A Fresh Perspective - 09/04/07
Three of the four Gospels end with resurrection appearances and the promise of Christ's continual presence with the disciples; the Gospel of Mark does not. Mark's Gospel ends with the announcement of Christ's resurrection, the promise that they would see him again, and the women leaving the tomb bewildered and frightened (16:1-8). This ending so puzzled Christians that early in the copying of the manuscript, scribes tried to "fix" it by adding to it. There has survived in the manuscript tradition both a "shorter" and "longer" ending to Mark's Gospel that were not part of the original Gospel. These endings are usually footnoted, bracketed or put in italics in the more modern translations.
The persecuted, harassed church of Mark's Gospel did not experience the risen Christ as the present one, but as the absent one.
Newly published letters of Mother Teresa reveal that she too struggled with the sense of God's absence over the years. Like the believers of Mark's church, she had a spirituality of absence rather than presence.
This reminds us that contrary to so many of the TV evangelists, faith can not only survive, but thrive and flourish even when there is no sense of the immediate presence of God.
If you do not feel or sense that "Christ walks with you and talks with you" does that mean that you are spiritually immature or stagnant? Are you to be regarded as a spiritual failure? If God or Christ seems distant and far removed, does that imply that you are not living in God's will? Don't take on that burden! Mark's Gospel reminds us that a spirituality of absence is an authentic spirituality.
These early Christians, beaten down by life, felt like Jesus felt when he cried from the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (These are the only words of Jesus from the cross in Mark.) Yet even without this immediate sense of Christ's presence, the believers in Mark's church continued to gather in prayer and worship, and to engage their world in compassionate justice and loving service.
To continue to say "yes" to Christ, amidst cries of absence and feelings of abandonment, may take the greatest faith of all.
Chuck Queen is Senior Pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church, Frankfort (www.ibcfrankfort.com); he welcomes your comments at cqueen@fewpb.net. Look for "A Fresh Perspective" every Friday.