Mark 16.1-8 (TNIV)
1 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. 2 Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb 3 and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”
4 But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. 5 As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.
6 “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. 7 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.’ ”
8 Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.
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If you page through a few different translations of the end of the gospel of Mark, it won’t take long for you to realize that there is not just an end… there are ends. One of these ends includes this quotable verse: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” But it also includes, “In my name… they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all.” With the exception of a few snake-charming churches here and there, these words haven’t exactly been adopted by Christians everywhere. Yet another ending includes this colorful conclusion: “But they reported briefly to Peter and those with him all that they had been told. And after this, Jesus himself sent out by means of them, from east to west, the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation.”
Now why would this story have so many different endings? What are we to make of this? We have a few options: (A) The original ending was lost, so some people scrambled to finish this gospel (similarly, perhaps there was a contest for who could come up with the craziest ending – hence, the whole snake thing). (B) One of these is the original ending. (C) These are all parts of the original ending.
While any of the above options may explain what’s going on at the end of Mark’s gospel, there exists a more plausible and more intriguing reason: All of these endings exist because no one liked the original ending.
The original ending of verse 8 just didn’t make sense to early church leaders. So they had to add something to it, clean it up, make it more like the end of Matthew with a powerful Jesus speech (the Great Commission), or the ending of Luke (ascension and promise of the Spirit), or the tidy ending of John.
Instead of these inspiring conclusions, we are left with three women going to the tomb of Jesus to anoint his body. When they get there, they enter the tomb, and a man dressed in a white robe says, “Do not be afraid. You are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He has risen! Look, he’s not here. He has gone ahead of you. Go tell the disciples and Peter.” And in response to this, verse 8 says, “Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.”
The gospel of Mark ends with the discovery that the tomb is empty – Jesus has risen! – which causes a group of women to run from the tomb, trembling and bewildered…
In the same vein as Dallas‘ “Who shot JR?” and every episode of 24, Mark is ending with an absolutely dizzying cliffhanger!
And it’s totally scripted to be this way. Verse 8 ends with the Greek word “gar”. Sentences in Greek NEVER end with the word “gar”. It is a transitional word, always leading to something else… But Mark intentionally ends his gospel this way because he wants the reader to get caught up in the story. He is drawing the audience – originally Christians being persecuted in Rome – into the footsteps of the story. The women are running from the tomb with the news that Jesus has risen, but the next step – the next step belongs to the church to whom Mark is writing. And, actually, the next step belongs to you and me too.
Today is Easter Sunday. Followers of Jesus everywhere are celebrating an empty tomb because Jesus has risen from the dead! Indeed, this history changing act leaves us all trembling and bewildered. What does this mean for us?! How are we now to live?!
As you run from the empty tomb, what’s your next step going to be?