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Mark 16

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Gospel of Mark
Chapters

Mark 16 is the final chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It asserts the discovery of Jesus' empty tomb by Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, who might or might not be Jesus' mother, and Salome. They find instead a man dressed in white who announces Jesus' resurrection. In the disputed "longer" ending section Mary Magdalene sees the resurrected Jesus then tells other followers of Jesus about this, but they do not believe her. Jesus then appears to the disciples, gives them instructions, and then is taken up into Heaven.

There is much debate about the ending of Mark, and many textual problems—there are nine different endings (or combinations of endings) known—but most of the debate focuses around the so-called ‘longer’ ending (16:9-20). There is evidence that these verses are not part of the original document, but rather an ancient ‘completion’ of it. According to Daniel J. Harrington they are probably a second century compilation of resurrection stories mostly found in Luke 24 and some from John 20. (Brown et al. 629) John J. Kilgallen however believes they were more likely composed in the first century. (Kilgallen 305)

The empty tomb

Mark says the Sabbath is now over and Mary Magdalene, another Mary, and Salome, mentioned in Mark 15:40, come to anoint Jesus' body, which Luke 24:1 agrees with. John 19:40 seems to say that Nicodemus already anointed his body. John 20:1 and Matthew 28:1 simply say Mary went to the tomb, not why.

They wonder how they will remove the stone over the tomb. They then find the stone already gone and go into the tomb. This shows that, according to Mark, they did not expect to find a resurrected but a dead Jesus. (Kilgallen 297) They find a "young" man dressed in a white robe who tells them:

"Don't be alarmed," he said. "You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.' " (6-7)

The white robe might be a sign that he is a messenger from God. (Kilgallen 300) According to Matthew 28:5 this "man" was an angel. According to Luke there were two men. John says there were two angels, but that Mary saw them after finding the empty tomb and showing it to the other disciples. She comes back to the tomb, talks to the angels, and then Jesus appears to her.

Mark uses the word neaniskos for young, a word he used to describe the man who fled at Jesus' arrest in Mark 14:51-52. (Brown et al. 629) Jesus had predicted his resurrection and returning to Galilee during the Last Supper in Mark 14:28. Mark uses the passive verb form ēgerthē -- apparently 'he was raised' indicating a raising by God, rather than 'he is risen' as in the above translation. (Brown et al. 629) (Greek distinguished passive from middle voice in the aorist tense used here.)

The women, who are afraid, then flee and keep quiet about what they saw. Fear is the most common human reaction to the divine presence in the Bible. (Kilgallen 300). This is where the undisputed part of the book ends. Jesus is thus announced to have been resurrected from the dead and to have gone into Galilee. It is probable that Mark's intended readers already knew the traditions of Jesus' appearances and Mark leaves the story here to highlight the resurrection and leave anticipation of the parousia. (Brown et al. 628) Some have argued that this announcement of the resurrection and Jesus going to Galilee is the parousia, but Raymond E. Brown argues that a parousia confined only to Galilee is improbable. (Brown 148) No description of the resurrected Jesus has been given perhaps because Mark did not want to try to describe the nature of the divine resurrected Jesus. (Kilgallen 303) Brown argues this ending is consistent with Mark's theology, where even miracles, such as the resurrection, do not produce the proper understanding or faith among Jesus' followers. (Brown 148) Having the women run away afraid is contrasted in the reader's mind with the man, whose appearance and statements help confirm the expectation, built up in 8:31, 9:31, 10:34, and Jesus' prediction during the Last Supper, of Jesus rising after his death. (Miller 52)

Jesus' appearances and his ascension into Heaven

The book then describes Jesus appearing to Mary Magdalene, who is now described as someone whom Jesus healed from possession by seven demons. She tells the other disciples what she saw but no one believes her. Jesus' appearances to Mary are also found in Matthew 28:9–10, Luke 24:10-11, and John 20:14-18.

Then, somewhere else, he appears "in a different form" to two unnamed disciples. They too are disbelieved when they tell of what they saw. Jesus appearing to two disciples is also in Luke 24:13-35.

Jesus then appears at dinner to all the remaining eleven Apostles. He rebukes them for not believing the earlier reports of his resurrection and then gives them instructions to go and preach his message and heal others. Those who believe, that is those who are baptised and according to the book "saved", will speak in new tongues. Tongues could be the languages of the various Christian communities. It could also be glossolalia. They will also be able to handle snakes, be immune from poison, and will be able to heal the sick. These could be assertions early Christians made about powers they claimed their new faith gave them. (Kilgallen 309) Those who do not believe will be condemned. By stating this and showing the examples of unjustified unbelief, this could be trying to convince the reader to rely on what the disciples preached about Jesus. (Brown 149)

Jesus appearing and talking to the disciples is also in Matthew 28:16–20, Luke 24:36-43, and John 20:19-29. Jesus fighting against unbelief and the negative portrait of the disciples is in keeping with the themes' of Mark. (Kilgallen 308)

Jesus then is taken up into Heaven, where Mark claims he sits at the right hand of God. The right hand is seen as the position of power. Jesus quoted Psalm 110:1 in Mark 11 about the second Lord sitting at the right hand of God. His followers then went out and preached "everywhere" and several signs and help from God accompanied their preaching. His ascension is also in Luke 24:50-51 and Acts of the Apostles 1:9-11. Where these things happened is not stated, but one could presume Galilee. Luke however has this happening in Jerusalem.

Possible Scenarios

  • The original ending of Mark was lost, and somebody else at a very early date completed the gospel. C. H. Turner has suggested that the original version of the gospel may have been a codex and the last pages may have been lost. However, it seems unlikely that Christian use of the codex form stretched as far back as the proposed date for the writing of Mark, though there is evidence for its adoption in the second century;
  • The author(s) of Mark intentionally ended the gospel at 16:8, and someone else at an early date completed the gospel;
  • More than one edition of Mark’s Gospel was made, so some Christian communities would have possessed the longer ending edition, and others would have possessed the edition that stopped at 16:8.
  • The original ending was inconvenient to the church, and it was replaced.

The Longer Ending

Verses 16:8-9 read as follows in the New Revised Standard Version:

(16:8) So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. (16:9) Now after he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from who he had cast out seven demons.

Note the way the narrative flow abruptly changes from "they were afraid" to "now after he rose". Also, Mary Magdalene, introduced at the beginning of the chapter (16:1), is re-introduced almost as though she had not already been mentioned. That she was possessed might come from Luke or Luke's sources. This states he rose, used in a different way then the man at the tomb, who seemed to say, if one does not consider the disputed verses, that Jesus has been risen, by someone else's power, not his own as seems to now be implied here. (Kilgallen 306)

The final sentence in v.8 is also regarded as strange by many scholars, because in the Greek text it finishes with the conjunction γαρ (gar, 'for'). It is contended by those who see 16:9-20 as originally Markan that γαρ literally means because, and this ending to v.8 is therefore not grammatically coherent (literally, it would read they were afraid because). However, this objection misunderstands the nature of the Greek language. Since Greek is an inflexive language as opposed to a syntactic language such as English, word order is not as important. (Compare Grammar in Greek language and Grammar in English language.) γαρ is never the first word of a sentence: there is no such rule that states it can never be the last word, though it is very rare for a book to end with γαρ.

Still, γαρ aside, the grammar of v.8 is still odd, as the verb φοβεομαι (phobeomai, 'I fear') has no object. Gundry also mentions that only 10% of Mark’s γαρ clauses—6 out of 66—conclude pericopes (Mark: A Commentary on His Apology for the Cross, Chapters 9-16). As such, this statistic favours the view that, rather than concluding 16:1-8, v.8 begins a new pericope, the rest of which is now lost to us. Gundry therefore does not see v.8 as the intended ending; a resurrection narrative was either written, then lost, or planned but never actually written. Either way, the originality of vv.9-20 is denied by Gundry—and, indeed, the overwhelming majority of textual critics. Mark also used gar as part of an ending comment in 6:52.

Mark 16:9-20 is in most of the undamaged Greek copies of the Gospel of Mark. A copy of a manuscript, however, is only as good as the text being copied, so all of the texts with 16:9-20 may simply be copies of the same non-Markan addition. The verses are absent in the oldest manuscripts of Mark, including the vitally important Codices Sinaiticus and Vaticanus, which both conclude the gospel at 16:8. Vaticanus in particular displays a long blank space after 16:8, rather than ending at the base of a page as if further pages were missing.

Many of the early church fathers also appear to use 16:9-20:

  • Justin Martyr wrote in his First Apology (ch.45) that the apostles, "going forth from Jerusalem, preached everywhere." A comparison of this paragraph shows that it is highly likely that he was borrowing his terms from the longer or shorter ending;
  • Irenaeus quotes Mark 16:19 in Against Heresies III:10:5-6, which was written c. 185;
  • Eusebius of Caesarea and Philip of Side record the writings of Papias (c. 125-150), who mentions that Justus Barsabbas (c.f. Acts 1:23) once drank a poisonous drink and suffered no ill effects. The motivation for this story may have been to provide an example of the fulfillment of Mark 16:18; furthermore Papias claimed that Mark did not omit anything that Peter had preached.
  • Eusebius and Marinus (c. 330) both reflect knowledge of the existence of the longer ending, in Eusebius' work Ad Marinum; but Eusebius also relates that the Long Ending is not in the accurate manuscripts. Eusebius provides Marinus with a scheme to harmonise (and thus retain) Mark 16:9 via the use of Matthew 28:1.
  • Augustine (d.430) used 16:9-20 in Easter sermons. This demonstrates that, by the early 400's, the longer ending had been established in the lectionary in North Africa (though this says nothing about its originality!);

However, Mark 16:9-20 is absent in other early church fathers (e.g. Clement of Alexandria, Origen). At any rate, all that can be concluded from this use of the longer ending is that, rightly or wrongly, Mark 16:9-20 had become part of Church tradition and scripture much like other apocryphal writings such as The Shepherd of Hermas and the Didache, neither of which are now considered canonical.

Parts of the longer ending seem to be based on various elements found in the other three Gospels and the book of Acts:

One could argue that the longer Markan ending is a pre-synoptic, primitive tradition (thus being original), and that the comparative pericopes in Matthew, Luke, John and Acts are extended versions of this tradition. However, given the absence of Mark 16:9-20 in the earliest manuscripts, this seems unlikely.

The longer ending however, in the original texts, does not use Jesus' name until verse 19. Thus one must use verse 6 of the undisputed ending and assume that all the "he" pronouns in the longer ending refer back to the undisputed section. (Kilgallen 306)

The 'Shorter' Ending

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. (NRSV)

Some manuscripts conclude Mark’s Gospel with what is known as the shorter ending (or intermediate ending) shown above. This ending is found in several uncial manuscripts of the 7th, 8th and 9th centuries, as well as a few minuscule manuscripts and some older Coptic and Ethiopian texts. As well as this, some manucripts containing the shorter ending then follow it with the longer ending, such as the Codices Bobbensis and Regius of the 8th century.

The 'Freer Logion' and 'Expanded' Endings

A version of the text found by Freer in Egypt, which is thought to date from the 5th century, has an ending that was not attested elsewhere when it was discovered. This ending is thus known as the Freer Logion:

Afterward Jesus appeared to the eleven as they reclined at table and reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen him after he arose.
The eleven made an excuse: "This age of lawlessness and unbelief is controlled by Satan, who, by means of unclean spirits, doesn't allow the truth to be known. So," they said to Christ, "reveal your righteousness now!"
Christ replied to them, "The measure of Satan's years of power is filled up, although other fearful things draw nigh to those for whom I, because of their sin, was delivered to death, that they might turn back and not sin anymore so that they might inherit the imperishable, spiritual glory of righteousness in heaven."

A variation on the Freer Logion has been found in Codex Washingtonianius and cited by Jerome which replaces Mark 16:15-20 of the standard Longer Ending:

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 pervail 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 thy 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 delivered over to death, that they may inherit the spiritual and incorruptible glory of righteousness which is in heaven
-Translation from Bruce Metzger's Textual Commentary on the Greek NT

Mark 16 and Reading in the Ancient World

In the ancient world, reading was not the activity it is today. Rather than someone silently reading a book on their own, Mark’s Gospel, like other ancient literature, would have been read out loud by someone to a group of people. The low literacy rates in the ancient world demanded that such an approach to reading be taken. (See Oral history) Thus, reading would have involved an interaction between the reader(s) and the hearer(s).

If Mark’s Gospel, as is postulated by some (notably Beavis, Mark’s Audience, pp.45-67, 167-73), had an evangelistic and teaching purpose, this interactive nature of ancient world reading starts to provide another theory for the ending of Mark. Given that the longer and shorter endings are seen by the overwhelming majority of text critics as not originally part of Mark (see below), these endings can be seen as reader’s responses and reactions to what Mark’s gospel tells us about the person of Christ. Specifically, the longer ending is a response by a person or community familiar with the other Gospels and Acts, especially Luke-Acts (see above). From this perspective, then, 16:8 starts to look like an intentional ending—and the acceptance of the longer ending is an indication of the general theological direction early Christians saw Mark’s Gospel headed in.

Mark 16:9

What about Mark’s statement, “Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils”? (Mark 16:9). Bear in mind that no one witnessed the actual resurrection of Jesus, so no one could testify as to the moment. Thus, this passage is describing, not the time of the resurrection, but the time of Jesus’ appearing to Mary. [citation needed]

The Greek texts have no punctuation, so all the commas and periods are left to the translators. Just put the comma in the right place and all becomes clear. “Now when Jesus was risen, early the first day of the week he appeared first to Mary Magdalene.” [citation needed] Also note that in Mark’s testimony that the first person to see Jesus alive was Mary. That confirms that no one saw the moment of the resurrection of Jesus.

There is nothing in the Gospel accounts to dispute that Jesus rose from the dead Saturday evening rather than Sunday morning. Three days and three nights from His burial would naturally take us to an evening. [citation needed]

Scholarly conclusions

Almost all contemporary New Testament textual critics have concluded that neither the longer or shorter endings were originally part of Mark’s Gospel, though the evidence of the early church fathers above shows that the longer ending had become accepted tradition. The United Bible Societies' 4th edition of the Greek New Testament (1993) rates the omission of verses 9-20 from the original Markan manuscript as "certain." For this reason, many modern Bibles decline to print the longer ending of Mark together with the rest of the gospel, but, because of its historical importance and prominence, it is often included as a footnote or an appendix alongside the shorter ending. Nevertheless, a handful of scholars, particularly those in traditionalist or fundamentalist traditions, argue that the evidence is insufficient to justify its exclusion or that the evidence in fact supports its inclusion. However, in biblical scholarship, changes and advances due to creative detective work and new discoveries have a long past history of proceeding with caution very slowly, so the almost unanimous conclusion with regards to the inauthenticity of the ending(s) of Mark should be seriously considered.

Theological implications

Few doctrines of the mainline Christian denominations stand or fall on the support of the longer ending of Mark. The longer ending does identify Mary Magdalene as the woman out of whom Jesus had exorcised seven demons, but Mary Magdalene's significance, and the practice of exorcism, are both supported by New Testament texts outside the debated passage. However, with the two-source hypothesis, the absence of the long ending forms an argument from silence about the non-historicity of the resurrection.

The longer ending of Mark 16 is of considerable significance in Pentecostalism and other denominations:

  • Mark 16:16 is cited as evidence for the requirement of believer's baptism among churches of the Restoration Movement.
  • Mark 16:17 is specifically cited as Biblical support for some of these denominations' teachings concerning exorcism and spiritual warfare, and also in support of speaking in tongues.
  • The practice of snake handling and of drinking strychnine and other poisons, found in a few offshoots of Pentecostalism, find their Biblical support in Mark 16:18. These churches typically justify these practices as "confirming the word with signs following" (KJV), which references Mark 16:20. Other denominations believe that these texts indicate the power of the Holy Spirit given to the apostles, but do not believe that they are recommendations for worship.

The longer ending was declared canonical scripture by the Council of Trent. No Roman Catholic however is required to believe that Mark wrote this ending. (Brown 148)

See also

References

  • Beavis, M. A., Mark’s Audience, Sheffield, Sheffield Academic Press, 1989. ISBN 185075215X.
  • Brown, Raymond E. An Introduction to the New Testament Doubleday 1997 ISBN 0385247672
  • Brown, Raymond E. et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary Prentice Hall 1990 ISBN 0136149340
  • Elliott, J. K., The Language and Style of the Gospel of Mark. An Edition of C. H. Turner’s "Notes on Markan Usage" together with Other Comparable Studies, Leiden, Brill, 1993. ISBN 9004097678.
  • Gundry, R. H., Mark: A Commentary on His Apology for the Cross, Chapters 9-16, Grand Rapids, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1992. ISBN 0802829112.
  • Kilgallen, John J. A Brief Commentary on the Gospel of Mark Paulist Press 1989 ISBN 0809130599
  • Mark 16 NIV Accessed 17 April 2006
  • Miller, Robert J. Editor The Complete Gospels Polebridge Press 1994 ISBN 0060655879


Chapters of the Bible
Preceded by:
Mark 15
Gospel of Mark
Followed by:
Luke 1
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