B. the appearances and ascension of Jesus 16:9-20

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.

 1. Three post-resurrection appearances 16:9-18

These three accounts stress the importance of disciples believing what Jesus had taught, specifically that He would rise from the dead, with increasing urgency.

 2. Jesus' ascension 16:19-20 (cf. Luke 24:50-53; Acts 1:9-12)

16:19 This event happened 40 days after the appearances that Mark just recorded (cf. Acts 1:3). Mark narrated the ascension and session of Jesus simply. The title "Lord Jesus"occurs only here and in Luke 24:3 in the Gospels. Jesus of Nazareth became Lord to His disciples, in the sense of sovereign master, following His resurrection. He was that always, but the Resurrection taught the disciples that that is what He was.

Jesus had predicted His ascension in veiled terms (14:7). The disciples witnessed this. They did not witness His seating in heaven. The Old Testament anticipated Messiah's seating in heaven before His return to reign (Ps. 110:1). The disciples learned that that session would occur between Jesus' two advents, not before His first advent (cf. Acts 2:33-35; 7:56). Jesus' present seated position at the Father's right hand pictures His finished work on earth for the time being and His authority as the executor of God's will now.⁴²³

16:20 However, Jesus' work on earth also continued through His disciples. It was a continuation of Jesus' work on earth in a real sense because He continued to work with them and confirmed their preaching with signs (cf. Acts 1:1-2). These first disciples provided a positive example for all succeeding generations of disciples to follow. Thus the Gospel ends on a positive note.

This task of evangelizing continued in Rome among the disciples who first received this Gospel. This account of the good news about Jesus Christ (1:1) would have been a particular encouragement to those disciples. They faced the choice of whether to take a public stand as Christians and suffer the loss of real estate, personal property, employment, and even their lives or to lie low. They had to offer a pinch of incense in worship of "divine"Caesar as Roman citizens. To do so compromised their exclusive commitment to Jesus as Lord. To fail to worship Caesar cost them dearly. This Gospel is particularly helpful for disciples who face similar challenges in their own time and place in history.