Sermon Notes

Mark 16:1-8 | April 5, 2026 | Pastor Sam Sutter |

Mark 16:1-8 (NIV)

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 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 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.

Sermon Outline: Seven Movements from the Empty Tomb

1. The Women Show Up (vv. 1-3)

• Three women carry burial spices to a sealed tomb - expecting death, not resurrection.
• No plan for the stone. They just go, because love doesn't know what else to do.

Quote: "Sometimes faithfulness looks like showing up to a tomb you can't even open."

2. The Stone (v. 4)

• "Which was very large" — and already rolled away before they arrived.
• Before they had a plan, God had already acted, on a timeline they didn't set.
• The obstacle they were worried about had already been handled before they got there.

3. He Has Risen (vv. 5-6)

• Right person. Right place. "He has risen! He is not here."
• Not metaphorically. Not spiritually. Physically. Historically. Bodily.
• The King is alive — and it changes everything happening right now.

4. "And Peter" (v. 7a)

• "Tell his disciples and Peter" — the first name on the risen King's list was the man who denied him three times.
• The first message of the resurrection: go get the one who failed the worst.
• You're not disqualified. You're being called back.

5. "Going Ahead of You" (v. 7b)

• The Greek word describes what a shepherd does — walks out front, past the danger.
• He's not behind you pushing. He's ahead of you, clearing the path.

6. The Blank Page (v. 8)

• Mark ends with trembling, bewilderment, fear, and silence — and most scholars believe he meant to.
• The unfinished ending isn't a mistake. It's an invitation.
• Verse 9 is your life. The resurrection isn't the final page — it's the first page.

7. Your Galilee

• Galilee was home — ordinary life, not sacred ground. Jobs, families, routines.
• Jesus doesn't say "escape your life and find me somewhere holier." He says "go back — I'm already there."
• Peter goes back to Galilee, and the risen Jesus meets him there and redeems his worst moment (see John 21).
• Whatever you're walking back into tomorrow, he's already ahead of you in it.

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.'

— Mark 16:6-7

Sermon Resources

"Mark does not read like a dry history. It is written in the present tense, often using words like 'immediately' to pack the account full of action. You can't help but notice the abruptness and breathless speed of the narrative. This Gospel conveys, then, something important about Jesus. He is not merely a historical figure, but a living reality, a person who addresses us today."

— Timothy Keller, Jesus the King: Understanding the Life and Death of the Son of God

"The abrupt ending both surprises and creates suspense. Mark may have felt no need to relate resurrection appearances to readers who had heard them so often. Magness argues that it was standard literary practice in the ancient world to allude to well-known events that occurred after those being narrated in a text without actually narrating those events."

— Robert H. Stein, Mark (BECNT)

"The evidence for the women was clear — and alarming (3-5). They wondered how they would get the stone away from the tomb (where were the men?). But the stone was rolled away, and a young man in a white robe (Mark probably means an angelic messenger) gave the necessary message to them (5). It is contained in two contrasts. Jesus the Nazarene (6) reminds them of the origin of all this, and roots these events in the real humanity of Jesus. Was crucified ... has risen (6) is the first contrast, and it draws the gospel towards its climax."

— Donald English, Mark (BST)

"The alternative to the mocking unbelief around the cross, demanding authenticating signs, is not only the right confession of the Crucified One as Son of God, but placing one's life in Jesus' service (diakonia), yet the narrative constraints prevent the centurion from representing this aspect of discipleship. Thus Mark points out that the women had followed him and served him in Galilee. In Markan theology, not only Jesus' suffering in Jerusalem, but his salvific ministry in Galilee is essential to the gospel message. The women constitute this link, which neither the male disciples nor the centurion can provide."

— Robert H. Stein, Mark (BECNT)

"When one reads Mark again, it becomes more clear who it is who needs to prepare the way: Jesus is the one who must be out in front, blazing the trail (10:32, 52) and leading (14:28; 16:7). Disciples are those who follow in his way (8:34-10:52). When Jesus' disciples try to precede him on their own to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (6:45), they do not make it. They are helpless until he comes to their rescue. Jesus must go before them (6:48)."

— David E. Garland, Mark (NIV Application Commentary)

"Laborious attempts have been made in modern scholarship not just to suggest that Mark really did mean to stop there, but, as it were, to wallow in the dark uncertainty that results. Mark, we are told, is a book of mysteries. People in Mark are always being told to stay silent; now the women do just that. Instead of a cheap happy ending, they say, Mark has given us something far more powerful, a strange brooding puzzle which leaves every reader turning the matter over, wondering what on earth might have happened, and what it all might mean."

— N. T. Wright, Mark for Everyone

"The first thing to note is that discipleship is difficult, and demands sacrifices. Many today write and speak as if the only purpose in following Jesus were to find complete personal fulfilment and satisfaction, to follow a way or path of personal spirituality which will meet our felt needs. That is hardly the point. There's a war on. God is at work in our world; so are the forces of evil; and there really is no time or space for self-indulgent spiritualities that shirk the slightest personal cost, or even resist it on the grounds that all the desires and hopes one finds within one's heart must be God-given and so must be realized."

— N. T. Wright, Mark for Everyone

Easter faith is fearfully following. It's not the absence of doubt, fear, or unanswered questions — it's obeying the risen Jesus despite all of them. The women trembled. Peter failed. And God used every one of them to turn the world upside down.

Reflection: The stone that worried the women was already moved. The name on the angel's lips was "and Peter." The path ahead is already cleared. Where is your Galilee today — the ordinary place you're being sent back to? The risen Lord is already there, waiting for you.

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