"They didn't say nothing to no one"

Easter Sunday Sermon 2024 | The Rev. Paige Blair-Hubert

• Audio Transcript

  [00:00:00] I pray that God's word is spoken and that God's word is heard. Amen.

  
  Alleluia, Christ is risen. The Lord is risen indeed. The Lord is risen indeed. Here we are, let's say it again. Alleluia, Christ is risen. The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia. They didn't say nothing to no one. Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia! Clearly they said something to someone. Or we wouldn't all be here, right?

  
  Doing our part! Saying our lines! Proclaiming the good news. That he is risen indeed. That Christ conquered the greatest of all enemies. [00:01:00] Defeated even death on our behalf. Now, those of you who've heard me preach even once know that my favorite gospel is the one I'm preaching on that day, right? That's it, right?

  
  It just is. Uh, and the favorite gospel writer is also a the one we're hearing from at that time. And right now we are enjoying a journey through Mark's gospel. And this, this resurrection story is par for the Marken course. The way Mark ends this gospel is just as puzzling and brilliant as the way Mark began, which was almost a beginning that wasn't a beginning.

  
  In fact, Mark's gospel starts. The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It's not [00:02:00] even a sentence. Of course, there aren't periods in Greek, so we don't, anyway. Um, it's like a beginning that's not a beginning. But it's the beginning of everything. And this whole gospel, all 16 chapters, which we are concluding today in this Easter reading, is the beginning.

  
  It's just the beginning. It's so much just the beginning that Mark leaves us with this really incredible story that they, they didn't just say anything to anyone. The Greek is a triple negative, my friends. They didn't say nothing to no one. If you wanted it emphatic, you got it. They didn't say nothing to no one. Why? Because they were [00:03:00] afraid. They were afraid. But what's even more fun is in the Greek.
  I know you love it when I preach from the Greek. In the Greek, it's even more Mark in his quirky way. So, you know how we were all taught in English, those of us who were taught English particularly, um, intentionally, um, whether, uh, because it's our second language or it's how we were raised, we were taught, most of us, that you can't end a sentence with a what?
  

  A preposition, right? Except apparently, apparently, Merriam Webster's now changed their mind Gone the way of the Oxford comma. Um, and now apparently you can end a sentence with a preposition. But in Greek you can't. In ancient Greek you can't. In contemporary Greek you can't. You don't end a sentence with a [00:04:00] preposition.

  
  It's an even more solid, concrete, linguistic rule than it used to be in English. And what's amazing about the Greek, as this ends, is it's, is he ends it with a preposition. It actually says, They didn't say nothing to nobody because they were afraid for…

  
  They were afraid for… It's like, it's like a verbal ellipse. That's my favorite punctuation. Any of you who've received an email from me or a text know that, right? Dot, dot, dot. It's like a verbal dot, dot, dot. They were afraid for, right? Some people like to say that Mark is the [00:05:00] least artistic, least literary, least sophisticated, worst writer of the four canonical gospel writers, but I think Mark is a genius. They said nothing to nobody because they were afraid for.

  
  Beloved, this is the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It's just the beginning. And it's a story we are still writing. That verbal ellipse that Mark left at the real ending of his gospel is our invitation. It's our invitation to continue this story of transformation, of [00:06:00] grace, of hearts and minds changed because they come to know how much God loves them because Jesus showed us how much God loves us.

  
  A story of transformation that happens within us. That we then take out into the world to bring resurrection and healing and grace and mercy to this world, this world so in need of God's love and mercy and transformation and grace.

  
  So my dear ones, as we celebrate this glorious Easter tide, we get 50 days. Fifty days. Remember that. So Christmas was important enough to celebrate with how many days? Twelve. [00:07:00] Right? There's a song about it. And it's the twelve days after Christmas. Despite what the retailers would say, it's not the twelve days before.

  
  But, but, I mean, Christmas is pretty astonishing. God became a human being. And that deserved twelve days to celebrate. Friends. God came here in the flesh, lived our life, struggled our struggle, loved our loves, laughed at all the bad jokes, had a great time with his friends, had his heart broken, died a death like ours, and defeated death on our behalf.

  
  And my friends, that deserves all 50 days of Easter, all 50 days. So when you leave here today, no, this is just day one. [00:08:00] This is the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the son of God, just the beginning. And I encourage you for all these 50 days to invite the Holy Spirit to work that transformation, that resurrection promise in your heart.

  
  In your life, invite God to show you those places where you can not say nothing to no one, not be afraid, but proclaim the good news of what God is doing in your life. Invite someone else on this journey of the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Rejoice in what God has done in your life and is doing in your life and will do in your life.

  
  And if you're in one of those places that feels like it's still Good Friday, if you're in one of those places where it still feels like Holy Saturday and you just do not know when the dawn will break. Dear ones, [00:09:00] Easter is coming. Easter always comes. Always. Love wins. every time, even when it looks impossible,
  even when it looks impossible. So let's live without fear with amazement and that beautiful capacity of that ellipse of that open ended good news that Mark decided was the beginning, just the beginning. Of God's grace and this good news offered to all of us They may not have said nothing to no one but we say alleluia Christ is risen