Every book in the Bible has a unique gift to the body of scripture. The Gospel of Mark is unique in that it offers a fantastic narrative evangelism approach for the reader. One of the primary intents is for this Gospel to influence you to be a disciple and teller of the Jesus story. The reader is not just reading about things that happened but is to become a participant in the story.
If one reads the Gospel of Mark in one sitting you get a clearer picture of this narrative style. Early in the Gospel everyone wants to be near Jesus to receive his teaching, healing, or simply be in his presence. As the Gospel continues, being in his presence becomes more controversial when Jesus confronts religious and political leaders. Upon Jesus' arrest even the close circle of disciples are no where to be found. The women are our final hope as they make their way to the tomb to care for the dead body of Jesus on the day of resurrection. When they are told the good news of Jesus the scripture tells us that the women left afraid and told no one. If no person in the story of Mark's Gospel is left to tell the story of the resurrection, then how did the story get told. Mark designs the story that you as the reader are the final hope of being the storyteller of Jesus.
The tragedy is when we choose not to share the story of Jesus at all. If we fall back into this mode of living our faith we reduce faith to a personal experience alone. Jesus' ministry was about welcome, invitation, compassion, and telling the story of God's love. Our faith should be no different.
The decision for us is if and when we choose to tell the story of Jesus' gift of eternal life. We have to remind ourselves that we are the Easter people. The angel at the time of the resurrection story tells the women and they choose to tell no one. What will your response be?
Grace and Peace,
Rev. Dr. Chris Wilson
