Pastor Martin's Message for May 2009
When the
Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of. James, and Salome bought
spices so that they might go and anoint (Jesus). And very early on the first
day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. They had
been saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the
entrance to the tomb? When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was
very large, had already been rolled back. As they entered the tomb, they saw a
young man, dressed in a white robe, itting on
the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, "Do not be
alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of
The Gospel Mark's account of
Jesus' resurrection is like the other three Gospels in: that the women go to the tomb
early at sunrise to prepare and anoint Jesus' body -for burial, a Jewish ritual and tradition of their day. As
they are talking amongst themselves,. about who might
roll away the stone from the tomb, they were not prepared to see, hear and
experience what was waiting for them as they approached the empty tomb, with
the stone rolled away and a young man dressed in white telling them that Jesus
who was crucified was not there, but had
been raised from the dead. The women's response in Mark is far different
from the three other Gospels as terror, amazement and fear had overwhelmed them
and they remained silent and said nothing to no one as they fled from the tomb.
Like the women who went
early to fulfill the Jewish ritual and tradition to prepare and anoint Jesus' body for burial, we too can get
lost in all of our rituals and traditions and totally miss out in
seeing, hearing and experiencing what Jesus' resurrection and new life can give to us as Christians and as the body of
Christ. In our terror, amazement and fear of change, we may remain
silent and not live in and share the new life our Savior's resurrection gives to all of us. As we are now
well into our Resurging Bethany's Spirit with the Four Problem Solving
Groups looking to new ways we can implement our Four Recommendations, we can
choose to keep to our silence because of our fear of change or embrace the new
life Jesus gives to all of us and experience the new ways we can share Jesus' love and salvation to each other and to so
many who need to hear about Jesus and his love for us. If you haven't
become involved in the Problem Solving Groups, I would encourage you to ask each of the chairpersons and become involved as we
look to see, hear and experience the new life Jesus gives to us through
his death and resurrection. For Group # 1, focusing on Forgiveness and
Acceptance, Gladys Duncan is the chairperson at 244-3474. For Group #2,
focusing on Moving from Survival to
