The Resurrection

You are listening to a message from Thrive Community Church, a church located in Southwest Florida. For more info, visit us at thrive-fl.org. Welcome to Thrive. Welcome to this Easter Sunday where we celebrate the resurrection of Christ, who is now present here. It's not just that when a preacher gets up, he's preaching, and you're listening. It is that Jesus is present in our midst, the resurrected one. And he is the one who is presenting himself to you to give you new life, purpose, meaning, hope, everything. We've been in a series called Simply Jesus, the Gospel According to Mark, where for quite a while now we've been going through different sections of that gospel. Why? Because Mark is probably, you could say, the simplest of the four gospels. It's the probably earliest account, the first one written of the four gospels. And he is often very simple and straightforward, and we'll see that today in the Easter proclamation as well, and yet profound. It's hard to do that. I mean, I'm not simple, and I'm not profound. I'm wordy, you know, and I can babble, and many of you know that, right? Mark is just amazingly concise in his wording, and so we're going to be looking. It's only eight verses of the gospel of Mark in Mark 16 today. And what you need more than anything, I believe, what I need more than anything, is not, you know, great theological expositions and another, you know. I need Jesus simply. Simply Jesus. And right now this world needs Jesus. Simply Jesus. And our nation needs Jesus. Our culture needs Jesus. So many people just need Jesus. Simply Him. And with Him then everything else comes that is needed. So let's read the gospel of Mark today, the end of this gospel. Mark chapter 16, verses 1 through 8. And you might be going like, well, wait a minute. But my Bible, if you're a King James Version type person, goes on from verse 8 and keeps going. Yes, but the earliest manuscripts that we have of this gospel stop at verse 8. We're not sure what the end of the gospel is or if Mark deliberately, and I would dare say he deliberately ends the gospel with verse 8. But a lot of people were uncomfortable because it just seems to be hanging there. And I'll show you why in just a minute. But let's read it. Mark 16, verses 1 through 8. When the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome, brought spices so they might go and anoint Him. And very early on the first day of the week when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb and they were saying to one another, who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb? And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back. It was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side dressed in a white robe and they were alarmed. And he said to them, do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen. He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him just as he told you. And they went out and fled from the tomb for trembling and astonishment had seized them. And they said nothing to anyone for they were afraid. The end. What? Yeah. Now, I'm pretty old. Part of the old school, I'd say. And when I was in grade school, we learned to diagram sentences. Anyone else diagram sentences ever? They don't do that anymore. No, they don't. No, I think my kids did because they went to a Christian school. But a lot of the public, they don't. Spelling, you know, handwriting, gone, you know. But I learned to diagram sentences. One thing I was also taught in all of that is don't ever end a sentence with a preposition. Mark does. Yeah. In the original Greek. So if you go like the English translations, you have kind of make it nice. But if you go with just the way Mark actually wrote it, like literally, this is what it says. The women went out from the tomb for terror and amazement had seized them. They said nothing to anyone they were afraid for. The last word in Greek is Gar, which is the word for. It's a preposition. He ends with a preposition. And that is why a lot of people. How can this be the end? This makes no sense. Well, you're stuck in the middle of the story. You're right there at that graveside with them. You are right by that tomb. You get that message. And now the response is exactly what Mark is trying to elicit from you. What are you going to do with it? He challenges it. Even religious people. He challenges today with this gospel. And it's very simple. He doesn't go into all elaborate detail. And yet he challenges us. I think we're going to find at the end of this gospel, which is not much of an end. It's actually the end that becomes another beginning. He challenges us. He encourages us. He frames for us. And we're going to learn today that he challenges your mind. He encourages the heart. And he frames the future. Now we're going to spend quite a bit of time. Yeah...