Mark 16
- Who wrote it
- Traditionally John Mark
- Who it was for
- Followers of Jesus, likely mostly Gentiles
- What was happening
- The empty tomb at dawn
What’s happening
When the Sabbath is past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome buy spices to anoint Jesus. Very early on the first day of the week, at sunrise, they come to the tomb, saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the door of the tomb?" Looking up, they see that the stone, which is very big, has been rolled back. Entering the tomb, they see a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they are amazed. He says, "Don't be amazed. You seek Jesus, the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen. He is not here. Behold, the place where they laid him! But go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He goes before you into Galilee. There you will see him, as he said to you.'" They go out and flee from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment have seized them. "They said nothing to anyone; for they were afraid." That is where the earliest manuscripts of Mark end. Later copies add a short ending and a longer one, in which Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene, to two disciples walking in the country, and to the eleven as they sit at table, rebuking their unbelief and sending them: "Go into all the world, and preach the good news to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; he who disbelieves will be condemned." Signs are promised to those who believe, and Jesus is taken up into heaven and sits at the right hand of God, while the disciples go out and preach, with the Lord working with them.
Why the setting matters
Burial in a rock-cut tomb sealed by a rolling stone was common for those who could afford it. Jewish custom allowed the family to come back and anoint the body after the Sabbath, which is why the women come at the first possible time, early on Sunday, what Christians later called the Lord's Day. Mark's Greek ends in mid-thought: the last word of verse 8 is the little word "for" (gar). The oldest and best manuscripts, including the two great fourth-century codices Sinaiticus and Vaticanus, stop there, and early Christian writers such as Eusebius and Jerome noted that most copies they knew lacked verses 9-20. A short ending and a long ending were added later, and the long ending draws on the other Gospels and Acts. Whether Mark meant to stop at verse 8, or whether his ending was lost, is debated; many scholars argue that an ending in fear and silence is deliberate, leaving the reader to decide whether to follow. Whichever is true, the message is clear: the promise "He goes before you into Galilee" points back to Mark 14:28 and forward to the readers' own lives. The women who fled are the same ones who had stayed at the cross, and the young man's "tell his disciples and Peter" names the disciple who denied him.
Who’s in this chapter
Mary Magdalene
Goes to the tomb first, and is the first witness in the longer ending.
Salome
One of the three women.
Mary, mother of James and Joses
One of the three women.
The young man in white
Announces that Jesus has been raised.
Simon Peter
Named by the young man: "Tell his disciples and Peter."
Jesus
Risen, not seen in the oldest ending, and going before them into Galilee.
Talk it through
- The women ask, "Who will roll away the stone?" and find it already moved. What does that suggest about their worries?
- Mark ends with fear and silence. What do you hear in that ending, and what do you hear when you read the longer ending?
- "Tell his disciples and Peter." Why single out Peter?
- Jesus is going ahead to Galilee, back where Mark began. What would that mean for the disciples?
Read Mark 16
World English Bible
1When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, that they might come and anoint him. 2Very early on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. 3They were saying among themselves, “Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?” 4for it was very big. Looking up, they saw that the stone was rolled back.
5Entering into the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were amazed. 6He said to them, “Don’t be amazed. You seek Jesus, the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen. He is not here. Behold, the place where they laid him! 7But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He goes before you into Galilee. There you will see him, as he said to you.’ ”
8They went out, and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had come on them. They said nothing to anyone; for they were afraid. 9Now when he had risen early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. 10She went and told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept. 11When they heard that he was alive, and had been seen by her, they disbelieved. 12After these things he was revealed in another form to two of them, as they walked, on their way into the country. 13They went away and told it to the rest. They didn’t believe them, either.
14Afterward he was revealed to the eleven themselves as they sat at the table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they didn’t believe those who had seen him after he had risen. 15He said to them, “Go into all the world, and preach the Good News to the whole creation. 16He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who disbelieves will be condemned. 17These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new languages; 18they will take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it will in no way hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
19So then the Lord, after he had spoken to them, was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. 20They went out, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word by the signs that followed. Amen.
Text: World English Bible, Public domain. About our sources