The Rumors Are True!

Is it really true? Did Jesus willingly die a horrible death

A
RUMOR of
on a cross and then come back to life? The idea seems
impossible for our human minds to comprehend, yet
the gospel message isn’t complete without both a

HOPE
brutal sacrifice and a beautiful resurrection. A Rumor of
Hope: The Good News of Easter walks you through the
crucifixion and resurrection from the biblical narrative of
those who were there. It gives feet to the good news that
otherwise seems almost too good to be true. The Good News of Easter
Ray C. Stedman was one of the great pastors, expositors,
and spiritual leaders of the twentieth century. A graduate
of Dallas Theological Seminary, he was pastor of the
Peninsula Bible Church in Palo Alto, California, for 40
years. With over 20 books to his credit, Stedman spanned
the experiences of the Christian life with his writing,
having a tremendous impact on the church in the
twentieth century.

To order more of A Rumor of Hope or any of over 100

other titles, visit discoveryseries.org.

Q0738
Ray Stedman
introduction
A Rumor of Hope
The Good News
of Easter

S ome people try to have Christianity

without the cross, because the cross
is bloody and offensive. Others try to
have Christianity without the resurrection, because
the resurrection is mysterious and supernatural
and can’t be scientifically explained. It violates our

1
 rationalist sensibilities, and surely no educated
person believes in such things anymore.
But the fact is that Christianity without a
cross and an empty tomb is not Christianity. It
is mere pabulum dispensed in the vain hope that
we will all become better people. It is mere moral
teaching. The problem with mere moral teaching
is that it is impossible to live by. People don’t
need to be told what to do and how to live.
What we need is not moral teaching but
transformation. We need to be changed at the
core of our being.
The good news is that the power of evil and
sin has been shattered by the cross, and the
power of death has been broken by the empty
tomb. The Lord is alive, and he lives in us and
through us, giving us the power to truly live.

Ray Stedman

2 A RUMOR OF HOPE
contents

one
The View from the Cross                 5

two
A Rumor of Hope                         23

EDITORS: Tim Gustafson, J.R. Hudberg

COVER IMAGE: Our Daily Bread Ministries
COVER DESIGN: Stan Myers
INTERIOR DESIGN: Steve Gier

Excerpted from The Ruler Who Serves, by Ray Stedman. Copyright © 2002 by
Elaine Stedman. Used by permission of Elaine Stedman.
Interior Images: (p.1) Our Daily Bread Ministries; (p.5) Mary R. Vogt via
MorgueFile.com; (p.23) EclatDuSoleil via MorgueFile.com.
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the
New International Version, © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.®
Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
© 2015 Our Daily Bread Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI
All rights reserved.
Printed in USA
one
A View from the Cross
Mark 15:21–47

I n the heart of the Hawaiian Islands is the island of

Molokai. Today that island is a paradise, but during
the 1800s it was an island of horrors. In 1848, an
outbreak of leprosy (Hansen’s disease) occurred in Hawaii.
By the 1860s, the outbreak had become a terrifying
epidemic. The Hawaiian government rounded up
everyone infected with the disease and quarantined them
on Molokai.
The leper colony was located on Kalaupapa Peninsula,

5
which was cut off from the rest of Molokai by a sixteen-
hundred-foot cliff. There was no dock or harbor, so the
ships would drop anchor offshore, and the lepers would
be made to jump overboard and swim to the rocky shore.
The government did not provide shelter, drinking water,
or amenities. Those who survived found what shelter
they could in caves or rude shacks made of leaves and
branches. Occasionally supply ships would toss crates of
food into the water; if the currents were favorable, the
crates would reach the jagged shore, where the lepers
could retrieve them.
The Kalaupapa leprosy colony existed for seven years
before Father Damien arrived in 1873. His skills ranged
from carpentry (for building houses and churches and
caskets) to medicine (for treating wounds, bandaging
sores, and amputating diseased limbs). For years he
lived among the lepers. He taught his skills to them,
constructed buildings, cared for the living, buried the
dead, and encouraged them through his prayers and
preaching.

Father Damien de Veuster was a Belgian priest who

volunteered for service among the lepers at Kalaupapa

One evening, Father Damien filled a basin with boiling

water, preparing to wash his feet. It was his custom to
mix hot and cold water to a bearable temperature before
putting his feet in the basin. This night, he forgot the
cold water, but when he put his feet in the boiled water,
he felt no pain.

6 A RUMOR OF HOPE
 That was in 1885. After twelve
years living among the lepers,
Father Damien had taken their
disease into himself. The following
Sunday, he stood before his
congregation in the simple wooden
church he had built and began his In the end, he
sermon with the words “We lepers.”
[Jesus] took our
Four years later, he was dead at the
age of forty-nine. disease into
The life of Father Damien himself, giving his
reminds us of the one who came life for us.
among us while we were isolated
and condemned by sin, castaways
without any hope. He came as a carpenter, a healer, and a
teacher. He encouraged us with his prayers and preaching.
And in the end, he took our disease into himself, giving his
life for us. He was the one of whom Isaiah prophesied:

Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering,

yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all (isaiah 53:4–6).

A View from the Cross 7

We come to the moment that Isaiah
spoke of, when Jesus was pierced
for us, when he was crushed for us
and our sin was laid on him as he
hung on the cross. As we glimpse
something of the awful penalty that
Jesus paid on our behalf, may we We are not merely
understand that we are not merely
witnessing the
witnessing the tragic martyrdom of
a religious idealist. We are watching tragic martyrdom
as a ransom payment is made for of a religious
our souls. idealist. We are
watching as a
“And They Crucified Him”
ransom payment
Mark’s account of the crucifixion
is made for our
is different in tone and detail from
that of the other three gospels. souls.
Mark leaves out a number of
details that other gospel writers include. For example,
Mark includes only one sentence spoken by Jesus.
The description of Jesus’s actions and words that Mark
records are limited to three short passages. Here is the
first passage: “They brought Jesus to the place called
Golgotha (which means ‘the place of the skull’). Then they
offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take
it. And they crucified him” (mark 15:22–24).

In all, the four Gospels record seven statements of Jesus on the

cross, the well-known seven words of the cross

8 A RUMOR OF HOPE
 Before the crucifixion began, one of the soldiers
offered Jesus wine mingled with myrrh, a bitter gum
resin that was believed to have a narcotic effect. The
Romans commonly drugged crucifixion victims to make
it easier to drive the nails through their hands and feet.
Jesus probably refused the drink because he had no
intention of struggling or making the task difficult for his
executioners. This is one more way we see how willingly
Jesus accepted our penalty and laid down his life for us.
The gospel writers demonstrate reserve when
describing the crucifixion. They do not describe the
driving of the nails or the agony Jesus endured. All of the
incomprehensible horror of the cross is compressed into
those four stark words: “And they crucified him.”
Mark passes over almost all of the first three hours on
the cross. In his second passage describing the words and
actions of Jesus on the cross, Mark takes us to the dark
abyss of the Lord’s loneliness: “At noon, darkness came
over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And
at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice,
‘Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?’ (which means, ‘My God,
my God, why have you forsaken me?’)” (mark 15:33–34).
Then there is Mark’s third and final passage describing
the Lord’s words and actions on the cross. In that passage
Mark takes us to the final moment of his earthly life.
“With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. The curtain
of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom” (mark
15:37–38).
Mark’s account of the crucifixion—of the moments
when Jesus hung on the cross and gave his life for us—is

A View from the Cross 9

simple and concise. His focus is not on what the people
in the crowd see as they gaze at the cross but what Jesus
sees as he looks out on the crowd.
The View from the Cross
Gathered around the foot of the cross were a great
number of individuals or groups of individuals. Mark
focuses on each of them so that we might witness their
reactions to the crucifixion of our Lord. Mark intended
this account to contrast the mysterious workings of God
and the ways and the thinking of humanity. He wants us
to see that this event is truly timeless.
But first let’s go back to the beginning of these events,
to a point immediately following the Lord’s trial before
Pilate. There we find the first of these character sketches
drawn by Mark. It occurred as Jesus was on his way to the
cross. The Roman soldiers are taking Jesus out to crucify
him. As they pass through the streets of Jerusalem, Jesus
stumbles and falls. So the Roman soldiers grab a stranger
from the crowd and force him to carry the cross of Jesus.
“A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander
and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country,
and they forced him to carry the cross” (mark 15:21).
Simon is from Cyrene in North Africa and has
come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. He has
left his lodgings outside the city and has no idea that
this momentous event, the crucifixion, is about to take
place. Suddenly his plans for the day are interrupted by
a strange procession winding through the narrow streets
of the city. Before he knows what is happening, Simon is

10 A RUMOR OF HOPE
grabbed by the rough hands of the soldiers and is pushed
out into the street. The cross is placed on Simon’s back,
and he is ordered to carry it outside the city.
Simon was likely angered over being forced to shoulder
this burden. I think we can identify, because we can recall
many times when we have felt this way whenever we have
felt that God was calling us to shoulder a cross. We resent
it when circumstances create a burden in our lives or
bring pain and suffering to our souls. This, I believe, must
have been what Simon of Cyrene felt as he was forced to
bear the cross of Jesus.
There is a hint in Acts that Simon of Cyrene was there
on Pentecost (see Acts 2:10). Mark makes clear that Simon
was the father of Alexander and Rufus, who are well
known to the Gentile believers to whom Mark is writing.
Paul, in Romans 16:13, mentions a Rufus with whom he
was closely associated and whose mother had been kind
to Paul. It is probably the same Rufus. So it is likely that
Simon of Cyrene became a Christian as a result of this
interruption of his plans.
If so, then one of the Lord’s statements probably had a special
meaning for him throughout his life: “If anyone would come after
me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me”

Soldiers and Rebels

The Roman soldiers who crucified Jesus gathered around
the foot of the cross. This was a time of great unrest and
rebellion in Palestine, and crucifixions were common.
Historians tell us that following one of these insurrections,

A View from the Cross 11

which took place some years before the crucifixion of
Christ, two thousand Jewish dissidents were rounded up and
crucified. So these Roman soldiers had a lot of experience
with crucifixion. That is why they seem so callous.
Immediately after they nailed Jesus to the cross and
hoisted the cross into place, these hardened soldiers got
down on the ground, took out a pair of dice, and began
to gamble as Jesus hung dying. Such casual indifference
to human suffering and death seems unthinkable to us.
Mark next introduces us to the two rebels who were
crucified with Jesus. “They crucified two rebels with him,
one on his right and one on his left” (mark 15:27). Mark
adds: “Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him”
(v.32). These two men were revolutionaries or terrorists
who had been arrested in a violent insurrection. They
were angry young men committed to the unlikely goal
of overthrowing Roman rule in Palestine. In the process
of carrying out their acts of murder and terror, they took
what they wanted and didn’t care who might get hurt in
the process. They must have heard of Jesus and known of
his claims of messiahship, and like the rest of the populace,
they mistakenly understood that the promised Messiah
would be a political and military deliverer. So now they
hung on either side of the man who, a few days earlier, had
been cheered by the crowds on his way into Jerusalem. He
had proved a bitter disappointment as a revolutionary, so
these two revolutionaries now reviled him. He was dying
on a Roman cross, just as they were.
Mark’s gospel doesn’t tell us the full story of these two
rebels. But by comparing this account with the parallel

12 A RUMOR OF HOPE
account in Luke, we find that one of these men eventually
repents of his abuse toward Jesus. Luke records:
One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at
him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”
But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you
fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same
sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting
what our deeds deserve. But this man has done
nothing wrong.”
Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come
into your kingdom.”
Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will
be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:39–43).
One of the most beautiful things about the story of the
crucifixion is that one of these dying men realizes the truth.
This crucified Jesus is in fact a king
who is about to enter a kingdom
where he will have full authority
and power. What was it about Jesus
that changed this man’s heart and
convinced him of who Jesus was?
We are not told, but we know that What was it
there was something about the way
about Jesus that
Jesus faced death that had great
power to change a man’s heart. changed this man’s
heart and
Mockers and Priests convinced him of
Mark also tells us that there were who Jesus was?
certain passersby at the foot of the

A View from the Cross 13

cross. “Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking
their heads and saying, “So! You who are going to destroy
the temple and build it in three days, come down from the
cross and save yourself!” (mark 15:29–30).
These were just bystanders, but when they saw Jesus
hanging on the cross, they remembered that he was the
one who had made such great claims. So they taunted
him: “You made those ridiculous claims! You said you
were going to destroy the temple and raise it up again!
Well, you don’t look so powerful now!”
Mark illustrates the derision by telling us that they
were “shaking their heads” at him. the irony is that he
was in the process of fulfilling the
words they flung back at him. The
temple he promised to destroy
was the temple of his body, and
that destruction was taking place
before their eyes. He had willingly
placed himself there, and with
every ounce of blood that drained
They were
from his veins, his temple was “shaking their
being destroyed. Little did they heads” at him
know that on the third day, the [Jesus]. The irony
rest of his prophecy would be is that he was in
fulfilled. the process of
Next Mark portrays the priests
and scribes, the men who plotted
fulfilling the
the death of Jesus, as they stand words they flung
at the foot of the cross. “In the back at him.
same way the chief priests and the

14 A RUMOR OF HOPE
teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. ‘He
saved others,’ they said, ‘but he can’t save himself! Let this
Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the
cross, that we may see and believe’” (mark 15:31–32).
These priests had been frightened and jealous of Jesus
before. They had seen him teach and bless the crowds in
ways they could never do. But they had plotted against
him, and now they had him where they wanted him, or
so it seemed. This was their moment of triumph, and they
reveled in it.
Mark tells us about another man at the cross who was
interested in all the proceedings. His name is not given to
us, but he enters the picture when Jesus calls out to the
Father, moments before Jesus dies.

When some of those standing near heard this, they

said, “Listen, he’s calling Elijah.”
Someone ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar,
put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink.
“Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to take
him down,” he said.
With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last (mark
15:35–37).

Some people see this man’s actions as compassionate The wine

vinegar, they assume, is intended as an anesthetic to relieve the
Lord’s suffering But close examination reveals that this is not the
case The man is jeering at Jesus, even laughing at him, as he says,
“Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down” He shoves the vinegar,
which is spoiled wine, at Jesus to get a reaction from him

A View from the Cross 15

The Centurion, the Women, and the
Secret Disciple
At this point, Jesus calls out with a loud cry and breathes
his last, but the story is not over. Mark has three more
accounts to relate, three more individuals or groups of
people to introduce to us. But these final three are of a
different character from the ones we have met thus far.
After the death of Jesus, there is no mention of anybody
who abuses, mocks, or reviles him.
Those who hate Jesus seem to slink away, leaving
only a small group of people who love him. The first
person we meet after the death of Jesus is probably the
last person we would expect to find among his admirers.
It is the centurion who was in charge of soldiers who
carried out the crucifixion. “And when the centurion,
who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died,
he said, ‘Surely this man was the Son of God!’” (mark
15:39). This Roman centurion was a pagan. Given his
culture, he likely believed in many gods. Yet the cross
brought him to a sobering awareness of ultimate reality.
To the men in his command who had carried out the
crucifixion, this event had been a job, even a joke. But
to this centurion, this crucifixion was a ghastly mistake,
the execution of a man not only innocent but also
divine. There was something about the way Jesus died
that the centurion had never seen before—a dignity,
a nobility, a force of personality that transcended the
merely human.
Notice that the centurion speaks in the past tense:

16 A RUMOR OF HOPE
“This man was the Son of God.” There is no hope here,
no glimmer of redemption or resurrection, only a sense
of incalculable loss and grievous error. The centurion
knows that a horrible injustice has been committed,
and it can never be undone. And because of that, the
centurion does not understand what this event means to
his life, to his soul.
It is not enough to say, “Jesus was the Son of God.” We
must go further, make it personal, and say, “Jesus, please be
the Lord and Savior of my life.”
Next Mark introduces us to
a group of women who have
gathered around the cross of Jesus.
“Some women were watching
from a distance. Among them
were Mary Magdalene, Mary the
mother of James the younger and
of Joseph, and Salome. In Galilee There was
these women had followed him and something about
cared for his needs. Many other the way Jesus died
women who had come up with him that the centurion
to Jerusalem were also there” (mark had never seen
15:40–41). Here are the women before—a dignity,
who loved Jesus, but where are the a nobility, a force
men? Where are the disciples who of personality
walked with him? Where is bold, that transcended
blustering Peter? John’s gospel tells
the merely
us that John was at the cross with
Mary, the mother of Jesus. In those
human.
first three hours, Jesus, despite his

A View from the Cross 17

suffering, committed his mother to the care of the disciple
John. But from this account in Mark it would seem that
John and Mary are no longer present; perhaps John has
led Mary away.
In any case, these women are the only ones who remain
around the cross. They are not gathering in hope but in
utter hopelessness. They do not expect a resurrection.
They do not expect God to act in their hour of despair.
Their love remains, but their hope and faith are gone.
Sometimes we come to the end of ourselves. We still
love God, but we have no hope, no faith, that he will
deliver us. We see only darkness and despair. It will be
helpful, in such times, to remember that a resurrection is
coming soon.
But there is one last person Mark wants us to meet.
He is a faithful follower of the Lord. His name is Joseph
of Arimathea.

It was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the

Sabbath). So as evening approached, Joseph of
Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who
was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went
boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. Pilate
was surprised to hear that he was already dead.
Summoning the centurion, he asked him if Jesus had
already died. When he learned from the centurion
that it was so, he gave the body to Joseph. So Joseph
bought some linen cloth, took down the body,
wrapped it in the linen, and placed it in a tomb cut out
of rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance of

18 A RUMOR OF HOPE
 the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of
Joseph saw where he was laid (mark 15:42–47).

Joseph of Arimathea was a wealthy member of the

Sanhedrin. He had believed in Jesus but was perhaps afraid
to profess his belief openly. All through the record of the
trial of Jesus, there is no mention of Joseph. He didn’t
raise his voice in the court when Jesus appeared before
the Sanhedrin. He was afraid to openly voice his support
of Jesus, afraid of what the others in the Sanhedrin would
think or do. But after Jesus died, when his body hung lifeless
on the tree, a transformation took place within Joseph.
Something about the crucifixion stirred a newfound courage
within this man. At long last, Joseph stood up to be counted.
If We Will Come
At the close of Mark’s account, the writer confronts us with
three profound and cataclysmic events, three narrative
threads that combine to form one strong cord of truth.
During the last three hours of Jesus’s life, a mysterious
and terrible darkness comes over the land. At the end of
that darkness comes what has been called “Emmanuel’s
orphaned cry”—“Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani? . . . My God,
my God, why have you forsaken me?”

In her poem “Cowper’s Grave,” Elizabeth Barrett Browning

eulogizes William Cowper, who suffered from depression yet wrote
some of our most memorable hymns She penned these lines:
Yea, once, Immanuel’s orphaned cry His universe hath shaken—
It went up single, echoless, “My God, I am forsaken!”

A View from the Cross 19

 Almost immediately after that
cry, Jesus dismisses his spirit. It is
important to understand that he
didn’t simply die; he dismissed his
spirit. His death was deliberate and
voluntary. He wasn’t a victim; he
was a sacrifice. It is important to
A half-mile away, in the court understand that
of the temple, within the sacred
he [ Jesus] didn’t
enclosure of the holy place,
something amazing happened. The simply die; he
great veil that enclosed the Holy dismissed his spirit.
of Holies was torn from top to His death was
bottom. That veil marked off a deliberate
place where only the high priest and voluntary.
was permitted to enter once a year. He wasn’t
Now, as if by an invisible hand, a victim; he was
that veil was split, and the Holy of a sacrifice.
Holies was exposed.
These three events are tied
together to form one significant, meaningful truth. The
orphan cry in the darkness of the cross, the dismissing
of the spirit of Jesus, and the rending of the veil in the
temple—Mark brings them all together so that we can
understand their meaning.
When Jesus called out, “My God, my God, why have
you forsaken me?” bystanders must have recognized
the opening words of Psalm 22. When you read
through that psalm, it is as if you are reading Jesus’s
version of the crucifixion.

20 A RUMOR OF HOPE
 There is no adequate explanation for Jesus’s question except
that which Paul gives in 2 Corinthians 5:21: “God made him who
had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the
righteousness of God”

I don’t think it’s possible for us to remotely understand

the depths of separation and loneliness Jesus felt at the
moment he became sin for us. We cannot grasp what
it means. But we can know this. The awful sense of
aloneness and darkness that wrenched such a cry from
the throat of Christ is what lies ahead of us if he is not our
Lord and Savior. He took on himself the awful penalty
that we have earned by our sin.
Then Jesus dismisses his spirit,
and the veil of the temple is torn. It
was God’s dramatic way of saying
for all time that the way into his
heart is wide open. Anyone who
wishes to be saved may come. The
priests who plotted against Jesus, For those who
the Roman governor who signed have had a life-
his death warrant, the soldiers changing encounter
who drove the nails into his flesh, with the Lord of
the bystanders who mocked and history, the cross
wagged their heads—all may come. is the most
That is what the torn veil means.
The penalty has been paid for the profound
hateful, the corrupt, the cruel, the statement ever
selfish, the murderous. The price made.
of sin has been paid in full.

A View from the Cross 21

 For too many people, the cross is nothing but a fashion
statement. But for those who have had a life-changing
encounter with the Lord of history, the cross is the most
profound statement ever made. The apostle Paul tells
us, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those
who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the
power of God” (1 corinthians 1:18).
The cross, once an ugly instrument of torture and
death, has become the beautiful, sacred instrument of our
eternal life.

22 A RUMOR OF HOPE
two
A Rumor of Hope
Mark 16:1–8

From Despair to Ecstasy

T he noted theologian Dr. Carl F. H. Henry once

wrote about the resurrected Jesus: “He planted the
only durable rumor of hope amid the widespread
despair of a hopeless world.” A rumor of hope! That is the
keynote for our study in Mark 16.
Here, at the entrance to an empty tomb, we hear the
first whisperings of that wonderful rumor: “He has risen!”
Soon that rumor will begin echoing through the narrow

23
stone-paved streets of Jerusalem: “He has risen!” Then
it will be magnified and amplified across the province of
Judea: “He has risen!” Ultimately it will shout, like a blast of
thunder rolling across an awestruck world: “He has risen!”
But the rumor begins amid hopelessness and despair.
Mark writes:

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 Mark 16 begins
Nazarene, who was crucified. with the darkest
He has risen! He is not here. day in human
See the place where they laid history but ends
him. But go, tell his disciples with the discovery
and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of
you into Galilee. There you will
of the empty
see him, just as he told you.’” tomb.
Trembling and bewildered, the

24 A RUMOR OF HOPE
 women went out and fled from the tomb. They said
nothing to anyone, because they were afraid (mark 16:1–8).

Mark is the only one of the gospel writers who mentions the
Sabbath When the time came for the disciples to sit down and
write their accounts, the memory of that dark Sabbath was so
swallowed up by the joy of the resurrection that it was hardly
worth mentioning

Mark 16 begins with the darkest day in human history

but ends with the discovery of the empty tomb. We see
the women who found the empty tomb, and they are
leaving that place full of such joy and explosive hope that
they dare not breathe a word to anyone. Look closely at
the last two sentences of this passage: “Trembling and
bewildered [Greek ekstasis], the women went out and fled
from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because
they were afraid [Greek phobeo].”
I have added the Greek words to these sentences so that
we can see more clearly what Mark is telling us. It would be
a mistake to read that last phrase, “they were afraid,” in the
conventional English sense that these women felt terrified,
threatened, frightened, or scared. It is true that the Greek
word used here for “afraid,” phobeo, is often used in the New
Testament to mean “terrified, struck with fear or alarm.” But
that word is also commonly used to mean “struck with awe
and amazement” and even “filled with reverence, worship,
and pious obedience.” And the previous sentence makes the
meaning clear. The Greek word that the New International
Version translates as “bewildered” is ekstasis, from which we
get our English word ecstasy. Ekstasis means “to be amazed,

A Rumor of Hope 25
to be beside oneself with profound awe (especially religious
awe), to be thrown into a state of mingled startlement and
wonder.” So these women were not terrified or frightened,
nor were they bewildered and confused. They were caught
up in an ecstasy of wonder over the discovery they had
made: Jesus is alive!
The Tomb and the Grave Clothes
The first thing to be examined in Mark’s account of the
resurrection is the stone that had sealed the body of Jesus
inside the tomb.
The women came full of worry and concern over the
stone that blocked the mouth of
the tomb, but when they arrived,
the stone was rolled away. You
can visit the Garden Tomb in
Jerusalem, which many scholars
and historians believe was the
tomb of Jesus. We can’t know for
certain that it is the actual tomb, These women were
but we do know that it fits the not terrified . . . or
description of the gospel accounts. bewildered . . . .
I believe it is the tomb of Jesus. They were caught
If you visit the Garden Tomb,
you will find that the stone is no
up in an ecstasy
longer there. It was removed or of wonder over
destroyed sometime during the the discovery they
decades or centuries after Christ. had made:
But you can see a narrow groove Jesus is alive!
carved in the stone in front of the

26 A RUMOR OF HOPE
empty tomb. The massive, disk-shaped stone was rolled in
this groove to either seal or unseal the tomb. The entrance
to the tomb is almost as tall as a man, so the stone used to
cover that entrance must have weighed at least a thousand
pounds. That’s why these women were concerned about the
stone. Unless someone moved the stone, they would not be
able to anoint Jesus’s body with spices and burial perfumes.
When the women arrived, they were shocked to find that
the stone already had been rolled back. The tomb was open.
Matthew tells us that very early, long before daybreak,
an angel had come and rolled back the stone. His face
was like lightning, brilliantly shining, so that he dazzled
and dismayed the guards who were standing watch over
the tomb. They fell to the ground as dead men. When
they recovered their senses, they stumbled off in fear.
Later, when the women arrived, there was no sign
of anyone outside the tomb, but the door of the tomb
was open. This told them that something amazing had
happened. So they crept closer, looked inside—and the
body of Jesus was gone. That which they had come to
anoint was no longer there.
No one has ever been able to explain the empty tomb If the
enemies of Christianity had stolen the body, they would have
readily produced it to prove Jesus was dead And it would have been
impossible for Jesus’s friends and followers to steal the body, for
Roman guards were stationed at the tomb, which was sealed

The most amazing fact of all—a fact that immediately

confronted these women as they entered the tomb—was
the presence of the grave clothes. The body was gone, but

A Rumor of Hope 27
the grave clothes were left behind.
In Luke 24:12 and John 20:6–8,
we find a description of the grave
clothes. The cloth that had been
around the Lord’s head was neatly
folded and separated from the other
grave clothes. The grave clothes, The presence of
the strips of linen that had been
the grave clothes,
wound around the body, had not
been unwrapped or unwound. They together with the
were lying in the form of a person, way they were
as though the body had vanished arranged, has
from inside them. never been
The other gospels tell us that explained.
when these women left the tomb,
they ran to the disciples and told
them the news; then Peter and John came running to the
tomb. When Peter and John saw the grave clothes, they
were convinced that Jesus had risen. The presence of the
grave clothes, together with the way they were arranged,
has never been explained.
The power of the evidence, including the evidence
of the empty tomb, was one of the reasons Christianity
spread so quickly in the early days of the church.
Hundreds of eyewitnesses could confirm every detail of
the gospel story. There was even physical evidence of
the resurrection. No one had to question whether the
tomb was truly empty or not, because the tomb was there
for anyone to inspect, just beyond the walls of the city.
Anyone in Jerusalem could take a fifteen-minute walk to

28 A RUMOR OF HOPE
the tomb and see that the disciples were telling the truth.
Although skeptics and rationalists would like to dismiss
the resurrection with a wave of the hand, the evidence
does not allow it. The resurrection is not a legend. It is the
central fact of human history.
The Message of the Angel
So Jesus is no longer in the tomb, but the tomb is not
unoccupied. Mark records:
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’” (mark 16:5–7).
The angel’s message to these
women contains the answer to
twenty centuries of skepticism.
The angel first says, “You are
looking for Jesus the Nazarene, The resurrection
who was crucified.” is not a legend.
Furthermore, the angel tells It is the central
them, “But go, tell his disciples
and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of fact of human
you into Galilee. There you will history.
see him, just as he told you.’” The

A Rumor of Hope 29
angel identifies a specific geographical spot on the face of
the earth as the place where Jesus will be found: Galilee.
This statement underscores the claim of Scripture that
Jesus is alive, that he rose bodily, and that he appeared to
people at a specific juncture of time and space.
Notice also the gentle, compassionate touch in those
words. The angel tells the women to give a special message
of hope to Peter. The last time we saw Peter, he was
standing in the courtyard of the high priest during the trial
of Jesus. A servant girl was following him around, accusing
him of being one of Jesus’s disciples, and he was avoiding
her, running from her, denying the truth, trembling in fear.
But the angel says, “Tell his disciples and Peter.”
The angel also said, “He is going ahead of you into
Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.”
Just as he told you. The resurrection should not have
taken his followers by surprise, because he had already
said he would be crucified, rise on the third day, and meet
them. The angel’s message is not a new message but a
repetition of what they had already heard from the Lord’s
lips. Everything he said will be fulfilled.
The Rumor Spreads
The empty tomb, the empty grave clothes, and the
message of the angel had a profound effect on these
women. It filled them with hope, with joy, with
excitement. In an instant, they were transported from the
depths of despair to an ecstasy beyond our imagining.
So they went out with gladness to begin spreading this
rumor of hope, just as the angel had told them—the only

30 A RUMOR OF HOPE
durable rumor of hope the world has ever known.
This glorious rumor was hastened along by the
appearances of Jesus before witness after witness. The
first appearance was to Mary Magdalene. John’s gospel
tells us that after the other women left the tomb, Mary
Magdalene lingered. There, in the early morning light,
Jesus appeared to her. She went running with the news,
and Peter and John came to the tomb, saw the grave
clothes, and were convinced.
Believing Is Seeing
One of the powerful impressions left by Mark’s account
of the resurrection is this: the women believed, although
they did not see. They saw an empty tomb. They saw
empty grave clothes. But they did not see the Lord.
Nevertheless they believed.
How wonderful it must have been to have seen
the risen Lord! All those who did so were regarded
with unusual respect and awe in the early Christian
community. Of course, not all were privileged to do that.
When Jesus appeared to Thomas and invited him to touch
his wounds, Jesus told Thomas, “Because you have seen
me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not
seen and yet have believed” (john 20:29).
Peter would later write, “Though you have not seen
him, you love him; and even though you do not see
him now, you believe in him and are filled with an
inexpressible and glorious joy” (1 peter 1:8). That has been
the experience of millions of believers, beginning with
that first Easter morning and continuing to this day. We

A Rumor of Hope 31
have not seen the risen Lord, for
he departed this realm of visible
things many centuries ago. But
we have the testimony. We have
the evidence. As Luke writes in
Acts 1:3, “He presented himself to For those who
them and gave many convincing have not yet heard
proofs that he was alive.” These this wonderful
convincing proofs are persuasive
to the intellect and encouraging to
rumor, the world
the soul. They awaken hope within is still a dark
us, just as those women found place, as empty
their hope awakened by the empty of hope as that
tomb and the word of the angel. terrible Saturday
Out of that hope, a rumor was between the
born. It is the only durable rumor
of hope the world has ever known.
cross and the
For those who have not yet heard resurrection.
this wonderful rumor, the world
is still a dark place, as empty of
hope as that terrible Saturday between the cross and
the resurrection. But we have this rumor to share with
the world. It is like a brilliant light at midnight. It is like
food in a land of famine. It is the good news, the greatest
rumor ever told.

32 A RUMOR OF HOPE
Our mission is to make the life-changing
wisdom of the Bible understandable and
accessible to all.
Discovery Series presents the truth of Jesus Christ to the
world in balanced, engaging, and accessible resources
that show the relevance of Scripture for all areas of life.
All Discovery Series booklets are available at no cost and
can be used in personal study, small groups, or ministry
outreach.

To partner with us in sharing God’s Word, click this link

to donate. Thank you for your support of Discovery Series
resources and Our Daily Bread Ministries.

Many people, making even the smallest of donations,

enable Our Daily Bread Ministries to reach others with the
life-changing wisdom of the Bible. We are not funded or
endowed by any group or denomination.

CLICK TO DONATE