can't end in fear. What if those women would
Speaker 1: have stayed silent. We know that they didn't. We know
Speaker 1: that they went and told the disciples, And we know
Speaker 1: that the disciples first instinct was fear. Because the starting
Speaker 1: point of faith is always fear. It's always scary to
Speaker 1: step out and trust God. It's always risky to make
Speaker 1: yourself vulnerable. But what if I come to God? And
Speaker 1: what if it doesn't work? And what if it ends
Speaker 1: on a cross? See, even if it ends on a cross,
Speaker 1: it doesn't end on the cross.