Mark 16:1-8 - Homilies By E. Johnson

The sepulcher.

I. SELF - REWARDING LOVE . The women obey the longing to serve, though they know not how. Of love it is said, " All other pleasures are not worth its pains." In lavishing care upon the remains of one beloved, we show that the proper objects of love are persons. It is not to the love of an abstraction, but to the love of himself, that Christ calls us. The suffering in this world are to us as the body of Jesus.

II. ANGELIC MINISTRY . "Angels minister to the followers of Christ, and share their joy." The chain of sympathy is electric between earth and heaven; and all that we know in sorrow and joy has its immediate reflection and response above.

III. THE EMPTY TOMB . The contents have escaped, as some ethereal vapor eludes its bonds. He could not be holden of the tomb. It bore witness to his resurrection; and earth is no more a sepulcher, but a portico to heaven.—J.