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Welcome to Daily Drive Time Devotions, our study of the Gospel of Mark, and this
is the chapter we've been waiting for. Mark chapter 16, day one in this last
chapter, the chapter about the resurrection. This is where the whole story heads
and where the whole story begins in incredible ways.

We're going to have a great time this week as we look at the resurrection story
of Jesus Christ, as we look at these verses that are the focal point of our
faith. Our solid rock is the stone that was rolled away at Easter, and 1
Corinthians 15, 7 reminds us that if you take away these verses, our faith is in
vain. It's worthless.

It means nothing because this is what faith is all about. Jesus is alive, and he
can give new life to us, and this week as we look together through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ, I'd like to do it in a little bit different way.
Our study will be a little bit different this week, focusing on the
resurrection.

We're going to sit in five different chairs this week, one for each day. Today
we're going to talk about the women who first went to the tomb and sit in their
chair and see the resurrection from their viewpoint. Tomorrow we're going to
talk about the historian and how they would look at the historical fact of the
resurrection and what you and I can see about removing doubts and seeing new
faith in our lives because of that.

And then third day of this week, we're going to talk about the skeptic and sit
in the skeptics chair for a few moments and deal with doubts that you might have
or people that you know and care about might have about the resurrection of
Christ. The fourth day of the week, we're going to talk about the theologian and
sit in the theologian's chair. Theology is just the study of God.

So what does the study of God have to say about the importance of the
resurrection? We're going to see that on day four. And then the fifth day of
this week, we're going to sit, you're going to sit in your chair.

I'm going to sit in my chair. We're going to talk personally about how does the
power of the resurrection make a difference in my daily life? Now in Mark
chapter 16, beginning in verse one and going through verse eight, you hear the
story of the resurrection.

Listen to what happened. When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the
mother of James and Salome brought spices so that they might go to anoint
Jesus's body. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they
were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, who will roll the stone
away from the entrance of the tomb?

But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been
rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white
robe sitting on the right side and they were alarmed. Don't be alarmed, he said.

You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who is crucified. He has risen. He is
not here.

See the place where they laid him. 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.

Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said
nothing to anyone because they were afraid. This passage, Mark 16, one through
eight, is a passage of firsts.

It begins on the first day of the week. On the first day of the week, they went
to this tomb. Remember, the Sabbath day is the last day of the week.

That is our Saturday. That is the day that the people would get together to
worship. And because that was a day of worship, they couldn't go to the tomb on
a Sabbath day.

They couldn't do that kind of a work on a Sabbath day. So they waited until the
first day of the week, which is a Sunday. Now I know most of us see Sunday as
the weekend, but really, if you think about it in terms of how God is at work in
our lives, it really is Sunday is the week beginning.

And when you go to worship God on a Sunday or on Saturday night, looking forward
to the next week, you are really giving the first part of your week to God in
worship. Not the last part, not the tail end, not the leftovers. You're giving
the first part of your week to God in worship.

The early Christians changed their day of worship to Sunday to recognize the
power of the resurrection because that's the day that Jesus was resurrected on.
Now Sunday, for most of them, was a work day. So they had to have their worship
meetings after a long day of labor.

That's how important the resurrection was to them. That's how important it was
to them to worship God on the very day of the resurrection. I love it that we
begin the week by worshiping him.

I love it that Jesus was resurrected on the first day of the week. Now as I
said, this is a passage of first. You have the first day, you also have the
first women who went to the tomb.

And the Bible names these women for us here in this passage, Mary Magdalene, a
follower of Jesus. Now, recent Hollywood fictions have made a lot out of Mary
Magdalene. It made some people even think that she was married to Jesus.

Totally ridiculous. Just people in Hollywood making things up to get you to
watch a movie. Mary was simply a follower of Jesus Christ from very early on.

There were many women who followed Jesus Christ from very early on. We hear a
lot about the twelve disciples of Jesus because Jesus had a special call in
their lives, but he also had a special call in the lives of these women. And we
hear a lot about them as well.

We hear especially hear a lot about them at the cross and at the resurrection.
Mary Magdalene was there. Mary the mother of James, and another gospel tells us,
and Joseph was there.

Now, who is this? Well, some people think this could be Jesus's mother because
Jesus had two brothers named James and Joseph. If that's true, and it could be,
it would be a bit of a strange way to refer to her unless, unless James and
Joseph were very familiar to the Roman church for whom this gospel was first
written.

That would make sense. Still, it would be more likely to refer to her as the
mother of Jesus. And it's more likely that this Mary was probably another Mary
amidst all the Marys that were there at the cross and the resurrection.

We talked a little bit about that last week. Lots of Marys in that day.
Everybody seems to have a Mary in their family.

In fact, Acts 12 2 tells us that the mother of the writer of the gospel of Mark,
John Mark's mother, guess what her name was? Mary. Everyone had a Mary in their
family, and here's another Mary that's at this first day when Jesus has
resurrected.

Jesus's mother was there, we find out, in other gospels, and maybe this other
Mary was there as well. A woman by the name of Salome was there. Many people
think by comparing the different accounts that this may have been the mother of
James and John, two of the disciples of Jesus, James, who's the first disciple
to die for his faith, and John, who's the last of the disciples to die for his
faith.

And their mother was there, worshiping on that day, and because they were there,
they saw something incredible. Now in this chapter of firsts, you have the first
day of the week, you have the first women that were at the tomb. I also want you
to notice the first thing that they say.

It's very important. The first thing that they say is, "Who will roll the stone
away? " Now when they get to the tomb, they find out it has already been rolled
away, but on the way they say, "Who will roll it away?

" They were going to anoint the body with spices, which is what you did in that
day. In that day, a body would decompose in the grave, which was above ground,
so you would anoint it with spices so that there would be no smell, and also to
honor the body of the dead. So they went to anoint the body with these spices,
and as they went, they thought, "Wait, the stone's already been rolled in front
of the tomb, because it's been a few days already.

Who's going to roll it away? " They could have, think about this with me, they
could have stayed home, and they could have thought at home, "The stone is too
big. It's already there.

There is no need to go," but they went anyway, and because they went anyway,
they became the first to witness the resurrection. When you are calculating your
day, or your finances, or your life, don't forget, these women's example tell
us, don't forget that God is in the equation, and sometimes you launch out not
quite knowing what the answer is, but when you get there, you find out that God
has you just at the right place, just in the right time. These women remind us
that even though we don't have everything figured out, God does, and he's at
work in our lives.

Now, what was the first thing that they heard? First thing that they heard on
this day of resurrection was, "Don't be alarmed. " That's the common theme on
this day, the first thing that Jesus has to say to his disciples, the first
thing that the angels say when they meet people, "Don't be afraid.

Don't be alarmed. " He is risen, but the first feeling that they have when they
see something out of place, something unusual, is a feeling of fear. A lot of us
feel that way.

First feeling we have when we recognize Jesus Christ wants to do something new
and different in our lives is not a feeling of gratitude, it's a feeling of
fear, because we don't like to change. We like to stay comfortable. We like
things to stay as they are.

We don't like anything unusual, and we get afraid, we get uncomfortable when the
unusual happens, even when it's the best unusual that's ever happened. What
happened on that day is, well, the angel, the young man who was in the tomb,
told them, "Jesus is risen. He is not here.

" And then he says to the women, "Here's what I want you to do. I want you to go
and tell. " And you might notice the angel said, "I want you to go and tell the
disciples and Peter.

" A lot of people, as they read through this passage, see that he picks out
Peter especially. Why does he do that? Because Peter is the one who denied Jesus
three times.

And Jesus Christ wanted to make sure that Peter was assured that he's a part of
the disciples and that he can still follow him. So even at the resurrection,
even in this tomb, you see personal care for somebody who's struggling with
doubt and fear in their lives. Don't be afraid.

He is alive. There's a point in your life, there's a point in my life right now
where you need to hear that. It might be in your family life, it might be in
your financial life, there is a point where you need to hear, "Don't be afraid.

He is alive. " Now in this day of firsts, first women, first thing that they
say, first day, first thing that they heard, you can't fail to notice the first
thing that they did. The first thing that they did is nothing.

They said nothing to anyone, the Bible tells us, because they were afraid. And
by the way, when they finally did tell, they were doubted when they told. For
all of the early followers of Jesus, their first reaction to hearing the
resurrection was doubt and disbelief and even fear.

Now I can relate to that. I can relate to hearing God's powerful truth in my
life and thinking, "Could that be me? " Hearing God's powerful truth in my life
and thinking, "It's too good to be true.

" But the great thing about these women, the great thing about these first
disciples is they kept listening. And because they kept listening, they
eventually realized, "It is about me. It is true.

He is alive. God wants to do something new in my life. " I want to invite you,
as we pray today, to listen to him.

And Jesus, as we listen to you, I pray you'd meet us at that place of our doubt,
at that place of our fear, and let us know you are never going to give up on us.
You are alive. You are risen.

And because of that, we can have new life. I pray that you'd help us to see
today the kind of new life that you can give at particular places, in particular
relationships, in particular ways of thinking in our life today. Thank you,
Jesus.

Thank you that you are alive. In your name we pray. Amen.

Join us tomorrow. We're going to look at the resurrection from the chair of an
historian.