React. Respond.

Those who know me well know this: my favorite band of all time is Pearl Jam.

I was 13 years old when Ten hit the charts, and I’ve been following their journey ever since. This past week, they dropped a new album called Dark Matter — and it’s phenomenal. One song in particular, "React, Respond," has been echoing in my mind.

Not just because it’s good, but because it captures something that’s become a kind of mantra for me.

The Difference Between Reaction and Response

There’s a simple truth I try to live by: I’m always going to have reactions. Emotional responses get triggered in me all the time. Sometimes that’s tied to how well I’m doing. Sometimes it’s not. But I’ve learned that I don’t have to be defined by that reaction.

I can choose to step back, take a breath, and respond. And that choice — the response I make — that’s what defines who I become.

This idea came up again for me recently during our reflections at Easter. We were talking about the end of the Gospel of Mark, and how it might not end where we expect it to.

Mark’s Surprising Ending

Mark ends not with celebration or certainty, but with fear. Chapter 16, verse 8: the women find the tomb empty, an angel tells them Jesus has risen, and then...

"Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid."

That’s the end. No encounter with the Risen Christ. No hallelujah chorus. Just fear and silence.

Now, there was a later tag added to Mark's Gospel, probably in the 2nd century. And your Bible will footnote that. But the original ends here. With women caught between what they’ve seen and what they don’t yet know how to do.

And yet — we know the rest of the story. We know that Mary told Peter. We know that word spread. We know the church came to life. None of us would be here if they hadn’t responded eventually.

Stuck in the Moment

Mark leaves us in that moment because, I think, we’re supposed to sit in it. To feel it.

Because resurrection is not always immediately believable. Sometimes, the truest things are the hardest to believe. And that doesn’t make them less true. It just makes them foundational. The kind of truths we grow into over time.

As Bobby said last week, "It does us no good to make the women so heroic that they lose their humanity."

These women were disciples. Apostles. They loved, they led, they ran away, they tried again. Just like us.

Resurrection in Our Humanity

Jesus shows up not beyond our humanity but right in the thick of it. In our fear, our doubt, our confusion. That’s where resurrection finds us.

So hold onto this: it’s not always how you react in the moment that matters. Sometimes, you get scared. Sometimes, you run. That’s okay.

What matters is how you choose to respond.

Mark’s ending leaves us in the tension, but it also quietly affirms: these women responded. Their fear didn’t define them. Their faith did.

And that’s the invitation of resurrection to all of us. We can respond again. We can keep trying.

Because Christ is risen. Christ is risen indeed.