Opening Question
If Jesus rose from the dead as the Gospel of Mark says, what impact does that have on us today?
Introduction
The good news of the resurrection is recounted briefly in Mark, but still climatically. Main characters shift from the disciples to the women and Joseph of Arimathea, Pilate, and a “young man in white.” These characters mark a shift in the story to uncertainty, yet promises new things.
Mark 15:42-47
Mark locates the timing of Jesus’ death to Friday, the preparation day before the Sabbath. He also notes that Joseph of Arimathea provides a tomb for Jesus. One of the most important verses for modern scholarship regarding the resurrection accounts is vs. 47. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see specifically where Jesus was laid. They knew the place, and when returning on Sunday morning, they would have known the location. Many secular scholars attempt to set aside the resurrection suggesting the disciples came to the wrong tomb early in the morning. But this verse says otherwise!
Why would it take courage for Joseph to face Pilate? And why would Pilate (vs. 44) be incredulous that Jesus would already be dead?
Mark 16
In chapter 16, the first couple verses, we see the women arrive at the tomb, but here some of the story is only parts of that found in the other gospels. The focus is that the stone was already rolled away, and a “young man wearing white” was sitting at the right side. They are told to go announce that Jesus was risen. Yet they are afraid!
Why would the women be scared to tell that Jesus was alive? How does this commission to announce Jesus publicly contrast with the messianic secret found throughout the rest of the book?
If women were divinely commissioned first to proclaim the resurrection of Jesus, where does that place the role of women today in proclamatory ministry?
The oldest Manuscripts of Mark do not contain vss. 9-20. But here are the options for the four endings of Mark’s gospel.
1. Ending at vs. 8. With this ending, the women are afraid to tell the disciples what they had heard and seen at the tomb. It is likely the most original ending, and fits the irony of the Messianic secret!
2. The added ending in vss. 9-20 (added in most Bibles after a line-break and a notation that these verses are not in the oldest Manuscripts of Mark) They are NOT found in Codices Vaticanus and Sinaiticus, two of the earliest MSS of Mark. The content includes:
- Appearance to Mary Magdalene: vs. 9-11
- Appearance to two others: vs. 12-13
- Appearance to the 11, and commissioning: vs. 14-18 o Ascension: vs. 19
- Proclamation: vs. 20
These stories appear to be summaries of Luke and Acts, and so are really repetitions of material already found in the gospels. And yet…
- Justin Martyr (AD 160) seems to refer to this ending
- Martyr’s student, Tatian (c. 172), includes it in his Gospel harmony
- Irenaeus (c. 184) cites Mark 16:19
- These “Patristic” sources are older than the oldest surviving MS of Mark
3. The shorter ending, found in only 6 Greek MSS (Several uncials from 7th-9th cent.)
“But they reported briefly to Peter and those with him all that they had been told. And after this, Jesus himself sent out by means of them, from east to west, the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation.”
4. Finally, the Freer Logion, an insertion into the longer ending between vss. 14-15, is only found in one Greek Manuscript, but it’s fairly early: Codex Washingtonianus (late 300s)
“And they excused themselves, saying, ‘This age of lawlessness and unbelief is under Satan, who does not allow the truth and power of God to prevail over the unclean things of the spirits [or, does not allow what lies under the unclean spirits to understand the truth and power of God]. Therefore reveal your righteousness now’ – thus they spoke to Christ. And Christ replied to them, ‘The term of years of Satan’s power has been fulfilled, but other terrible things draw near. And for those who have sinned I was handed over to death, that they may return to the truth and sin no more, in order that they may inherit the spiritual and incorruptible glory of righteousness that is in heaven.’”
Can we trust the Biblical accounts even if we may not have full assurance that it was authentic and original? Do we have enough evidence for faith?
Closing Comments
Mark’s gospel concludes with the amazing yet hard-to-believe message that the tomb was empty. It is a message the leaves the reader hungry for more, most likely giving rise to the additional ending added for “completeness,” yet ruining the irony. The good news is that Jesus is alive, that disciples are to bear this message to the world, and that the wonder-working Jesus is there for us today, and has promised to return!
