Saying Nothing Is No Longer an Option

“Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.” —MARK 16:8

We were honored to share our Easter celebration with family this year. The lead pastor of the church we attended (who also happens to be our beloved son-in-law) shared a powerful message about the Resurrection of Jesus from Mark 16. As a lifetime pastor and Bible-teacher myself, I know it was the kind of message pastors love to share. The Resurrection is ground zero for the Christian faith. No topic gets us geeked up quite like the empty tomb! And, after preaching about the Resurrection on somewhere around 50 Easter Sunday mornings, you might think there would be nothing new for a guy like me to learn.

Yeah, never think that.

Mark 16 is an interesting passage. The earliest manuscripts end the chapter and, hence, the entire book with verse 8. Most scholars believe that anything after that (verses 9-20) was added by scribes, because they were uncomfortable with Mark’s ending, which was both abrupt and inconclusive. Scribes knew what happened later in the narrative from other sources, so a few of them probably didn’t feel they were going too far out on a limb.

I’ve been aware of the problem with that part of the text for a long time. But, as I sat there on this Easter morning and listened to Brian read the passage, the words in verse 8 seemed to jump off of the page. I may not be qualified to weigh in all that much on the textual debate, but the weight of those final words recorded in Mark 8 seemed more significant to me than ever before.

“They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.”

I don’t want to be too critical of those ladies. Later, they would share in a number of conversations about the risen Jesus and what they had seen and heard from the angel. But, at first, their fear of getting into trouble became a gag order.

Over 2,000 years later and saying “nothing to anyone” still seems to be an all-too-common problem for Jesus-followers. The reasons for our fears may be different than the reasons for theirs, but fear is still fear. And it often becomes crippling.

Now, fast-forward a few weeks to the promise Jesus made to that small group of followers in another verse 8, just before He returned to the Father.

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

Those who had once been afraid to be witnesses would soon have no choice. Jesus was clear. We all are His witnesses. We might be lousy ones, but that doesn’t make us non-witnesses. Even a lack of intentionality is a powerful witness, a witness of our disinterest in the people Jesus loves enough to die for. A lack of confidence boldly bears witness to what it is, a lack of confidence in the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Those ladies may have not yet seen Jesus, but they had seen enough to make an impact. You and I may not know all there is to know about Him either, but we know enough to make an impact.

I suppose the lesson is this. We must not allow what we still do not know stop us from sharing what we do.