The resurrection of Jesus is the climax of Mark's Gospel as it is the high point of all the other Gospel accounts. Jesus vindicated His claims to being the divine Son of God, not simply a human messiah, by His resurrection from the dead.
16:1 The Sabbath ended with sundown Saturday evening. The women did not come to the tomb until Sunday morning (v. 2, cf. Matt. 28:1). Why did Mark refer to the Sabbath at all? Probably he did so to clarify that Jesus had been in the tomb for some time.
The women Mark mentioned coming to the tomb were the same ones he said observed Jesus on the cross (15:40-41). Two of them had already visited Jesus' tomb late Friday afternoon (15:47). However there were several other women who accompanied them now (cf. Luke 24:10).
They went to anoint Jesus' corpse with spices. The Jews did not practice embalming.406These women simply wanted to honor Jesus by making His corpse as pleasant smelling as possible. Perhaps Mary of Bethany's example had encouraged them to make this sacrifice for Him (cf. 14:3-9). Obviously they did not understand that Jesus would rise from the dead.
"In the final scenes, in Jerusalem, the little people [i.e., the minor characters in Mark's story] exemplify especially the teaching about being servant of all.' Earlier, Jesus served others. Now in his time of need others serve him: Simon the leper receives him in his house; a woman anoints him with ointment worth a worker's annual salary; Simon Cyrenean takes up his cross; Joseph takes his body from the cross and buries him; and a group of women go to the tomb to anoint him after his death. These actions are acts of service done for Jesus by people who courageously sacrifice or risk something--money or arrest or reputation--to carry them out. . . .
"Thus, the little ones serve throughout as foils' for the disciples. . . .
". . . the little people actually fulfill the functions expected of disciples. Because the disciples of John had buried John's corpse, the reader expects the same of Jesus' disciples. Instead, the little people do what might have been expected of the disciples . . ."407
16:2-3 Mark dated their visit more precisely.408Apparently the women left their homes before dawn and arrived at the tomb just after sunrise (Matt. 28:1; Luke 24:1; John 20:1). Their concern was the removal of the heavy stone that blocked their entrance into the tomb. They knew nothing about the sealing of the tomb and the posting of the guard there (Matt. 27:62-66).
16:4-5 Mark apparently included this story to impress the reader with the supernatural element represented by the angel. The women would have said to one another, "Who rolled the stone away? It must have been someone very strong."When they entered the antechamber of the tomb, they would have thought, "Who is this young man (Gr. neaniskos)? He must be very unusual."He appeared as a youth, but his strength and his unusual dress indicated that he was an angel (cf. 9:3).
"It may be suggested that the purpose of the angel's presence at the tomb was to be the link between the actual event of the Resurrection and the women. Human eyes were not permitted to see the event of the Resurrection itself. But the angels as the constant witnesses of God's action saw it. So the angel's word to the women, He is risen', is, as it were, the mirror in which men were allowed to see the reflection of this eschatological event."409
16:6 The angel first calmed the women's fears. They needed to stop being amazed since Jesus had predicted His resurrection and now it had happened. Then the angel explained where Jesus was. He was raised (Gr. passive tense, implying that God had raised Him)! The empty tomb testified to His resurrection. The same person who was crucified was now alive.
16:7 Peter especially needed this good news in view of his triple denial of Jesus and his consequent discouragement. Mark only recorded this special reference to Peter probably because it meant so much to Peter. Jesus still regarded Peter as one of His disciples in spite of his failure.
Jesus had predicted the scattering of His sheep and their regathering in Galilee (14:27-28). Galilee was the appropriate place to launch a worldwide mission to Gentiles as well as Jews. As He had called His disciples to be fishers of men in Galilee (1:17), now He would commission them to be shepherds of sheep there (John 21:15-19).
"The final scene points back to Galilee, back to the beginning of the story. The young man's message at the tomb with instructions for the disciples to go to Galilee suggests perhaps a fresh start for the disciples or for anyone in the future of the story world who chooses to follow Jesus. By implication, this fresh journey will result in the same complications and the same hostility met in Galilee by John and then by Jesus. Furthermore, Galilee points away from Jerusalem, the center of Judaism, toward gentile nations, where Jesus had said the good news was to be proclaimed before the end came."410
However the disciples did not go immediately to Galilee. They needed further proof of Jesus' resurrection, which Jesus provided, before they went.
16:8 The women were so upset by what had happened that when they left the tomb they told no one what they had seen--at first. However, it was not long before they were spreading the news that Jesus was alive again (Matt. 28:8; Luke 24:9).
"The ending of Mark . . . punctures any self-confident superiority the reader might feel, for the ending turns irony back upon the reader. Throughout the story when Jesus commanded people to be quiet they talked anyway. But at the end when the young man commands the women to go tell the message--the crucial message--in an ironic reversal they are silent. The fear of the women dominates the ending of the story. At this point fear forces the reader to face once again the fear in his or her own situation. No matter how much the reader knows' or sees,' he or she still must make the hard choice in the end--whether to be silent like the women or to proclaim the good news in the face of persecution and possible death."411
Some interpreters believe Mark ended his Gospel with verse 8. This seems unlikely since if he did he ended it with an example of disciples too fearful and amazed to bear witness to the resurrected Jesus. Throughout this Gospel we have noted many unique features that appeal to disciples to serve God by bearing bold witness to Jesus even in spite of persecution and suffering. The women's example would hardly be a good example for Mark to close his Gospel with.
The ending of Mark's Gospel is one of the major textual problems in the New Testament. The main reason some interpreters regard verses 9-20 as spurious is this. The two oldest Greek uncial manuscripts of the New Testament (fourth century), Codex Sinaiticus (Aleph) and Codex Vaticanus (B), plus many other old manuscripts, do not contain them. Moreover the writings of some church fathers reflect no knowledge of these verses. On the other hand, verses 9-20 do appear in the majority of the old manuscripts, and other church fathers refer to them.412Some interpreters believe the vocabulary, style, and content of these verses argue against Mark's authorship of them.413This has led many modern scholars to conclude that verses 9-20 were not part of Mark's original Gospel.414
However the abruptness of the end of the Gospel, if it ended with verse 8, has convinced most scholars that there must have been another ending that disappeared early in church history. Many who hold this view also believe the early church supplied verses 9-20 to provide a smoother conclusion to the Gospel. Many evangelicals believe that the present ending is the inspired one, and for reasons presently unknown to us it was not a part of existing copies of some very old manuscripts.415Another evangelical view is that Mark ended his Gospel with verse 8, or his ending beyond verse 8 was lost. Someone else or others compiled an ending out of accounts of Jesus' post-resurrection appearances under divine inspiration and added them to form an appropriate ending to Mark's Gospel.416I favor the former evangelical view, though the more basic issue is the inspiration of verses 9-20.417I believe these verse are divinely inspired.
