Text for the Week: The Story Continues

Scripture: Mark 16:1–8

When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they could go and anoint Jesus’ dead body. ² Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they came to the tomb. ³ They were saying to each other, “Who’s going to roll the stone away from the entrance for us?” ⁴ When they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away. (And it was a very large stone!) ⁵ Going into the tomb, they saw a young man in a white robe seated on the right side; and they were startled. ⁶ But he said to them, “Don’t be alarmed! You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised. He isn’t here. Look, here’s the place where they laid him. ⁷ Go, tell his disciples, especially Peter, that he is going ahead of you into Galilee. You will see him there, just as he told you.” ⁸ Overcome with terror and dread, they fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.

                                                                                                                                                                                Questions

1. Who are the women at the tomb and why are the women going alone when they are concerned about rolling the stone from the entrance?
2. Who would you assume the young man was if you had been one of the women encountering him at the tomb?
3. Why does Mark end this story with “They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.”?
4. What does it say about the Church that in a time when women’s testimonies were considered inferior it is the women who are given the obligation to preach about Jesus?

Background

Related Scriptures: Matthew 28:1–10; Luke 24:1–12; John 20:1–10; Acts 10:34-43

The Sabbath ends at sundown on Saturday, but the women would hardly have been expected to go to the tomb in the dark, especially if the tomb was located in a cliff that faced East. They would have waited until the Sunrise to make the journey and work safe and easier.

Mary the mother of James in verse 1 is likely the same woman as Mary the mother of Joseph (Joses) in 15:47 and this is likely Jesus’ mother who is being identified by her relationship to her other sons.

The mention of the “first day of the week” is redundant since Mark has already mentioned the Sabbath, but the use helps us think back to Genesis 1 and God’s creative activities. Jesus’ Resurrection is a new creation.

Most scholars understand Mark 16:9-20 are not original to Mark and were added much later, while there is some disagreement on the topic most scholars believe that Mark’s original ending was lost since “because they were afraid” is an awkward ending.

Reflection

Some people find it very difficult when they learn that Mark 16:8 is probably the last verse we have of Mark’s original writing. And it is difficult, how do we approach a text that ends with a man (apparently an angel) giving the women, who have come to honor Jesus, a message to proclaim and the women not doing so for fear? As it stands this is a strange climax to Mark’s story which seeks to proclaim Jesus’ identity to the world. Which is why others tacked on paraphrased versions of other Gospel endings onto Mark (vv. 9-20). The reality is we know that these women ultimately did become the first to preach about Jesus’ resurrection. We know they overcame their fear and hesitance to tell the other disciples exactly what they saw and we know the other disciples believed them, the other Gospels narrate this. But it does make me wonder how Mark would have narrated the women overcoming their fear to spread the message of Jesus’ resurrection. This ending also gives me the opportunity to ask, “what does it mean for me if Mark’s Gospel is left open-ended like this?”

I think it is natural for the women at the tomb to be afraid, the go expecting to find a dead man and they are met by a different man who is very much alive. Further, this man gives them a message for their friends that honestly would sound too good to be true and somewhat disturbing. I am certain that if I were in that position I would be afraid of how my friends would judge my sanity bringing a story like that to them (honestly, I might have questioned my own sanity at that point). The response of the women is completely legitimate, it is the normal human reaction to the situation at hand. Fear would be a natural response and yet these women overcame that fear to proclaim the message that Jesus had risen to the people around them. We should be rejoicing in this fact, these women were emboldened by the Holy Spirit to proclaim the good news that Jesus had been raised, when their natural state was fear.

Now as much as I can be disappointed by not knowing how Mark would have narrated this remarkable turnaround, there is also a wonderful blessing in Mark’s ending. The ending that is provided is lackluster and vague, it leaves us with open-ended questions about what it means that Jesus was raised, what happened to the women and the disciples, etc. The fact that this ending is incomplete, not simply allows, but forces us to fill in the rest of the story. When I read Mark’s Gospel and I come to the end where Jesus is raised and the women are afraid, I need to say to myself here is what that means and here is the story I know and know to be true. In that moment I am doing what Peter does in Acts 10:34-43 and is mentioned in 1 John 1:1-10. In both of these passages we are presented with the disciple of Jesus presenting what they know about Jesus as well as what they have experienced about Jesus. These are places where the disciples explain the story and how it has impacted them and can impact others. We carry on this tradition and responsibility, we are the disciples who proclaim the message of Jesus’ resurrection in our lives and speech. Reading Mark’s Gospel is an open invitation to us to look at the story of the women and to bring it to completion in our own words, to provide as Paul Harvey used to say, “The rest of the story.” But not only are we given permission to fill in this story we are given space to connect it to our own. We are provided the opportunity to reflect on the fear the women experienced hearing the daunting command to proclaim Jesus’ resurrection and compare it to our own trepidation in sharing our stories.

Every believer has a story, each is a continuation of the resurrection story of the women and it is our responsibility to tell that story. Some of our stories are very direct and to the point some are long and meandering, some are full of certain dates, people places and events, some are not. Each story is unique though many of us share the fear of the women in testifying to that encounter. This fear is legitimate but should be met head on trusting that the same Spirit that allowed the women that first Easter to overcome their fear will help us also. One of the ways we can grow confident in our own story is by continuing Mark’s story in our own words and recognizing the joy that comes through encountering the resurrection in such a personal way.  As we build this bridge in our own lives we can be the catalyst for encouraging others in the faith the same way the women were.