Horrible endings. We’ve all read them, watched them and experienced them. Agatha Christie made us endure page after page on a train, trying to figure out who did it, only to discover that everyone did it. We saved Private Ryan only for him to be consumed at the end of the movie, not with gratitude, but with a deep fear that he hadn’t earned the right to be saved (don’t you think he should have worried about that decades ago?). Tony Soprano was sitting at a booth enjoying a nice meal and then it all went black; and by “all,” I mean the whole series. And we won’t even bring up my time with my first girlfriend which indeed ended very badly. Maybe even horribly. And that is the point: We’ve all encountered bad endings. The question is, do we encounter one at the end of Mark?
Let’s admit it one more time. At first glance, Mark’s ending looks horrible. We have a great resurrection followed by great disappointment (Mark 16:8): “Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.” Last week, we discussed the huge unlikelihood that the last dozen verses in Mark 16 were authentic, but that is just the first problem because now we are left with the uncomfortable question: If verse 8 is the ending what are we to do now? We have three options. We could argue that what we see in verses 1-8 are, in fact, Mark’s intended ending. It may not be what we expected, but it may be how Mark intended to end his gospels. We could also argue that Mark’s ending was lost very early on in its transmission and that what we have in our Bibles is the point from which our better ending sailed. As such, Mark’s true ending will never be found and can never be truly reconstructed. And last, we can argue that while Mark’s ending was indeed lost, we can reconstruct it by doing a little detective work. We will look at our first option today and the next two, next week.
We begin: What we read in our Bibles today is, in fact, how Mark wanted his gospel to end. That raises one question right off the bat: Why? Why would anyone end the story of Jesus’ resurrection with the women fleeing the tomb in fear? Let me offer three suggestions.
First, Mark wasn’t necessarily interested in writing a good Hollywood ending. He was only interested in writing what truly happened. As NT Wright says: “It sounds as though the Evangelists are trying to say to us: I know you’re going to find it difficult to believe, but this is actually what happened.” And while that is true about all four gospel writers, it is especially true about Mark. See, what we read in Mark is so unbelievable that the only reason Mark would write it is because it was exactly what took place on that first Easter morning. Yes, women, not legally responsible men, went to the tomb on that morning. And yes, they were distraught. They didn’t even think about removing the stone until well into their journey because they were beside themselves in heartache. And note that they started their journey before sunrise. Why? Probably because they were so afraid that they would be seen and be jailed as part of Jesus’ band of insurrectionists. And when they saw the stone pushed aside, they had no idea what was going on. Never in a million years were they expecting a resurrection. They were going to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body and to mourn his death, not to be witnesses of any resurrection. Even when they encounter an angel, they still can’t believe it! They only see a “young man dressed in white.” Here they were, deeply spiritual women, but they could not believe that the “young man” in the tomb was an angel. Apparently, they were spiritual, but not gullible peasants willing to jump to any supernatural explanation for what they were seeing. Even after the “man in white” told them that Jesus was risen, they still refused to believe him. It did however, increase their fear. Now please note, anyone with a skill in writing like Mark would know that this would be the moment for the women to turn from fear to faith, to suddenly grasp all that was taking place here, for them to remember that Jesus told them just a few days ago that he will go ahead of them into Galilee after he has risen. Anyone with skill in writing would know this would be the moment. But Mark misses it, not because he wasn’t an excellent writer, but because that’s not what happened. The women were so convinced that Jesus was dead and the women were so sure dead men don’t rise and the women were so sure that a resurrection of Jesus was impossible, that they could not believe anything to the contrary. And so, they left the tomb terrified and totally bewildered, unable and unwilling to speak to anyone because they were so confused. Why did Mark write it this way? Because this is what actually happened. For Mark, historical accuracy trumped a good story any day of the week, and that is why his gospel ends the way it does.
Second, Mark’s gospel is written for one purpose: to bring us face-to-face with the person of Jesus. See, Mark’s whole point is not to tell you the story of Jesus, but to tell that story in such a way that, at the end, you are forced to ask yourself the biggest questions of life, namely who is Jesus and what are you going to do about him? Mark ends the way he does because it is now decision time. It is not important how the women responded or how the disciples will respond. All that is important is how you respond. Sure, if Mark continued his gospel, there would be more evidence for the resurrection, for the ascension and for the Lordship of Jesus, but Mark’s goal is to provide just enough evidence that will convince truth-seekers, but not an overabundance of proof so that agnostics “believe with their heart,” but not with their whole lives. Mark 16:8 leaves the readers hanging because they have to “write” the next verse. What are they going to do with Jesus? Or more to the point, what are you going to do with Jesus? It is your moment to decide.
Third, throughout Mark’s gospel, Mark emphasizes two different themes. He emphasizes that Jesus is the promised Messiah of God, and he emphasizes the failure and misunderstanding of the disciples. And because Mark is such an excellent author, he emphasizes these two themes all the way to the very end of his book. Mark 16:1-7 underscores the full divinity of Jesus. These verses proclaim that he is the risen King of kings. Mark 16:8, on the other hand, stresses the failure and misunderstanding of the disciples.
Perhaps you are not familiar with Mark’s discipleship failure theme. Let me give you some examples. In Mark 4, the disciples are caught in a small boat in a furious storm. The disciples were certain the boat would be swamped and they would all drown. Jesus, meanwhile, is sleeping comfortably in the stern. The disciples wake Jesus who immediately orders the storm to cease. And then, he turns to his disciples and says (Mark 4:40): “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” In Matthew’s account, Jesus chides the disciples before he calms the storm by saying (Mt. 8:26): “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” I would add here that there’s a huge difference between no faith and little faith. At the end of the account, Mark says (4:41): “They were terrified and asked each other, ‘Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!’” In another account, when Jesus commands the disciples to provide for the food to feed the five thousand, they reply (Mk. 6:37): “That would take more than half a year’s wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?” Granted, that seems innocuous enough, but their perceived lack of faith here comes to the foreground in the next account when Jesus comes to the disciples walking on the water. Mark gives the response of the disciples (Mark 6:49-50): “When they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, because they all saw him and were terrified.” But it is the conclusion of the story that speaks volumes (Mark 16:51-52): “They were completely amazed [after Jesus silenced the storm] for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.” First, they have no faith. Now their hearts are hard. In the next chapter, Jesus is confronted by the Pharisees for eating food with “defiled” hands. Jesus responds that it is what is inside a person that defiles them, not externals. The disciples don’t understand what Jesus is saying at all, and so he asks them (Mt. 7:18): “Are you so dull?” After the feeding of the four thousand, Jesus warns the disciples about the “yeast” of the Pharisees and of Herod. The disciples thought Jesus was criticizing them because they had forgotten to take any bread along on their trip. Jesus responds to their cluelessness, saying (Mk. 8:17-18): “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember?” And even after rehearsing the whole miracle for the twelve, it is clear they still do not get it. The account ends with Jesus saying (Mk. 8:21): “Do you still not understand?” Later, in that same chapter, Jesus predicts his death for the first time. Peter rebukes Jesus which causes Jesus to turn to him, saying (Mk. 16:33): “‘Get behind me, Satan!’ he said. ‘You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.’” In chapter 9, the disciples cannot cast the spirit out of the boy because they did not devote themselves to prayer. They also are caught arguing about who will be the greatest in the Kingdom of God. In chapter 10, the twelve turn away children from seeing Jesus and cannot grasp who can be saved if it is so hard for the rich to be included; and right on the heels of Jesus predicting his death a second time, James and John come to Jesus and ask to be seated at his right and left hand when he comes in his kingdom. That brings us to Jesus’ final entry into Jerusalem where the disciples continue this pattern of failure and misunderstanding until it reaches its climax with the women leaving the tomb trembling and bewildered.
If this is Mark’s intended conclusion, three questions rise to the top. First, where do we see ourselves in the disciples’ failures, misunderstandings and mistrust? Second, what needs to happen for us to break out of our spiritual dullness? For the disciples, everything changed with the resurrection, the ascension and the coming of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. And third, instead of believing that change is impossible, Mark’s gospel proclaims that change is right at our fingertips if we have faith. Remember, Mark’s original audience would have seen the disciples (and people like Mark) as spiritual giants and probably thought they were born with a spiritual spoon in their mouths. Mark’s gospel tells the true story. They struggled just like everyone else, perhaps even more so, but they overcame their doubts and became men and women who proclaimed Jesus in word and deed throughout the world. Mark’s point is clear: If they could do it, so can we because it is not based on us, but on the power of God. And nothing makes that point as powerfully as these last words (Mark 16:8): “Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.”
Now, if you are willing to accept it, that is a great ending! At least, a lot of people think so. Yet, maybe you are still not sure. That’s why, next week, we will look at our second and third options. But you have to admit, Mark’s ending is not nearly so horrible as you once thought. In fact, it might even be brilliant.
