The Missing Ending

"Indeed, 'theory' is a poor word to choose when seeking to understand the testimony of the Bible. The Old and New Testaments do not present theories at any time. Instead, we find stories, images, metaphors, symbols, sagas, sermons, songs, letters, poems. It would be hard to find writing that is less theoretical. Even Paul, perhaps the most intellectually gifted of the biblical writers, is highly contextual and unsystematic in his presentation of the Christian gospel. This does not mean that there is no thinking to be done. Rather, what we are seeking here is a creative balance between doctrine and artistry, responding not only to the problems put by the biblical text but also to its narrative structure, poetry, and language. We need to make room for all the biblical images...

We will be best enriched by the meaning of the crucifixion in all its manifold aspects, not just as an intellectual construct, but as dynamic, living truth empowering us for the living of these days."

― Fleming Rutledge, "The Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Jesus Christ"

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Dear Kate,

I wonder if you know how the Gospel of Mark ends.

The earliest manuscripts do not have verses 9–20; thus Mark ends with verse 8: "So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid."

Did someone somehow lose the "final reel" of the Jesus' story?  Why does the Gospel end like that, after all the careful, purposeful build-up?  Theories abound.  Have you ever wondered why?  Do you have a theory too, about the ending, about Jesus, why he died, why he came back?

Let me start you off with a question, see if it might help: If your grandpa is to come back from the dead and show himself to you this morning, what will you say to him?  Can you imagine the conversation you will have with him (if any)?

You will need to add some flesh and bones to the context, right?  Say, if you did love your grandpa deeply and know him well, you will have a very different conversation than if, say, you didn't know him at all, or, worse, betrayed him, and somehow that betrayal had something to do with his death.  Use your imagination.

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I've been asking you to tell me about Jesus, speak about who He is, with no beating around the bush.  I've asked you write without evasion.  It's been quite a few weeks since I first did that, and so far I have not heard anything from you.

Of course you did speak.  You did try, you told me, and I've read some of the stuffs you wrote, nothing that came within the shooting range of what Jesus was aiming for.

Of course, very judgmental of me.  Censoring you, you said, which was not the worst accusation lodged against me recently.  I've been asked whether I actually love God's community, whether I have people's back, like a true friend would, instead of being elitist and scholarly, pedantically out of touch with what actually works and how people feel.

I shall refrain from defending myself, because there is no passion in me to invest in uninteresting writing.  The only interesting thing to say about the accusations is that they were the same ones lodged again the Apostle Paul, and, yeah, even Jesus Himself.  There you have it: Alex's final self-incriminating claim.  Not further testimony is needed.

I will say something interesting to close this piece: The church, ours, has failed miserably over decades to engage God's people in God's words, and never as miserably as we had in the past year, during this pandemic, a tunnel of darkness we metaphored, despite the sun shining, mellow and bright last spring when it first started, and bright and mellow still around the bend we went and landed ourselves on another spring-ful of grace.

A vicious cycle we went, how ironic, that the church leaders kept cheering us on for being more than good enough to have kept coming to church, even leading prayers and Bible studies, despite most of us would rather skip the Bible and jump right into prayers (if even that), couldn't wait to go into what truly matters, our magnificent outpouring of needs and wants and God's magical answering--if not effective or even remotely tangible to us, at least as felt camaraderie in the presence of each other, mutual cheerleaders on the journey of faith. 

Who cares if, being trapped in a dark tunnel we by now should know will keep extending itself until our final darkness, that in us there's a deep sense of hopelessness and meaninglessness we can't fully blame the pandemic for, as we can't death itself as if it's not a proper expectation of life's dealing.  Be kind, be calm, be safe, our motto, chanting like that's the best we could ask from each other and ourselves, despite in Jesus' presence we are never safe, mostly can't stay calm, and would venture to love deep and true enough to be accused, as Jesus was, of being unkind in the eyes of Man.  No one gets nailed on a piece of wood for staying "kind," calm, and safe.

I must apologize if I've always been on the church leaders' case for their not having been on the congregation's case.  If you and I, the followers, were serious about our humanity, we would have asked for more from our leaders; but as we were, we would rather have cheerleading and business-meetings, than to be called to the frontline of a soul-searching, hope-ministering rescue mission.  Thus goes the vicious cycle.

Your life, my life, the church's life, is the next chapter that Mark couldn't quite write yet after being seized by the "terror and amazement" of Jesus' coming back from death--and hell, to rescue us, humanity and the entire creation.  God didn't ask from us a good theory to figure out how "salvation" works.  God rescues us from death to truly live.  We are the next chapter in God's story.

Do you like how the story has been reading so far?

Yours, Alex