Mark 16:9-20

((The most reliable early manuscripts and other ancient witnesses do not have Mark 16:9-20.))

9When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons. 10She went and told those who had been with him and who were mourning and weeping. 11When they heard that Jesus was alive and that she had seen him, they did not believe it.

12Afterward Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking in the country. 13These returned and reported it to the rest; but they did not believe them either.

14Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to 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 all creation. 16Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well."

19After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. 20Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.



Dig Deeper

As stated earlier, it is highly likely that this ending to Mark, was added and was not part of the original work. Although Clement of Alexandria and Origen make no mention of this part of Mark, it does appear that this ending was around as early as the late 2nd or early 3rd century, although there are no manuscripts with this section that have been found that date before the late 4th century.


So how do we know that this is not the original ending. Besides its complete absence from early manuscripts of Mark, there are other pieces of evidence. The language and writing style in this section are completely different from the rest of Mark. Verse 9 also introduces Mary Magdalene in a way that seems rather odd, as though she hasn’t been talked about before in Mark’s book, which she obviously has. Plus, this section is, frankly, a bit flat, something that we never experience in reading the rest of Mark. It actually seems that this section is a patchwork of the post-resurrection sections from Matthew and Luke. If, as most scholars believe, Mark was written before those two books, then that would seem odd unless this section was written later.


So, is there anything in this section that makes it worth reading if it is not from Mark’s hand? The answer is absolutely. What we have hear is a wonderful snapshot of how the early church perceived the events after Jesus’ resurrection and the subsequent mission of the Church in the apostolic period.


There is greater emphasis given in this account to the initial disbelief of the disciples, despite what the witnesses told them. It also stresses the miraculous signs and actions that would accompany those who believe. We also have a glimpse into the firm belief of the early church that baptism was necessary for the believer who wished to be added to God’s kingdom. Without belief and baptism, no one would be saved. Perhaps the great emphasis on the early miraculous signs of the apostolic church was stressed by the author of this section, because those great signs had largely died out by the time it was written.


Also important to the early church writer was the fact that Jesus had been vindicated and seated on the God of Israel’s throne, just as he had said he would.


There are, of course, questions for us that are raised. How have we responded to the message of the witnesses as recorded earlier in Mark? Have we responded in faith and gone out to boldly preach the message of the risen savior with great fervor? Have we truly gone out and preached everywhere? An even more interesting question is how would we go about applying Jesus’ words from verse 15 to go into the world and preach the good news, not to every creature, but to all creation?



Devotional Thought

Spend some time today praying and meditating about the lessons that you have learned from the book of Mark. What have you learned that will specifically effect how you live your life as a disciple? How will you follow Jesus? What part of your life do you still need to lay down? What about his kingdom have you yet to understand? What will it mean for you to preach the good news to all creation?