Mark 16:9-20

Mark 16:9-20

In verses 14 and 15 there is a link that is overlooked many times. "Unbelief and hardness of heart" must be overcome before the church can fulfill the Great Commission.

If we ask the question, “Why is the church not growing in our community or in the Western World?" We are apt to get a variety of wildly divergent answers. Most, to be honest, are clearly and simply excuses, and some are secondary challenges easily overcome. Here are a few examples: “Our world is secular.” “Sinful people don't want to hear it.” “Our church is in the wrong location, has the wrong kind of music, the wrong kind of building, or the wrong preacher.” The list is not all the excuses, but in this we are most capable of removing the responsibility for the church's non-growth from our shoulders. But our Lord knew there was a heart issue in the disciples that had to be resolved before the Great Commission could be executed. The text says that Jesus “reproached them”. This is perhaps the harshest comment Jesus could have made. The word used to describe Jesus’ comment toward his disciples is most often used to describe the persecution of believers. Jesus is being as verbally harsh, as hard on His disciples as the unbelieving world would be on real believers in the days of persecution. The word can mean to “unbraid” or “to taunt”, “to throw in one’s teeth”.

The Great Commission of the church can never be fulfilled until the church overcomes its resistance to the reality of the Resurrection and all that it means. Until we no long have ‘unbelief and a hardness of heart’.

"Lord, forgive me of the hardness of my heart, so that I can embrace the resurrection of Jesus. AMEN" 

Mark 16:1-8

Mark 16:1-8

Easter morning dawned without hope or joy or confidence. It had love and devotion and the utilities of embalming, but no hope. The women went to perform the final act of love for Jesus, to embalm His body. After they embalmed the body they would leave it and try to get on with their lives. Their concerns and expectations were natural. Even having witnessed Jesus’ power and having heard His promises on this first Easter morning their concerns were natural. A concern that they had not yet resolved was who would roll the stone away. This was natural. Mark makes no mention of the guards or the Roman seal. Peter who had strongly influenced Mark had fled and kept a low profile and so he would have been unaware of these arrangements. The women expected that the stone would still block their way. This large, thick, round disc that was rolled into place to keep out grave robbers and scavengers was an issue they would deal with when they arrived on site.

What they did not know, what they could not have known was the super natural had occurred. They did not know that the supernatural, the resurrection made all their cares and anxieties unnecessary. That which they themselves could never do God had already done. What was an impossibly difficult situation simply no longer existed because of the Resurrection.

This is not an invitation for us to live in some sort of Pollyanna world pretending that there will never be hardships or difficulties. It does not mean that the Resurrection is some kind of fairy dust that we can sprinkle in advance on every difficulty of life. What it does mean is that nothing, absolutely nothing whatsoever, will ever come between our Lord and us. The biggest obstacles that could come between Jesus and us are removed as easily as that stone that was rolled away.

"Lord, help me to see all my troubles in light of the resurrection of Jesus. AMEN"