Were you as surprised or shocked as I was to read that Mark concludes his marvelous Gospel writing in chapter 16, verse 8 with the words, "and they said nothing to anyone--for they were afraid." We know from personal experience that fear is not always a negative response, but to end a portion of God''s word in this way almost seems out of place. However, it is not God''s response to the resurrection that Mark is being honest about; it is the human response. The resurrection was God''s response, but the first human response to God''s response was that of fear.

Yes, we are almost shocked as we read the Word of God from Mark''s gospel today and discover that it tells that the first response of the women and the disciples was that of silence and fear. To begin with, the most unlikely of witne…