First Baptist Church Ottawa

Our Online Church School Lesson - March 31, 2024

Rolling Stones - Mark 16:1-8

Today’s Scripture: Mark 16:1-8

Today’s Theme: Rolling Stones

Opening Prayer: Dear God, thank you for allowing us to gather here today to learn more about Jesus. Please help our ears to listen, our minds to learn, and our hearts to love as we hear the stories of His work. Amen.

Today’s Lesson: In last week’s lesson, we learned about the death of Jesus, as described in the Gospel of Mark. After unfair trials in the Jewish and Roman courts, Jesus was sentenced to death and condemned to a painful end by crucifixion. After Jesus died, his body was taken by Joseph of Arimathea, who, with the help of Nicodemus, buried Jesus in a stone tomb sealed by a heavy slab of rock. The burial of Jesus had to be done quickly. Because it was late on Friday when Joseph received Jesus’s body, he and Nicodemus had only three hours to finish before the Sabbath began. The sad task was completed on time. Friday ended and the Sabbath day began as the disciples mourned the loss of their teacher and friend.

Let’s read today’s scripture and then discuss it together:

Mark 16:1-8 - Jesus has risen

1 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. 2 Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb 3 and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”

4 But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. 5 As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.

6 “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’”

8 Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.

Today’s reading introduces three of the women who mourned Jesus - Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome. What were they doing so early that Sunday morning? Even though the men had used 75 pounds of spices to anoint Jesus’s body, the women felt compelled to anoint him again. It would be their last act of love toward the one who had shown them such love. And so, as soon as the Sabbath was over and the sun began to rise, they scurried off to the tomb. That first Easter morning, as the women made their way to the tomb, they had just one question on their minds: “Who will roll away the stone for us?” It was a very large stone and it would have taken about twenty men to roll the stone away, given what we know about tombs at that time. So these three women knew they didn’t stand a chance of moving the stone by themselves. They had not planned this very well at all. 

And so, as they headed to the tomb that morning, they were not thinking about whether the guards would let them approach the tomb. They weren’t worried about being arrested, as followers of Jesus. They weren’t wondering why Peter and the others were not joining them. They weren’t concerned with how they would react to seeing Jesus’ dead body, their Savior, crucified and laying dead in a tomb. No. All they were thinking about was, who would roll away the stone for them?

When they got to the tomb, they saw that the stone had already been rolled away.

That first Easter held too many miracles to be just about one thing. It meant that Jesus had risen and defeated death. It meant that eternal life is real and that death does not end our life with God. It meant that all who live and believe will never die. But the miracle of the stone being rolled away from the tomb - a detail that is recorded in all four gospels – tells us something else about Easter. The stone being rolled away tells us that Easter is also about how God removes obstacles in our life, the obstacles that separate us from God and the life that God has called us to live.

We see these same obstacles before Peter and the first disciples. Where were they when the women went to the tomb to anoint Jesus? They were all locked away in the upper room where they had taken the last supper with Jesus. They were hiding because they were afraid for their lives. No wonder the women were worried about who would roll away the stone for them – they couldn’t get the men to go to the tomb with them! By hiding their devotion to Jesus, these men had created a tomb for themselves, with a big stone obstacle in front of it. Even their leader, Peter, was included. Peter had denied knowing Jesus after Jesus was arrested, and he was still denying it.

Peter literally means rock or stone, and this was a nickname given to him by Jesus. Peter was supposed to be the stone or rock on which Jesus would build his church. But that first Easter morning, the leader of the disciples was locked away with the other disciples, cowering in fear and trapped by the obstacle of their own fear and denial. Who would remove that obstacle for them? Who would roll away that stone? Well, after Jesus was raised from the dead, he did as he promised. He showed himself to the disciples. Jesus entered the upper room, he rolled away their stone, he freed them of their fear, and he helped them to proclaim the good news to the world. That is part of the Easter miracle for us, too.

Our risen Lord enters our lives and rolls away the obstacles, the stones that are keeping us from being all that God wants us to be. He frees us from fear, and helps us proclaim his message to the world.

The women, of course, didn’t need Jesus to come to the upper room. They had the courage to go to the tomb themselves, even though they didn’t know what they would do when they got there. And that, too, teaches us something, doesn’t it? Sometimes we need to leave our tombs; we need to step out in faith; and we need to trust that God will be there for us, and help us in our need. The women knew they couldn’t roll that stone away, but it did not stop them from going to the tomb. If Easter means anything, it certainly means that God will be with us, always, and especially when we need God to be there for us.

Even after we step out in faith, however, we can still find ourselves stumbling. There are lots of stones in our paths, it turns out, and it is easy to stumble. At the tomb, the women were told to go and tell Peter and the other disciples that Jesus was was going ahead of them to Galilee; there they would see him, just as he promised. But the women said nothing to anyone. They were afraid. And that is how Mark’s Easter story ends.

The women were afraid, and for good reason. Would people think that they were crazy? Would anyone believe them? Their fear became another stone that needed to be rolled away. But here is another miracle of Easter: This stone was, indeed, rolled away. It must have been. Because we know the story. The women did eventually tell the disciples what they saw. And Jesus did appear to those disciples, just as he promised. And he forgave Peter for denying him. And he promised to send the Holy Spirit to them. And he helped them understand what had just happened, and how it fulfilled the promise of Scripture. And he ascended into heaven. And the Holy Spirit came. And every last stone in the lives of those disciples was rolled away. Because there is no stone too large for God. No obstacle that God cannot remove.

Many people want proof of the resurrection of Jesus. There is no proof that is better than this: Peter and the disciples, who at first were cowering in fear in their locked upper room, eventually became the most fearless witnesses to the resurrection that you could ever imagine. No stone rolled in front of them could stop them once they started on that path. Not prison, nor threat of death. Most of them ended up dead because they were unafraid and unwilling to deny what had become the most important part of their faith: that Christ died, rose again, and promised one day to return. 

So what changed? How did they go from cowering in fear in a locked room, to boldly sharing the story of Jesus with all the world? Who rolled away the stone for them? What else could it be? It was Jesus himself, who was raised from the dead. And appeared to them. And rolled away all the stones that were stopping them from doing his work. And after he did, they fearlessly proclaimed the good news of the resurrection of our Lord. No stone could trap them anymore. That, too, is the miracle of Easter.

Easter is not just about an empty tomb. It is about our risen Lord, with us always, rolling away the stones and obstacles in our lives. It is about God helping us to live our lives without fear and following Jesus wherever he leads us. Easter means that there is no tomb that God cannot free us from and no obstacle that God cannot roll away so that we are free to live the new life in Christ that Easter offers to us all. 

Closing Prayer: Dear God, thanks to you and the miracle of Easter, we do not need to be afraid to live our lives through Jesus. We do not need to be afraid of death. We trust in you, God, and we believe in Jesus. We rejoice in your love for us. Amen.