Risen Inspite of Unbelief - Belief Inspite of 2000 Years Since.

   Discounting for the time being the authorship questions there is some interesting stuff in the last half of the last chapter of the Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Mark. The pen is putting ink to papyrus is many years and miles from the event. Not an excuse, just a perspective. All the Gospels have their uniqueness. This gospel may be given to us, but it's different experience is just as real and just as Christ's.
   Jesus is risen from the dead. Death no long has dominion, power or authority over him. He is alive forevermore for us to believe in, trust and rely upon for our life and forgiveness. But it was a complete and unnecessary surprise. The eleven should have known better. All of the disciples should have know better. It was typical even of us. Unbelief was no place Jesus was going to leave any of the called. After all he is risen. They knew this intellectually but didn't grasp it yet with hands and hearts.
   The evidence: Jesus predicted both his death on the cross and his resurrection long before holy week. There were witnesses. Sure some were women, but a couple were men we know from the other accounts. And I have no doubt it was hard to believe that a 3 day long dead man was alive. Too good to be true has much more evidence to back it up.  We all want the beloved dead to not be dead.  But wanting something is not the same as believing that it is true. They were normal people. They were sinners. They had heard the good news. They had eaten with Jesus. They had traveled with him. They had sat at his feet to learn. They saw him do miracles and then even raise the dead!  But they knew he was dead and in the tomb.
   Could there be a reason that we are any different?  All we have are the stories written down so long ago. 'Long ago' is for some an acceptable reason for unbelief. Doubts are rampant in people. Holding on to an erring idea so we don't have to admit error is another one. It keeps popping up in every generation. I hate being wrong. It puts into question my salvation. However, salvation is not mine to create or sustain. But I love finding the truth. The truth comforts. The truth frees. The truth heals. The truth points to Christ as the answer to the question, the pain, the lie, the disease, even death. Salvation is in the hands of one who defeated death with me and you in mind.
   Being wrong is sometimes held within a very sincere wrapper of tradition. Who rises from the dead? It's easy to believe someone like Jesus could raise another after seeing him do it before. But once he's gone, who will do the deed? Following is easy when there is a leader. But what to do when the leader dies. What to do when the leader goes into the deep dark woods?
   The valley of the shadow of death is dark place. It is infested by wild animals. Some of them are wolves in sheep's clothing.  Trusting becomes distracted. Some people are just scared and and are winging it to hide their fear. And we all run screaming at some point. But the valley of the shadow of death is not a place where we follow Jesus to go where he has gone. It is where all people must go, but there Jesus accompanies us who believe, and he brings us through death into life. This is both a spiritual walk of the faith and a literal walk of reality. Jesus resurrection means our resurrection.
   Now on after that first day of the week in the evening they were all together. I don't know if we should make anything of them being reclined at the table except it was dinner time and they were relaxing instead of pacing back and forth. Jesus knew just when to find them and where. There you have unbelieved witnesses with the rest of the disciples. That is how the Church is going to be. It is a mixture of those who have and have not seen the risen Lord. Even the ones who have seen don't have much influence it seems.
   Jesus stands among them and they are baffled. A ghost? A vision? A resurrection? A scolding! "and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen."  Did they deserve it? Of course they did. Of course we do. There are lots of ways we work unbelief or lack of trust into our lives. It mostly deals with really how inward looking we are. When we look in we see ourselves. We may like what we see. We may not. Either way we are looking at ourselves and not our risen Lord and what he is doing still. Navel gazing is a weakness and not necessarily an intentionally malicious act, though it could be. Saul of Tarsus was a real enemy of the Church and of The Christ. Either way, Jesus dealt with it the same. He showed himself to them all. When Jesus shows himself to us in this life it is a very merciful act on his part. His showing became part of his Word. His Word is part and parcel of his actions. But has he shown himself to us? Of course he has. It's easy to scorn this but it is what he has left for us after his ascension.  We have the Word and Sacraments. They are the gifts the Holy Spirit uses to do his work. His work is to create and nurture faith with the proclamation of the death and resurrection of Jesus.
   Jesus rebuked the disciples for their lack of faith when confronted with the reality of those who had seen and believed. Jesus proclaimed to them that seeing wasn't believing. The word proclaimed is believing. Many would come that did not get the same eye to eye, face to face look with Jesus after the ascension. Saul of Tarsus and John are the only two exceptions and John had seen Jesus that night. In fact, he was one who had not seen Jesus in the morning but believed on the basis of the empty tomb according to the other accounts.
  Jesus didn't just rebuke the disciples. He gave them the great commission. The same thing was proclaimed in last weeks lessons about Saul. Confronted by the risen Lord, Saul isn't cast away but sent on with a mission of telling the good news of Jesus. The resurrection was to be told to the whole world with this action; baptism. They'd already been given the Supper, baptism and according to John the absolution. But here Jesus tells them what the proclamation is is all about. It is baptism. The vast world will not see the marks in his hands and feet nor side.  They will not sit down to a fish breakfast or a roasted fish sandwich dinner. They won't hear the tone of his voice. But they will have baptism. In it the Word is taught as he commanded. One journeys with Jesus into death and the grave and into eternal life. Every Christian has been crucified with Christ, buried with him and risen again. Jesus presence is made to be a part of our experience. Jesus Word is part of our experience of him. We don't have our own life and death to hold up before God the Father and say, "Does this look right enough for you?" We have the very life of Jesus the Father's Christ that he himself holds up over us before the Father and says, "My perfection and fulfillment are here on this one too." And Jesus word is always accepted because he is the trustworthy, obedient son.
   Before the world they preached and taught. Signs and wonders Jesus gave them that validated the Gospel for those who believed.  For those who rejected their message the signs were absent. And eventually persecution was not. A death in this life took the believers one by one and the Word of Jesus still called many to faith with out the sight of nail holes or spear marks because the Word of Christ does what it promises. It both divides and saves. For some will just not believe. Maybe not until next year. Jesus kept making disciples through his preached Word and Sacraments. Jesus still does so here and there. This Word of Marks along with the other Gospels and the whole of Scripture has saved you from death. And through it a world lives even while it dies. For Christ still Reigns.