Jesus’ disciples never really believed. According to the gospel of Mark, Jesus tried to teach them profound lessons of faith. But the disciples never quite understood. When Jesus walked on water, the disciples started arguing about how Jesus fed the five thousand. They were always a step behind. They were always stuck looking backwards, and so they missed what was happening right in front of them. Jesus predicted his death and resurrection three times. He warned the disciples that he’d be punished unjustly and killed, but that on the third day he’d be resurrected. He told them over and over again that he’d be raised from the dead. But after his execution, on the appointed day, none of the men came to the tomb, according to the gospel of Mark. None of them behaved as if they actually believed that he’d live again. Even the faithful women who came to tend to Jesus’ body were shocked to find his tomb empty. When an angel appeared and explained to them that Jesus was raised, they still didn’t get it. The angel reminded them of what Jesus had promised, but they couldn’t believe it. Instead, they ran away “for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” Jesus told them everything that would happen, but they didn’t get it. They never quite believed, even in the end.

The end of the gospel of Mark poses a problem. Read the sixteenth chapter of Mark, and you’ll see what I mean. The original ending, as best scholars can piece together, stops with the words, “and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” The women fled in fear and silence… the end. Mark’s the oldest of the four gospels, and the oldest versions of Mark included no stories about the resurrected Jesus. There were no reassuring accounts of Jesus’ miraculously appearing to the disciples. Of course the problem is that if the women who found Jesus’ tomb empty said nothing to anyone… end of story… how did anyone else find out? How do we know about it today? If those who found Jesus’ empty tomb never told anyone, how did anyone else ever learn the good news of his resurrection? Clearly there was more to the story, but the gospel was left unfinished. Later endings were added to Mark, to make it seem more complete, to show evidence that Jesus appeared and the early church witnessed his victory over death. But the original ending of the gospel left the story incomplete. Those who knew the truth were too afraid to tell anyone. Many people who follow Christ even today are afraid to admit it. It’s embarrassing for some of us to share the good news of Christ, because Christians are sometimes poor examples of the love of Christ. Just watch most of the Christian programming on television, and you’ll see people who appear judgmental and self-righteous. Christians are portrayed as conservative, closed-minded, and focused more on soliciting money than on serving the needs of others. I heard someone on NPR this week saying that Christians don’t act much like Christ. This person being interviewed on the radio complained that Christians don’t feed the hungry or care for the poor like Christ did. He said that Christians are too busy condemning others to care for the needy. I’m afraid that a lot of people outside the church have that impression of everyone who professes faith in Christ. To associate ourselves with Christ is to associate ourselves with the best and, more often, with the worst of the Christian community. The first disciples worried that people would think that they were crazy. As soon as the first Christians started telling others about Jesus’ resurrection, they were accused of being drunk. The good news earned them ridicule, persecution, and sometimes even death. There’s a problem with the gospel. There’s a problem with the story of Jesus’ victory over death. The problem is that the story isn’t over, and that those who follow Christ are in danger of being too afraid to share the good news. We’re in danger of letting the story of God’s love in Christ go untold.

Jesus’ resurrection is God’s invitation to us to be transformed. Jesus’ transformation from death to life again is God’s offer to change us. Resurrection is transformation. There were no heroes among the disciples, according to Mark. They were stubborn; they were slow; and they were cowards. Even the faithful women who came to the tomb fled silently in fear. But obviously, someone told. We know the story today because someone was brave enough to tell it. At some point, a frightened, cowardly band of followers became the pioneers of the church. These frightened men and women who denied Jesus at his execution were transformed into courageous leaders and teachers. They were transformed from cowards into people brave enough to be martyred for their faith. Their witness of the presence of Christ changed them before and after his crucifixion. They were inspired to step out of their fear and be transformed. Transformation is a complicated word these days. Conversion holds different associations for different people. Transformation and conversion are historically Christian concepts that have multiple, complicated layers of meaning added onto them lately. Christians who believe that gay people must be healed of their sexuality sometimes refer to themselves as Transforming Congregations. The psychiatric, psychological and medical establishments have all condemned what’s known as “conversion therapies” intended to change gay people into straight people. Transformation and conversion are words that have been co-opted to mean something that they didn’t mean in the bible. But we ought not too quickly to abandon words like transformation and conversion. While we are exactly who God created us to be, we’re not all that we will be one day. God hasn’t yet finished the good work of creating us. We’re being continually transformed by the love of God at work in our lives. The disciples who were once timid and frightened became transformed into spiritual leaders. They once were silenced, but then became preachers of the good news. They once fled for their lives, but then came back to stand defiantly in the face of death itself to tell the story of God’s love through Jesus Christ. Jesus’ resurrection calls us to be transformed. The resurrection invites us to be changed into all that God created us to be and to do.

To witness to God’s love in our lives today comes at a cost. It’s a scary thing, to actually saying out loud in our lives this thing that we proclaim in church on Easter morning. The gospel of Mark is written specifically for us, to ask us what we’re going to do next. How will we respond to this empty tomb? Nikolai Bukharin was a powerful leader in Communist Russia. In the 1920’s and 30’s, Bukharin was the editor of the Soviet newspaper Pravda. He was powerfully influential in shaping the Soviet Russian world view. There’s a story told about Bukharin that tells how he traveled from Moscow to Kiev in 1930 to address a huge assembly on the subject of atheism. For a full hour, he condemned religious faith, particularly Christianity. He hurled insults, he crafted arguments, and he attempted to disprove Christian faith any number of ways. When he was finally finished, he looked out upon what to him seemed the smoldering ashes of the people’s faith. “Are there any questions,” Bukharin asked coldly. Thick silence filled the auditorium. Until one man approached the platform and climbed up to the lectern. He surveyed the crowd. Then he shouted the ancient greeting known well in the Russian Orthodox Church: “Christ is risen!” En masse, the crowd shouted back like thunder the ritual response, “He is risen indeed!” Sometimes it takes courage to proclaim the message of Easter. Easter is an incomplete tale of transformation. Easter asks whether we will help to finish the story. Christ is risen!…