1 And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, that they might come and anoint him. 2 And very early on the first day of the week, they come to the tomb when the sun was risen. 3 And they were saying among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the tomb? 4 and looking up, they see that the stone is rolled back: for it was exceeding great. 5 And entering into the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, arrayed in a white robe; and they were amazed.6 And he saith unto them, Be not amazed: ye seek Jesus, the Nazarene, who hath been crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold, the place where they laid him! 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, He goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you. 8 And they went out, and fled from the tomb; for trembling and astonishment had come upon them: and they said nothing to any one; for they were afraid.
Mark does not draw attention to the day’s pause between the burial and anointing: Holy Saturday, a day of strange emptiness, as if heaven was holding its breath. Then – amazement. There is no domesticating resurrection. They do not look and say “Oh I see, he is risen”. They are amazed. Even the patient explanation of the young man/angel just leaves them trembling with astonishment and fear. This is so not the carefully programmed writing of some of the birth narratives where – whatever the actual historic basis – certainly what we read is well stage-managed. This is raw – and the rawness itself is good evidence for the reality of the experience. Did the Gospel originally end here, so raw? I like to think so: it appeals to the modern mind, and strangely echoes Mark himself (if it was he) running away from the arrest naked. We are simply left to make up our mind.
