The Shorter Version
"Entering the tomb, they (Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James, and Salome) saw a young man sitting at the right, wearing a white robe; and they were amazed. And he said to them, “Do not be amazed; you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen; He is not here; behold, here is the place where they laid Him... So they went out quickly and fled from the tomb, for they were shaken and astonished. And they were silent, for they were awestruck (Mark 16:5,6,8).
A number of years ago a friend and I were traveling through the boondocks of an undeveloped country and found ourselves eating some really strange stuff. My friend assured me that no harm would come to us since Jesus promised we could drink poison and survive!
He was quoting from the King James Version of John Mark's Gospel: "These signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them..." (Mark 16:17,18).
My friend was comforted by Jesus' words and I didn't have the heart to tell him that he almost certainly didn’t utter them. We did, however, survive the ordeal without harm.
It's generally agreed that the end of Mark's Gospel is missing and 16:9-20 is a 4th century addition. The best manuscripts end at verse 8. Verses 9-20 appear to be appended by copyists who couldn't accept the fact that Mark ended his book so abruptly and so added material from the other Gospels to fill in the gap.
But I'm not sure, however, that I can agree with those who say that the end of Mark's manuscript is missing. What if Mark did end his book at verse eight? What if he gave us something more profound than a finished work—a mystery that leaves us like the two women: stunned, shaken, awestruck, unable to articulate our feelings and wondering what this new thing must mean.
The messenger in the tomb declared that Jesus, the man from Nazareth, who had been crucified, was raised from the dead!
What did this stupendous declaration mean? Mark leaves the answer to us.
David Roper
2.12.19
