Amazed
Read This Week: Mark 16
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. 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. – Mark 16:6-8 NIV
The morning of the resurrection is interesting for the women who had gone to the tomb when we look back at it. They were not expectant of anything amazing. Expectancy was lacking in the disciples and the women who ventured to the grave that morning. They went to anoint the dead not to witness a miracle. But when they encountered the angel, and he informed them that Jesus had risen, this was their reaction in verse 8:
Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone because they were afraid.
The two Marys and Salome did not get what they expected to say the least. The word trembling in this version of verse 8 is better stated as astonishment. It is the Greek word ekstasis that means amazement or the state of one who is thrown into a state of blended fear and wonderment because of the novelty of an event.
Ekstasis is the word that we get the English derivative ecstasy from. In other words, the women had encountered a once-in-a-lifetime event that they were not expecting, and it put them into a state of fear, astonishment, and wonder. This reaction seemed to be a common occurrence throughout the book of Mark:
• And they were astonished at his teaching… (1:22)
• They were all amazed… (1:27)
• So that they were all amazed and glorified God… (2:12)
• They were astonished beyond measure… (7:37)
• When they saw him, they were greatly amazed… (9:15)
• They were exceedingly astonished… (10:26)
• They were amazed, and those who followed were afraid… (10:32)
• All the crowd was astonished at his teaching… (11:18)
• Jesus made no further answer so that Pilate was amazed… (15:5)
These reactions to Jesus should come as no surprise. He is, indeed amazing. The way that He loves us unconditionally is amazing. The grace that He poured out on us through the cross and continues to in our lives is amazing. His mercy in light of our sin is amazing. His goodness when we don’t deserve it is amazing. His faithfulness in the face of our constant disobedience is amazing, and His nurturing when we are hurting and defeated is beyond amazing.
In light of this, we should be a people that are amazed but not surprised. The Lord is unpredictable so be astonished but don’t be unexpectant that an amazing God will do amazing things. He will; He does, and He is. Consider this wonderful quote about our amazing, wonderful Father:
God is often unpredictable. He loves to invade everyday life. He comes to you when you least expect it. He manifests Himself to you even when you’re aware of your own shortcomings and feel as if you don’t deserve His grace. He does this to remind you that His love and desire for you aren’t based on what you do for Him but on who He is. His unpredictable love is meant to amaze you, fascinate you, and capture your heart with His passion for you.
Mark 16:13 They went back and they told the other *disciples. But they did not even believe them. v14 Afterwards, Jesus appeared to the 11 *disciples themselves as they were eating. Jesus blamed them for their lack of *faith. They had refused to believe those who had seen him after his *resurrection. v15 Jesus said to them, ‘Go into the entire world. *Preach the good news to everyone.
God knows who will believe and those who won’t.
for those who do belong to Him,
Just remember He loves you so much that He will speak to us like Jesus did to His disciples, teaching them when things happen He wants us to have faith in Him, when we read that He is alive we can believe that, when someone shares something about Jesus that is true, you can Believe and keep following Him, if you feel unbelief coming on you can ask Him to help your unbelief, Father God is with you, when He ask us to do something that will help us with our unbelief, go with Him and continue to preach the good news to everyone, that is your mission, it’s a important assignment, it’s your job, a journey with Jesus, God is our boss He will help you, that’s what we take with us when we finally go home to heaven, the people we shared Jesus with, hopefully they listened and joined the Family of God just like you and you will see them when you get there. Thank you God for the most wonderful job in the world. I love you all.
This was the line that really grabbed and spoke to me from your post this week, Heidi: Just remember He loves you so much that He will speak to us like Jesus did to His disciples, teaching them when things happen He wants us to have faith in Him.
I am so thankful for this and that God loves us so much that He would reveal Himself to us through Christ and His word. And that He still does. That he thinks so much of us that He continues to teach us all the eternal truths of His heart. What a privilege and blessing it is to know and follow Him and to be equipped and empowered to do so.
This Week in the Life: Mark 16
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This is what I got from Mark 16th. The stone was rolled away so that others could see Jesus had risen from the dead. The angel reminded them of what Jesus was and what He is. My Son Jesus still is risen. Jesus was resurrected which means he was living again in a new body. When the women saw where they laid Him, and that He was gone, they saw death is conquered, and that we have a living friend in Jesus. The resurrection means I have a plan for your body. My Son has a continuing ministry to save those who come to Him, His death on the cross was His payment for your sin, and the resurrection was the receipt.
When Jesus invites you, He wants to reveal Himself to you. He will never fail in any of His promises. If you have grieved Me, come to Jesus now and repent. He is still inviting you to Himself. Every disciple, which includes you, is commanded to go and preach the gospel. As long as you are here, continue to bring others to Me. When you go out and do as My word commands, you are not alone. Jesus will work with you.
I loved how God used women in the bible to show how important we are in His plan. This reminds me how important it is for me to continue to lead others to Him as long as I am on this earth, and that Jesus goes with me in this mission.
My Son Jesus still is risen. These words kept jumping out at me as I read and re-read your post, Kathy. It is a worthy and powerful thought to know and be reminded that Jesus still is risen. It holds such power for the believer in both a spiritual and missional sense. As you also said:
Every disciple, which includes you, is commanded to go and preach the gospel. As long as you are here, continue to bring others to Me. When you go out and do as My word commands, you are not alone. Jesus will work with you.
May we live in light of the resurrection. I pray we draw upon the power of it as we live and follow Him while being confident that “his incomparably great power for us who believe is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms.” (Eph. 1:18-20) That is all the power and strength we will ever need.
This week in Mark 16, God gave me a song called “Good News”:
We are believers, believers of our Lord
Spreading the good news everywhere we go.
Our Lord is full of love, hope, and joy
He is our healer, our counselor, and our comforter.
Our Lord loves us so much he gave his life for all of us
We are believers, believers of our Lord
Spreading His good news everywhere we go. Amen.
Our Lord loves us so much he gave his life for us. This makes me feel so blessed. I want to be the best servant I can be.
I’m so thankful for this, Alma. It is truly Good News to know what God did for us in Christ. I am a firm believer in the fact that Christians need to hear and be reminded of the Gospel on a regular basis. It is both a cause for gratitude and as you said, motivation to be the best servant we can be.