16:1-8; 16:9-20
In the terse Marcan style, which leaves much unexplained, we are invited to imagine and theorize, and come to know for ourselves.
Mark 16 is a good example of this. Vv 1-8 the tomb is empty, I go before you into Galilee. Tell my disciples I will see them there.
They are afraid and tell nobody. So what happened?
What would you do?
More emphatically how do we conclude this as the good news of Jesus Christ (Mark 1:1)?
Women at the tomb
Mary Magdalene, Mary of James, and Salome (see 15:40-41) are women who followed Jesus when he was in Galilee and ministered to him, who were at a distance at the crucifixion, and saw where he was buried.
Mark keeps these women separate from the Twelve…and from those who fled.
Are the women positive models of discipleship? Or have they not been tested in the same way?
The morning came and the women went to buy spices to go and anoint him. Jesus said in 14:8 that the anointing of his body by an unnamed women had been a preparation for his coming burial. The women here to anoint his buried body will be the occasion for revealing his resurrection.
Is the specific note that the sun had risen a symbolic reference to the resurrection having already taken place? When did the tomb become empty?
16:3-4 the women wonder how they will remove the large stone…God’s power exceeds human capacity to do or understand. This verse is in a passive tense indicating divine action. God had unsealed the tomb.
They look in and see a young man on the right side (a place of dignity) clothed with a white robe. He is the divine spokesman and the women greet him with amazement like they would greet an angel. And. Like they reacted when Jesus drove out an evil spirit at the beginning of the Gospel (1:25-27). There the demon called him, Jesus the Nazarene) and here the heavenly messenger tells the women that he knows they seek Jesus the Nazarene. This makes the reader certain that the same person who at the beginning of the gospel manifested his power over evil is the one in whom God now manifests his power over death. From beginning to end, Satan has been defeated by Jesus the Nazarene.
One of the themes of mark is the messianic secret. No body understands nor can they fully recognize or believe in his divine identity because he has not yet suffered on the cross (8:31-33;9:31-33). Now this angel gives the identification, the one who was crucified. It is only Jesus the Nazarene who has died on the cross and made it possible to proclaim, he has been raised (16:6).
[God raised him, or he rose?}
The significance of the empty tomb is not merely observation. . . 16:7 is a commission given to the women. Jesus has more to do . . . he predicted the loss of faith and scattering of the disciples at the Last Supper. This has all happened but he also said, “But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee (14:28). The angel then says, Go tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him as he told you (16:7). They all fed, Peter died, one fled naked, but if they will go back to Galilee where Jesus called them, he will be there. Jesus will lose none of them.
Mark 10:32 Jesus went before his disciples on the road to Jerusalem warning them that the Son of Man would be given over, condemned to death, killed, and after three days be raised up. All his words have proven true and now he will go before them to Galilee and there he will reunite them. Those who were scattered by the events of the passion will become a community.
The women are told and they do nothing, tell no one. Instead of going forth rejoicing, they flee from the tomb overcome with trembling, amazement, and fear. In Mark everyone abandons Jesus. These women now are tested in this scene and they too fail. Here, even with the revelation of the risen Lord and a commission to proclaim him, they fail.
All of us are tested. We all fail. We ought to be honest enough to recognize that our salvation, grace, is a gift of God, given through Jesus Christ. We cannot earn grace.
Mark tells us here that even the resurrection is not enough to guarantee faith, faithfulness, many will say they believe in the risen Christ but they do not live as if it is true. We follow Jesus who was crucified. Mark is somber in describing discipleship throughout the passion and he remains somber about the requirement of faithfulness after the resurrection.
Sara
Mark 16:9-20 the long ending
Three appearances
He first appeared to mary Magdalene…He is Jesus not the angelic messenger.
He is visible to her. She recognizes him and he commissions her…and she acts.
They do not believe her.
Then He appears to two of them as they are going into the countryside “in another form” as an indication of how the early church taught that Jesus could not be easily recognized after the resurrection but the faithful know him…they tell the rest of the disciples, who did not believe Mary, and they do not believe these two either.
When Jesus appears among them he is harsh with them for not believing. The implication is that they have to see him to believe he is risen.
When he comes to the 11, they are at table, some think it is in reference to eucharistic practice. Commissioning follows. Is it not intriguing that the ones who have not believed, who are upbraided for lack of faith and hardness of heart are now entrusted with preaching the gospel to the whole world. What better way to show that God’s grace and not human merit is a primary element in the Good News. Mark’s commission is more inclusive than even matt 28:19, go into the whole world, preach the gospel to every creature.
The person who believes and is baptized will be saved, but the person who does not believe will be condemned. (Aslan, Last Battle).
Vs. 17 the preaching of the gospel will be accompanied by persuasive signs, so that rejection reflects obduracy…so casting out demons, laying hands on sick, etc…these are signs, see Acts. The commissioning of these disciples is the concluding action of the Lord Jesus on earth, and he is in vs 19 taken up into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God. (The sequence is close to Luke, after appearing to the 11, in the context of a meal, he told them to preach in his name to all the nations and having gone out to Bethany, he was taken up to heaven Luke 24).
Crammer