How Does the Gospel of Mark End?
Reflecting on the Third Sunday of Easter: Three Days after Sunday (Year B)
Scripture
Psalter: Psalm 150
Old Testament: Proverbs 9:1-6
Gospel: Mark 16:9-18
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Prayer
Creator of the universe, you made the world in beauty, and restore all things in glory through the victory of Jesus Christ. We pray that, wherever your image is still disfigured by poverty, sickness, selfishness, war and greed, the new creation in Jesus Christ may appear in justice, love, and peace, to the glory of your name. Amen. (Revised Common Lectionary)
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Reflection
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. She went out and told those who had been with him, while they were mourning and weeping. But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it.
After this he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country. And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them.
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. And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation. The one who believes and is baptized will be saved, but the one who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover” (Mark 16:9-18).
Have you missed the end of a good movie? How would it feel to read an engaging whodunit novel only to discover that the last chapter was missing? We naturally like stories with endings. We dislike TV cliffhangers at the end of one season only to have to wait several months for the rest of the story to be told. How unsatisfying!
Mark 16:8 leaves us with a cliffhanger. The “young man” who is undoubtedly an angel tells the women that Jesus has been raised and he is in Galilee where the disciples need to join him. The women are told to go and tell, but Mark tells us that “they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” Wait! What happened next? Did they obey the angel’s words and tell the disciples? Did they keep silent forever? Did the disciples meet Jesus in Galilee?
Those of us who know the Jesus story and have three other Gospels to read are well-versed in the answers to those questions; but we must remember that when the Gospels were written, many first-generation Christians were only familiar with one Gospel, two if they were highly fortunate. So, a Christian living in first century Rome, hearing Mark read for the first time have a cliffhanger on their hands when it ends at 16:8. That can’t be the end of the story. We want to know more.
Some scholars who have studied Mark thoroughly believe that the writer intended to end his gospel at verse 8; but most, however, including myself believe that there was more and that Mark’s ending was lost very early on. The book form with pages as we know it today was invented approximately 100 years after Mark wrote his Gospel. The scroll was the usual way of writing something substantial. The problem with scrolls is that the ends could be easily torn away from the roll if one was not careful. We actually have ancient scrolls with the beginning or ending (and sometimes both) missing. So, it is likely the case that Mark’s ending was lost, perhaps even torn away from the original before it reached Mark’s audience in Rome. We can’t know for sure, but since the Gospel ends as a cliffhanger, it appears to be a reasonable conclusion.
It didn’t take too long before people who found this ending unsatisfying decided to write their own and tack it on the end of the story. There is a shorter ending that reads:
And all that had been commanded them they told briefly to those around Peter. And afterwards Jesus himself sent out through them, from east to west, the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation.
I must say that I don’t find that ending sufficient. It may tie up some things, but I want more.
Someone composed a longer ending that is contained in most Bibles—16:9-18. (posted above). We know this longer ending of Mark, as it is called cannot be Mark’s ending. First, the language is too different from the rest of the Gospel. Second, the ending reports episodes that took place according to Christian tradition later than Mark wrote. Third, it reads like a summary which we do not find in the endings of Matthew, Luke, or John So, while Mark didn’t write it, we still have it in our Bibles and translators throughout history have included it, albeit with a note about its lack of originality.
So why is it important to spend some time on this? It is important because the resurrection of Jesus and his appearances to his disciples and other believers were a central part of the proclamation of the Good News from the beginning. The Gospels not only tell us that the tomb was empty, but that people witnessed an alive Jesus. That is what made the Gospel Good News. This was so central that someone centuries ago knew that Mark’s story of Jesus couldn’t have ended at 16:8. There had to be more. So, to complete the necessary and crucial ending of the Jesus story, someone attempted to resolved the cliffhanger.
We are Christians two thousand years later only because the tomb is empty and Jesus has been raised bodily. No bodily raised Jesus, no Christianity. If Jesus remained dead, he would be a footnote in history at best—just one more first century Jew crucified by the Romans. His death would have been one more tragedy among others.
The fact that we have singled his death out as uniquely significant can only be on account of the story continuing after his death. So, some unknown believer finished Mark as best as she or he could in order to give the story of Jesus its significance. It is the resurrection of Jesus that makes Mark’s story worth the telling.
Two thousand years later, we continue to preach, sing, write, and live the Good News. We too continue to write the story of the resurrected Jesus just as that anonymous contributor did so many centuries ago; only we do so in our lives each day as we seek to be faithful to the new live Jesus has given us.
The ending of Mark’s Gospel is not as much of an end as a beginning; and the story is still being told.
PRAYER: Almighty God, who through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ overcame death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life: Grant that we, who celebrate with joy the day of the Lord's resurrection, may be raised from the death of sin by your life-giving Spirit; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer)
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This is an Excerpt from my Narrative Devotional Commentary on Mark which can be purchased here.
Changes are coming to “Faith Seeking Understanding.” Check out the details here.