The End of the Story
This
chapter is hands down my favorite “resurrection and time after” story of all
four Gospels. Without question – Mark’s
ending is the greatest of them all. I
love it because it is such a “human” ending of the story. The three other stories are nice and neat and
put together and meaningful. Mark’s
ending is … human.
In order
to really get what I’m saying here you need to understand something. Mark’s Gospel originally ends with verse
8. There is no historical evidence to
support that Mark16:9-20 are even a part of the original letter that Mark
wrote. That being said, we do have
historical evidence to support that verses 9-20 were quickly added, possibly
even by Mark himself. So we shouldn’t
necessarily cast them out of the Bible or think of them as anything other than
the inspired word of God. But we should
be conscious of the fact that Mark originally finished the telling of Jesus
with verse 8.
Do me a
favor. Read verse 1-8 and then close
your Bible. Do you feel the tension
inside of you? How does it feel to quit
reading the story of Jesus on the words, “and they said nothing to anyone, for
they were afraid?” I am willing to bet
that you feel an inner tension growing inside of you. You might feel some disappointment or a sense
of incompleteness. Something happens
with you when you stop reading the resurrection story with the words “they said
nothing to anyone” and “they were afraid.”
Now, do
yourself another favor. Imagine a God in
heaven – and His Holy Spirit dwelling in your heart – watching you as you have
an opportunity to share God’s love with another human being. When you pass up that opportunity – and we
all have – how can God not feel the same sense disappointment and incompleteness
that you feel when you stop reading the Gospel of Mark at verse 8?
That’s why
Mark ended his letter the way that he did!
Mark wanted us to feel the urgency of telling the Gospel to
everyone. Mark wanted us to scream out,
“No! They have to tell someone! Anyone!
They have to tell someone!” Mark
wants us to feel that emotional response with the women at the tomb and then
realize that the same response applies to us, too. Just like we know that they had to tell
someone – anyone – we too can understand the need for us to tell someone – anyone.
That is why
it is far and away my favorite ending of a Gospel. Yes, the stories about Jesus and His
disciples and the story of the folks on the road to Emmaus are important. The Great Commission in Matthew 28 is very
important. But the emotional movement
that happens within a person when the story ends on a note of fear and silence
is an incredible surge of human emotion that we should all be made to feel at
least once in our life.
A Closer Look at the Women
Okay, so
let’s look at the actually chapter – and not just the fear of the women and the
worry that they might not say anything.
This chapter starts with the women going to the tomb and being
“amazed.” Many Bibles say the women were
“alarmed.” While that’s an okay
translation, I prefer the more traditional translation of “amazed.” This verb elsewhere in the New Testament
takes on a sense of utter amazement.
My
seminary Greek professor spoke of this verb as the Gomer Pyle verb. For those of you who are familiar with Gomer
Pyle, when he would say, “Well, golly, sergeant,” the word “golly” is a fair
approximation to what this verb means.
It is a verb that takes on the moment when a person’s mind is blown and
they begin to see things a new way. It
doesn’t mean comprehension of the new thinking, but amazement because the mind
has been opened up to something new. I
love that understanding of the reaction of the women. The women aren’t worried about who stole the
body; the women are having their mind blown by the realization that comes from beginning
to understand what Jesus really taught them about death and resurrection.
They don’t
understand it fully … but they are beginning to understand it. Now we can understand why they are
afraid. The women are told to tell this
to the disciples. Suddenly, the world
comes crashing back down on them. These
women are told to teach the disciples.
Remember, they live in a culture in which women are told they have no
right to teach grown men. They live in a
world where the testimony of a woman is typically discounted. They are afraid because they have the most
powerful message that God has ever given to the world and they know that God
gave it to women first! Who will believe
them? Who will believe a group of people
who culturally are not typically considered reliable witnesses?
There is a
huge cultural burden placed on these women.
They have an incredible testimony to give, but where do they begin? Their culture has imprisoned them. God calls them forth to become the first
ministers of the resurrection and their culture has imprisoned them. They run; they hide.
Remember
what I said yesterday. The cross of
Jesus Christ changes everything.
Period.
The women
do talk. Jesus had appeared to Mary and
she couldn’t keep it quiet forever. God
within her overcomes the fear and they must talk. There is the sign of Christ! Where Christ dwells, people talk about it!
The women
do go among the disciples. What is the
reaction at first? The “men” don’t
believe them. Sigh. This is why I really hate cultural
mandates. Even after the crucifixion of
their Lord the minds of the disciples are still closed. They don’t believe these women. While they probably don’t believe them
because it is a near-impossible thing to believe, I have no doubt that they
don’t believe because Mary and the other women are the ones speaking the
message. The women had every reason to
fear. Who would believe them? But they keep talking. They keep taking the message to the world.
Jesus and His Disciples
Eventually
Jesus does appear to His disciples. He
confirms the message Himself. Notice the
Jesus rebukes the disciples, too. They
are guilty of unbelief. They are guilty
of letting their culture get in the way of God’s work. Jesus rebukes them.
Then He
forgives them. He continues to invite
them into God’s work. He is gracious –
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
Jesus
tells the disciples – all the disciples – to go into the world and proclaim
what they have seen and heard. Whoever
believes will be saved. Whoever does not
believe will be condemned. We have a job
to do, folks. The fate of the world
hangs in the balance.
Are you
afraid?
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