Summary When the Sabbath is over, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of
James and Salome come to the tomb early in the morning to anoint the body of Jesus; on the
way, they have wondered about how they will remove the huge rock that covers the front of
the tomb. Arriving, they see that the stone has already been rolled away; inside,
they see a young man in white, and they become alarmed. This young man hastens to
reassure these women, telling them they seek Jesus who has been crucified, but he has
risen. He then tells them to go to the disciples and tell them, Peter in particular,
that Jesus has gone into Galilee before them. The women are seized by terror and
amazement, are afraid, and they flee.
The short ending of Mark is brief:
[[And all that had been
commanded them they told briefly to those around Peter. And afterward Jesus himself sent
out through them, from east to west, the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal
salvation. ]]
Christians are grateful for
the longer ending which has Jesus appear to several and then to ascend:
Jesus Appears to Mary
Magdalene
9 [[Now after he
rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he
had cast out seven demons. 10 She went out and told those who had been with him,
while they were mourning and weeping. 11 But when they heard that he was alive
and had been seen by her, they would not believe it.
Jesus Appears to Two
Disciples
12 After this he
appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country.
13 And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them.
Jesus Commissions
the Disciples
14 Later he
appeared to the eleven themselves as they were sitting at the table; and he upbraided them
for their lack of faith and stubbornness, because they had not believed those who saw him
after he had risen. †
15 And he said to them, "Go into all
the world and proclaim the good news
† to the whole creation. 16 The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does
not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: by
using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes in their hands, † and if they
drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and
they will recover."
The Ascension of
Jesus
19 So then the Lord
Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right
hand of God. 20 And they went out and proclaimed the good news
everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that
accompanied it. ]]
Jesus appears to Mary
Magdalene, but when she goes to his disciples and reveals this appearance, they don't
believe her, remembering that she is, after all, the one from whom Jesus has cast out
seven demons. Jesus next appears to two disciples walking in the country; they, too,
go back and tell the rest, being no more believed than Mary Magdalene. Now, Jesus appears
to the eleven while they are sitting at a table and upbraids them for their lack of faith,
an all too common occurrence in Mark. Nonetheless, Jesus tells them they are to
carry on the mission, taking the good news to the whole creation. Interestingly, in
a book which has played hard into the Jewish need for signs, the disciples are told signs
will accompany them: they will cast out demons, speak in tongues, pick up snakes, and be
unaffected by any poisonous drinks. They will lay their hands upon the sick who will
then recover.
Now, Jesus is taken up into
heaven, where he is given the preferred place on the right hand of God. While God
works with the disciples, they go into the world and begin to proclaim the good news,
their message confirmed by signs.
What does one finally make of the Gospel of Mark? Certainly, the
last chapter gives us our traditional Easter story, tied intimately into the Jewish
Passover. Jesus has become the paschal lamb. Concerning the ending of Mark, we do
well to consult the Oxford Annotated Bible:
16.9–20: The
traditional close of the Gospel of Mark.
Nothing is certainly known either about how
this Gospel originally ended or about the origin of Mark 16.9–20,
which, because of the textual evidence as well as stylistic differences from the rest of
the Gospel, cannot have been part of the original text of Mark. Certain important
witnesses to the text, including some ancient ones, end the Gospel with Mark 16.8. Though it is possible that the compiler of the Gospel intended this
abrupt ending, one can find hints that he intended to describe events after the
resurrection: for example, Mark 14.28 looks forward to an account of at least one
experience of the disciples with Jesus in Galilee after the resurrection, while the
friendly reference to Peter (Mark 16.7) may anticipate the recounting of the otherwise
unrecorded moment of reconciliation between Peter and his Lord (compare Luke 24.34; 1 Corinthians 15.5). If accounts such as these were originally part of
Mark’s Gospel, the loss of them took place very shortly after the Gospel was written,
under circumstances beyond present knowledge. Many witnesses, some ancient, end the Gospel
with Mark 16.9–20, thus showing that from early Christian times these
verses have been accepted traditionally and generally as part of the canonical Gospel of
Mark. A variety of other manuscripts conclude the Gospel with the shorter ending, either
alone or followed by Mark 16.9–20, thus indicating that different attempts were made
to provide a suitable ending for the Gospel. The longer ending may have been compiled
early in the second century as a didactic summary of grounds for belief in Jesus’
resurrection, being appended to the Gospel by the middle of the second century. On the
Christian belief in continuing unrecorded memories about Jesus in the first century see Luke 1.1–2; John 20.30; John
21.25; Acts 20.35 n.;
1 Corinthians 15.3; also compare Matthew 28.20; John 16.12–33; Revelation
1.12–16 n.; Revelation 2.18.
16.9–18: Post-resurrection appearances of Jesus. 9–10:
Mary is associated with other women in Mark 16.1, Mark 16.7–8 and parallels; she is apparently alone in John 20.1–2; John 20.11–19. Seven demons, Luke 8.2. 11:
Luke 24.11; Luke
24.22–25; John 20.19–29; 1 Corinthians 15.5. Here, as in John 20.19–29, the
disciples are convinced of the truth of Jesus’ resurrection by their own immediate
experience with him, though they should have heeded the witness of others as later
generations must do (John 20.29). 12–13: Luke 24.12–35. 13: Compare Luke
24.34.
16.14–18: Matthew
28.19; Luke 24.47. 16:
Acts 2.37–42; Acts
10.47–48; Romans 10.9. 17–18: The reality of faith in believers’ lives as they
respond to the apostolic witness is signified by events that both correspond with
biblically recorded happenings in the lives of the apostles and conform to apostolic
statements about the gifts of the Spirit (for example, 1 Corinthians 12.8–11; 1 Corinthians 12.28; 1
Corinthians 14.2–5; Hebrews 2.3–4): exorcism (Acts
8.6–7; Acts 16.18; Acts 19.11–20); new tongues (see Acts
2.4–11 n.; Acts 10.46; Acts 19.6; 1
Corinthians 12.10; 1 Corinthians 12.28; 1
Corinthians 14.2–33); healing (Acts 28.8; 1 Corinthians 12.9; James
5.13–16). Instances of picking up
snakes and drinking poison, without injury to the believer in either case, lack New
Testament parallels. However, the former resembles the harmless accidental attack upon
Paul in Acts 28.3–6, and the latter appears occasionally in Christian
literature from the second century onward.
16.19–20: Jesus’ exaltation. 19: For the concept
of Jesus’ exaltation, Philippians
2.9–11; Hebrews 1.3;
for the language was taken up, Acts
1.2; Acts 1.11; Acts 1.22; 1 Timothy 3.16 (seemingly a Christian hymn); for the image of the right
hand of God, Psalm 110.1 n.; Acts
7.55; Hebrews 1.3. 20:
Mark 16.17–18; Hebrews
2.3–4.
Taken from the above, note at
least these movements:
The disciples have at least one experience after the resurrection
with Jesus in Galilee. Remember, Galilee is in the north of Palestine.
Peter, in the traditional role of one who has denied Christ,
seems to be reconciled.
The longer ending of Mark may have been compiled in the second
century.
Jesus' work with the disciples suggests immediate experience is
necessary for belief; others can report, but the conviction comes from within a
relationship.
Finally, the image of the right hand of God is clearly Jesus'
exalted position. You may want to read all of Psalms 110. In particular, remember at
least these words:
4
The Lord has
sworn and will not change his mind,
"You are a priest forever according to the order of
Melchizedek." †
