Ecstasy at the Empty Tomb
The Empty Tomb
All four gospels depict the women’s surprise when they find the empty tomb. However, the Gospel of Mark gives the most specific and intense description of the women’s emotional response:
And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
Mark 16:8
Moreover, Mark was so eager to have his readers pay special attention to the women’s response that he may have even made this the final verse of his gospel. Mark’s longer endings only appear in later versions of the manuscript, leading most scholars to believe that the shorter ending was Mark’s original version. Some argue that Mark wrote a different conclusion that no one can now find, but no one can prove this theory.
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Thus, this verse not only records the surprise of the women; it also surprises us! We expect the women at the empty tomb to be ebullient. When the angel says, “He has risen,” the women should respond, “He has risen indeed!” Nonetheless, we can’t force women to conform to our expectations.
Honestly, many don’t experience Easter morning with springy happiness and bright smiles (as W. David O. Taylor has discussed). Even today, the empty tomb still surprises and even frightens many women and men. Perhaps Mark wants us to pay attention to those feelings, to enter deeper into the mystery of the full meaning of the resurrection.
Ecstasy
There’s an important aspect of the women’s experience that doesn’t come through in translation. The word translated as “astonishment” is the Greek word ekstasis, which is also known to us through its cognate, “ecstasy.” The verse feels rather different if we read it that way:
And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and ecstasy had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
Mark 16:8
Ekstasis means to stand outside of, and it refers to a kind of out-of-body experience. We may be aware of “ecstasy,” a modern drug that aims to achieve this kind of experience. In the ancient world, people lacked our modern drugs, but they keenly pursued ecstatic experiences through dance, music, wine, and religious rituals. However, the women did not receive any of these promptings that first Easter morning. They were not partying, and they were not under the influence of any substance. And yet, when they saw the empty tomb, trembling, the ekstasis seized them.
Reason for the Ecstasy? Easter!
What prompted the women to ecstasy was the shocking discovery, that first Easter morning, that they were dealing with the living God. They had followed Jesus, financially supported Jesus, and loved Jesus, but they did not believe Jesus was God. They believed Jesus was dead. But if Christ rose, he isn’t merely a wonderful man or even just the returning King. If Christ rose, he is the Lord God of Hosts, and everything he says proves true. That’s more than a bit scary when you think about it. It’s also more than a bit hopeful.
If we follow the women to the empty tomb, we won’t find Jesus there, but rather a truth that takes us outside ourselves, an ecstasy of joy far deeper than happiness, a joy that has passed through fear and trembling.
Image by: Holy Women at Christ’s Tomb by Annibale Carracci (ca. 1590s).
Today in the Spirit: Easter Day B
“Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!” At no time is the thrill of shouting out this acclamation greater than on Easter Day. “Enter then, all of you, into the joy of your Master. First and last, receive alike your reward. Rich and poor, dance together. You who have fasted and you…
Today in the Spirit: Easter Sunday C
“Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!” At no time is the thrill of making this acclamation greater than on Easter Day. Enter then, all of you, into the joy of your Master. First and last, receive alike your reward. Rich and poor, dance together. You who have fasted and you who…
