Mk 16:1-20
Key verse: 16:15
 
            “He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.’”

Through yesterday’s main message by Shepherd Richard, we learned about the cross of Jesus.  We saw how Jesus suffered horribly on the cross.  But we learned that Jesus’ cross is the love of God.  In today’s passage, we will see that Jesus’ death on the cross sets the stage for his glorious victory over the power of death through his resurrection.  Jesus died and was raised in order to save the whole world.  Jesus’ cross and world mission command shows us God’s heart for the whole world.  When the disciples obeyed Jesus, they could overcome all their problems and limitations and be used to bless all creation with the gospel.  May we learn God’s heart for the world and may Jesus work through us to carry out his world mission command.

I. Good News! He Has Risen! (1-8)

First, the women’s desire to anoint Jesus’ body (1-4).  Look at verses 1-2.  “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.  Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb...”  From chapter 15 we know they were among those who witnessed the crucifixion of Jesus as well as the burial of Jesus. Luke’s gospel also tells us they were those who had been with Jesus throughout his ministry in Galilee and had supported Jesus and his disciples out of their own means (Lk 8:2-3). They were women of deep inner beauty.

But these women, who had such love and devotion to Jesus, were devastated because their lovely Jesus was falsely accused and beaten and finally nailed to a cross.  Now all that was left for them to do was make preparations to anoint Jesus’ body in the tomb with spices in accordance with the custom.  But they had to wait until after the Sabbath, from Friday evening until Sunday morning.  That time seemed to go on forever.  They could not sleep but mourned together and attempted to comfort one another over the tragic loss of good Jesus.  Finally, as early as possible on Sunday morning, they set out for the tomb.  But they were soon bothered by a practical concern, so they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away for us?”  It was cause for them to be brought down lower in defeat and sorrow. But it turned out to be a needless concern.  Contrary to their expectations, when they got to the tomb, they found the heavy stone had already been rolled away.  “Who rolled the stone away?” they must have wondered.  It was the first sign that something very special was happening in their midst.

Second, he has risen, he is not here (5-6). The women saw the heavy stone had been rolled away. What did they decide to do?  Look at verse 5.  “As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man inside, dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.”  According to Matthew’s gospel, he was more than a young man, he was an angel of the Lord (Mt 28:2). What did the angel say to them? Read verse 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.’” Do you know what is the key point of the Bible?  The angel’s message was the key point of the Bible.  It was the key point of Jesus’ teaching.  The angel’s message was good news of great joy for all people.  Jesus was born and died according to the will of God to be the Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world (Jn 1:29).  We saw from Shepherd Richard’s message how Jesus was faithful to his cross of mission to the end.  But God did not abandon Jesus who died to obey his will for world salvation.  No, the Bible says, “God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him (Acts 2:24).  Last night we were so encouraged by Shanon Smith’s life testimony.  His life was overshadowed by death and darkness from a young age.  There seemed to be no ray of light for him.  But in Jesus he is a new creation.  So he can smile a big smile!  Thanks be to God for the angels message of good news- Jesus is not dead. He has risen!

How blessed the women were to hear the angel’s message of good news. Now the angel gave them their special mission from God.  Read verse 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.”  Throughout Mark’s gospel, Jesus repeatedly told his disciples about how he would die and rise on the third day.  But usually when Jesus said something about the cross or suffering or dying, they had a kind of glazed stare.  Maybe they would daydream about what they would eat for lunch.  Then, just before his crucifixion, Jesus again reminded his disciples of his promise to see them again.  He said in Mk 14:28, “But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.”  This was Jesus’ promise to them of his resurrection.  But neither the disciples nor the women could remember the promise of Jesus due to their fear of death problem.   Now God wanted the woman to strengthen and encourage the disciples with the good news.  He said, “Go, tell his disciples.” But do you know what happened?  Verse 8 says, “Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb.  They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.”  It turns out the poor women were temporarily shell-shocked by their meeting with the angel and all that was going on. The earth shaking power of God was being revealed, but they were still confused.  They needed to believe the good news which was according to the promise of Jesus.

II. Jesus Gives Us the World Mission Command (9-18)

The angel had given the women the glorious message of Jesus’ resurrection.  In this part, we will see how the risen Jesus himself appears to his followers and saves them from unbelief.  Then he equips them to go out into all the world with the good news.
 

 
First, the Risen Jesus visits Mary Magdalene. Verse 9 tells us, “When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons.”  When the women were struggling, the Risen Jesus himself appeared to one of them, Mary Magdalene.  Jesus loved Mary deeply and appeared to her first of all people.  Through her personal meeting with Jesus, she repented of her fear.  Then she followed through on his direction and went to tell the disciples.  So in verse 10 we see she found them that the disciples were mourning and weeping, saying, “Oh, how could this happen to Jesus.  This was totally unexpected.  Why didn’t he warn us ahead of time?”  “Others said, “I thought Jesus would take care of me and give me an easy and successful life.  Now what do I do?”   Then Mary broke into their pity party.  “I have good news! Jesus is alive!  An angel told me, and now I have seen him myself!  He has risen!”   Unfortunately, just as she had unbelief at first, the disciples now had the same problem. They dismissed her testimony thinking she was full of delusions from sleeplessness and despair.  “There, there, Mary.  We all miss Jesus. Go home now, and lie down on you mat.” They had an unbelief problem. So it says, “They did not believe it.”

The Risen Jesus made another appearance.  Let’s read verses 12-13.  “Afterward, Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking in the country.  These returned and reported it to the rest; but they did not believe them either.”  According to Luke’s gospel, these were two junior disciples leaving Jerusalem on a country road to Emmaus (Lk 24).  They returned and reported this to the Eleven.  “Hey, guys! We have good news!  We just met with Jesus!  We walked with him and talked with him!  He has risen!”  But they were not top level disciples. So the top level disciples just looked at them sympathetically- “Poor little boys.  The pressure’s really gotten to them.”  So it says, “They did not believe them either.” Jesus was really trying to help his disciples to overcome their unbelief through these resurrection witnesses.  Due to their unbelief, they remained paralyzed in fear and full of weeping.  They really needed a wake up call.

Read verse 14.  “Later, Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen.”  The disciples could not believe Jesus’ resurrection because they had no faith in Jesus’ teachings, especially about the resurrection of Jesus.  They did not believe the resurrection of Jesus because their hearts were so stubborn.  They loved Jesus very much.  But they were very slow to believe his promise of the resurrection.

 
Personally, I struggle with the unbelief problem like the disciples.  When I began to follow Jesus, I had hoped Jesus would make me a great disciple maker, and a great business man.  But things didn’t go as I expected.  I ended up a stay at home Dad with no disciples.  Also, Baltimore ministry seems to be slow moving, so I get very pushy and bother coworkers (prepare your Bible studies- come on time!  Where’s Abe Lee?).  For over three years God has been giving me CPA exam training.  I began with little effort, “This is a joke, it will never happen.”  Finally, I decided, “Why don’t I study by faith, and see what happens.”  I made a good progress.  Since moving to Towson, I learned to take the cross of studying from early evening to 2am, and preparing Sunday mssgs and fishing most weekdays.  But for the past two years I keep missing a passing score on half the exam by just one or two questions.  The last time I declared by faith that I passed, even before getting the scores and Msy Jacob broadcasted it.  So everyone congratulated me.  Someone even sent me a spiritual postcard- congratulations on your prayer victory. Two days before the conference I got bad news, that I missed half the exam by 2% points.  So I become like a weeping disciple- “Where is Jesus? He was supposed to give me everything I wanted! That’s it.  I am going back to my mat.  They can find someone else to give the conference message.”  I feel like a dead man.  If Jesus did not rise, I must give up.  But Jesus is risen.  Thank God for training me so I can die and believe the good news of Jesus resurrection.

Now that the disciples could believe the good news through Jesus’ rebuke, Jesus gave them their great life direction.  Read verse 15. ”He said to them, ‘Go into all he world and preach the good news to all creation.”  Verse 15 is known as Jesus’ world mission command.  It is the key verse of this passage.  It is Jesus final direction to all his followers before his ascension into heaven.  So let’s think about Jesus’ world mission command.
 
First, to whom should we preach the good news? Jesus told them to preach the good news to all creation- all the people of the world.  Jesus gives us this cross of mission.  Who does not need the good news of the power of God over the dark power of sin and death?  Everyone needs it.  We must be good shepherds for Jesus’ sheep according to Shep Bruce’s message.  So Jesus sends his disciples out to all the world so that all may be saved.  In UBF we are always praying for world mission starting from the college campuses throughout the world.  Some students trust in their intellect.  “My mind will save me.”  We must help them like Jesus who helped the intellectual Pharisee Nicodemus, “Nicodemus, no matter how smart you are, you cannot enter the kingdom of God unless you are born again.”  Msy David Chung told us about the paralytic, who was just the opposite of Nicodemus, “I can’t do anything.  No one helps me.”  Maybe they are “Bodang’s,” like John Chang.  We must bring them to Jesus to hear Jesus’ words of hope, “Do you want to get well?”  From Shep Bob’s message we learned how there are so many love sick young men women from broken families and broken relationships.  But Jesus wants to give them the living water of his eternal love and security as he did with the Samaritan woman- “...whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.”  So they shouldn’t drink a lot of alcohol like Daniel Lee Jr. who got caught by the O.C. police for underage drinking.   These people are all over the world.  They are right on our campus.  May God use us to preach the good news to all the world.

Second, Jesus’ faith in God.  For such an important mission, we would think that Jesus would appoint highly trained religious scholars, or even angelic beings to spread the good news all over the world.  But instead, who did he choose for the mission to save the whole world? These same fearful disciples and shaky women.  He had spoken to them ahead of time regarding his death and resurrection.  But they could not accept or remember Jesus words when all their worldly hope was lost. Jesus should have been so discouraged by their poor spiritual condition and given up on them.  But Jesus kept helping them until they overcame their unbelief. Shep Patrick was rebuked by his coworker for not growing spiritually in the last ten years.  I thought I had to agree with her after hearing the rough drafts of his message.  But despite his weaknesses, Jesus used him to open our conference with the great vision of God to look up at the stars like Abraham and believe the promise of God through the conference.  Do you think you are too weak to carry your cross?  Jesus who has faith in God to accomplish the world mission command through every one of us despite our human weaknesses.

 
After giving them the world mission command, Jesus taught his disciples the absoluteness of the gospel. Read verse 16.  “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”  Many people feel that they can be neutral in regard to their spiritual life.  But the gospel message shows us that is not so.  Our cross of mission is not a light matter, but a life and death matter.  May Jesus use us to save many and bring them with us to the kingdom of God.

To those who believe, Jesus equips with his power and protection to carry out the world mission command.  Read verses 17 and 18. “And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”  Boy, these are some interesting powers!  They don’t mean that we should play with snakes or drink the stuff under our kitchen cabinet.  It is a matter of Jesus confirming the power of God working through his disciples. Jesus was promising to carry out his world mission command very powerfully through the weak disciples.  Did he keep his promise?  Look at verses 19-20.

“After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up to heaven and he sat at the right hand of God.  Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.”  After Jesus finished instructing his disciples regarding their great commission, he was taken up in glory to heaven to sit at God’s right hand to rule the heavens and the earth.  Oh no!  It seemed the disciples were without Jesus again.  But this time they were not overcome by fear.  What did they do?  They did just what Jesus told them to do.  It says they went out and preached the good news everywhere.  When they believed in the power of God to raise Jesus from the dead, they were no longer ruled by fear and unbelief.  Rather, they had a spirit of obedience and boldness and overcoming faith.  They could not contain the good news of Jesus’  resurrection to themselves.   When they believed, the Risen Jesus himself worked through their weaknesses and strengthened them to carry their cross of mission. They were not working alone.  It says that the Lord worked with them.  The Risen Jesus was proving he is alive and confirming his work among his gospel workers.

When we read the book of the Acts of the Apostles, we can find evidence of Jesus confirming his work just as he said.  As we studied the other day, Peter made a good confession of Christ.  But then he rebuked Jesus for speaking of the cross of suffering, and he got rebuked back harshly by Jesus, being called Satan.  Peter later vowed to give his life, for Jesus, but when Jesus was arrested, Peter ran away and followed at a distance.  But less than two month’s after Jesus ascension, the disciples received the Holy Spirit at the feast of Pentecost.  Then they went out and spoke in different tongues.  The disciples were able to speak to all the pilgrims who came to worship in Jerusalem in their own native tongue.  Especially Peter gave a powerful Bible message and 3000 were saved.  It was a clear sign of God reaching out to all nations, even overcoming the language barrier. It was the sign of Jesus confirming his work even through weak disciples like Peter.  Even Peter went on to become the leader of the Christian church in Jerusalem.  Because of his love for Jesus and faithfulness to Jesus’ world mission command, Jesus worked through Peter and the other disciples.  Jesus used the weak disciples to spread the gospel to many nations and generations, even to us today.
 
And Jesus promises to protect his servants from dangers from without and within.  In China, there is the danger of government persecution towards Christians.  In Muslim nations converts to Christianity can be disowned by family members and even killed.  But our coworkers in these dangerous mission fields persevere because they believe Jesus rose from the dead in order to save all nations.  In Africa,  Dr. Samuel Yoo of Uganda reported that 90% of his hospital patients have AIDS.  A number of times he has accidentally got pricked by used needles.  But he did not get infected. God is protecting him and he is raising disciples for Africa campus mission.  We face dangers in America campus mission as well. Msy David Park came over from Korea to serve Jesus world mission command and lived in Baltimore city for over ten years.  Once his house was broken into, but no one was hurt.  Another time, he was walking down the street and somebody came up to him and said, “Give me your money.”  But Msy David had no job, so he said, “I don’t have any money.”  Then the man lunged at Msy David.  But he didn’t strike Msy David.  Instead he just hugged him and went away.  Thank God for protecting us and strengthening us as we carry out his world mission command.

In UBF we pray to be faithful to Jesus’ command. So we are always praying for World mission- like Russia, China, Europe and Africa.  Do you know how many nations UBF has a chapter in?  87 nations.  Christian magazines says UBF has sent out the most missionaries.  And we have tent making missionaries who support themselves while carrying out Jesus’ world mission command.  And Jesus is certainly confirming his work through our missionaries.  Let’ think about the power of Jesus working through those who obey Jesus’ world mission command.  Just from this conference we have some examples.  We received a lot of grace from Shannon Smith’s life testimony.  But he would not be here had not Msy Sarah Yun invited him to Bible study in obedience to Jesus’ world mission command.  What about this morning’s messenger Bruce Hollinger?  When he was invited to Bible study, he ran away with his marathon running speed.  But when Msy Esther Lee was faithful to Jesus’ world mission command, Jesus gave her the Holy Spirit to catch him and bring him to Bible study.  I came when Msy Grace Park blocked my way at a student organization fair- I could receive salvation from my sins and eternal life.  Where would any of us be if not for those who were obedient to Jesus world mission command?  May God help us to be obedient and faithful to Jesus’ world mission command for the saving of many souls.

 
   And we pray for America to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation to be a blessing to all nations.  This is a regional conference, so we are praying for 206 East Coast campuses to be pioneered.  Sometimes it seems like we are too weak.  Our personal and overall ministry is sometimes just a struggle to maintain at the current level.  Shippensburg looks too small. I never heard of Shippensburg before joining UBF.  But now they are becoming world famous through their obedience to Jesus’ world mission command. Though they have a small chapter, they brought three promising men to the conference, Nathan Sullivan, Chris Hickey and Lewis Klampfer.  Maybe they are like Peter, James and John- they can go fishing together and share fellowship with one another and with Jesus and grow to be powerful disciples.  And of course they performed a professional style Israel dance.  Some churches like to grow very big.  But most of our chapters are not so large.  In the Washington chapter, Missionary Jacob did not try to build a big kingdom-like church.  Instead he keeps sending out gospel workers to pioneer other chapters like Baltimore, George Mason, Montgomery College and Georgetown.  And he is praying for Philadelphia to the north and Virginia to the south and even right here in Delaware.  Even Wynelle Nett was sent all the way to Europe to be a mother of prayer in Germany.  It is because we are so happy to spread the good news of Jesus’ resurrection.  It is in fulfillment with the will of God and his great vision for us.

We feel too weak due to our fears and other human limitations.  But Jesus has risen!  He is with us to carry out his world mission command.  May God use us for the saving of many souls in America and in all the world.

Read key verse 15