Sunday’s gospel comes from one of three alternative endings to Mark’s gospel. Its tone is very different from the rest of the first gospel to be written. In the best and earliest manuscripts Mark’s gospel ends at 16.8 with Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and Salome coming out of the empty tomb in awe, trembling, and ecstasy.
Inside a young man in a white robe has announced to them the core of our Christian faith. “Do not be amazed,” he says. “You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. Go tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him as he told you” (16.6-7).
As readers and hearers of the narrative, we stand with the women at the empty tomb, at the threshold between life and death, between the apparent failure of Jesus’ death and the promise of his resurrection. At this point the narrative deliberately suspends the women in awe and ecstasy. They don’t carry out the young man’s commission to announce this good news to Jesus’ other disciples. “They said nothing to anyone because they were afraid” (16.8).
This abrupt ending makes us, the hearers and readers of the gospel, the only ones who can tell what the women have just heard: Jesus is risen and goes ahead of us. The surprise ending calls us to evangelize. The good news is ours to tell and live.
About AD 70 Mark collected and wrote down the oral traditions about Jesus. By this time eyewitnesses like Peter and James had suffered martyrdom, silencing their preaching.
Other disciples who knew Jesus face to face had grown old. As a written document, the gospel could permanently proclaim to new generations the good news to which Jesus first followers could no longer testify in person.
Perhaps the women’s unexpected silence at the original ending worked more effectively in oral telling. Early on Christians added alternatives, such as “The Longer Ending,” which is the Sunday’s gospel. It borrows and shortens accounts of Jesus’ Easter appearances from Luke’s gospel.
In this ending the risen Jesus appears to the eleven men disciples and commissions them to evangelize the world. Then, Jesus ascends into heaven as he does at the ending of Luke’s gospel and the beginning of its sequel, the Acts of the Apostles.
The original ending of Mark calls readers beyond fear and awe to faith in Jesus risen. The longer ending in Sunday’s gospel calls us to continue Jesus’ mission in his absence.
- How do you respond to the original ending of Mark?
- What would you add as an ending to inspire people today to spread Jesus’ good news?
Sunday’s gospel identifies healing the sick and casting out demons as signs that will accompany believers as they spread Jesus’ good news. Both of these signs continue Jesus’ own actions.
Speaking in new tongues is a sign of the Spirit’s presence that begins on Pentecost when Jesus sends the Spirit upon his waiting disciples. It occurs among those who hear the good news Jesus’ disciples preach in the Acts of the Apostles.
Indeed the Church today speaks in hundreds of tongues. People throughout the world and throughout the centuries have heard the good news of Jesus, believed, received baptism, and lived the gospel. In their living the gospel, they have enculturated its message.
Hispanic Christians reenact the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection in public fiestas. Ukrainians paint symbols of Jesus’ triumph over death on eggs, symbols in themselves of new life. In Boston Catholics put palm on the graves of loved ones on Palm Sunday and flowers on Easter, including them in their celebration of Holy Week and in their faith in the promise of Jesus’ new life.
Picking up deadly snakes and drinking poisons without harm are not actions Jesus did in his life. These signs exaggerate in a concrete way our faith that nothing can ultimately harm believers. Jesus promises life with God.
- What do you consider signs that authenticate Jesus’ message?
In the final verses of the alternative ending of Mark, Jesus is taken into heaven and sits at God’s right hand. Jesus returns to heaven in his risen body. The incarnate Son returns to God.
The risen Jesus does not come apart at some seam that holds his humanity and divinity together. Jesus remains God incarnate. One of us humans is with God. Jesus is the first born of a new humanity that shares transforming life with God. The promise of Christian faith is the communion with God to which Jesus returns.
- How do you imagine communion with God?