August 13, 2023 | Mark 16:1-20 | Pastor Chris Baker
Good morning, FBC Family and guests!
Kids who are four years old through entering the second grade, you’re dismissed to go to children’s church.
The rest of us are going to be in Mark 16. Way back in April, on the Sunday after Easter, we read these words together: "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." That is Mark 1:1. We’re at the end of the book, but not at the end of the gospel this morning. It’s very important we realize that Mark writes about the beginning of the gospel but not the end. The gospel facts are set, but its work is still continuing as we speak. Mark 1 is the beginning of the gospel. Mark 16 is simply the continuation of the gospel, and it's my hope that we leave this room today with an even clearer sense of how that Gospel work is continuing in our lives.
We’ll read the whole chapter, beginning in Mark 16:1:
Read
Pray
Darius the Great was a ruler to be feared. In 490 BC, his Persian army had never been defeated. So when he sent 25,000 of his best troops across the Aegean Sea to Greece, he had no reason to fear.
However, against all odds, his massive army was repelled by around 10,000 Athenians and driven all the way back to the sea.
It was a great victory for the Athenians, but it left them vulnerable. The battle didn't happen at Athens; it happened in another city. But there was fear that the surviving Persian army might sail from the site of the battle back to Athens before the Athenian army could march there. The city was unprepared. The army would march as fast as they could back home, but they needed to get a message home as quickly as possible.
Enter Pheidippides. He was a hemerodrome, or a day runner in the Athenian army. His job was to run messages from one place to another, and his endurance was the stuff of legend. Some say that before this battle, he ran 150 miles to Sparta to recruit more fighters. The Spartans declined, so Pheidippides ran 150 miles back to participate in the battle.
After the Athenian victory, it was vital that the best day runner be dispatched to warn Athens about a possible threat from the Persians. Pheidippides heard his name called again.
The army started moving, but Pheidippides set out ahead as quickly as possible. The legend says he burst into the gates of Athens, declared "Nike!" and promptly dropped dead of exhaustion.
He wasn't advertising shoes. "Nike" means victory in Greek. Running 300 miles in just a few days, plus the 26 miles Pheidippides ran from the battlefield back home, was too much for him. The battle was fought in a city called Marathon, by the way. That's why our marathons are 26 miles; that's supposed to be the distance from Marathon to Athens.
(Source: https://greekreporter.com/2022/09/12/battle-of-marathon-saved-western-civilization-2500-years-ago/)
Pheidippides had urgent good news about victory, and he made it his business to share that news.
His mandate was to go and tell. That's the mandate we're left with at the end of Mark's gospel. When the women enter the tomb where Jesus was laid, they're greeted by a young man in a white robe—probably an angel—who says: "You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they put him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter."
Go and tell. Mark has given us the truth and left the reader with the responsibility to go and tell. That's where we're headed this morning. Jesus is risen! Go and tell. That's the sermon boiled down into two sentences. But to get there, we need to look at the whole chapter because if you followed along when I was reading, you may have noticed something strange around verse 8.
There's a bracket between verses 8-9 that reads: "Some of the earliest manuscripts conclude with 16:8."
That's odd. This is a good time to remind you that we believe all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. The best way to say that is to say the Bible is inerrant. That means the Bible, in the original manuscripts, does not affirm anything that is contrary to fact.
(See Systematic Theology (Grudem), p.92 or visit thespiritlife.net/85-nurturing/nurturing-publications/2310-the-inerrancy-of-scriptures-by-dr-wayne-grudem-systematic-theology-ch5)
Church, the Bible has to be inerrant because it is God's Word. God is truth and God can't lie.
At the same time, we recognize that we sit almost 2,000 years removed from those original manuscripts. We're half a world and a whole different alphabet away from Mark. Though we trust the Holy Spirit has preserved God's Word for us exactly as He wants us to have it.
Mark 16 represents a textual variant, a place where the oldest copies of Mark's gospel we have found don't always agree. This is rare but not unheard of. John 7 is another spot where you'll see some bracketed text in your modern translation.
All translations of Scripture are grounded in ancient sources. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew, the New Testament was written in Greek. There are no original copies of any book in the New Testament. We don't have anything that Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, or any other writer put their hands on. Remember, we're talking hundreds of years and writings that the Roman government would have loved to destroy in the first and second centuries—so it's only by God's good providence we have any ancient manuscripts.
The same Holy Spirit who inspired Scripture also safeguarded it. The printing press didn't emerge until around 1500. Before that, the New Testament was copied by hand. We have around 25,000 handwritten ancient manuscripts of the New Testament.
Many more manuscripts likely existed throughout history but have been lost over time.
We have a fragment of the gospel of John (P52) that dates all the way back to between the year 100-150. That's within a few decades of the end of John's life.
We have copies of John and Luke from about 25 years later. There's one collection of papyri, these ancient scrolls, that contains all four gospels and Acts (Bodmer Papyri) from the year 200.
These early manuscripts are incredibly complete and—due to their handwritten nature—are supernaturally harmonious.
(https://christianpublishinghouse.co/2019/11/21/papyrus-52-p52-the-ambiguity-and-uncertainty-of-modern-day-evangelical-bible-scholars-redating-early-papyri/)
They all say exactly the same thing in virtually every verse. The ending of Mark is one of the few exceptions. Again, around 25,000 copies. By the way, if that doesn't sound like a lot to you, then you should know the contemporary work we have the most copies of outside the Bible is Homer's Iliad. We have 643 of those. 643 of Homer, 25,000 of the New Testament.
(https://www.equip.org/articles/the-bibliographical-test-updated/)
In the very few places where those 25,000 copies disagree, the best way to find what God intended is to look at the oldest and most complete manuscripts. The older it is, the fewer opportunities humans had to mess it up.
If you're reading a King James translation of the Bible, you probably don't have a note on chapter 16 at all. That's because in 1611 when that translation was put together, the oldest manuscripts we had discovered at the time included Mark 16:9-20. Since then, we have discovered better manuscripts—older and more complete versions of Mark's gospel that stop at verse 8.
Based on the manuscript evidence and on the text itself, I believe verse 8 is where Mark stopped writing.
The transition from verse 8-9 is awkward. It doesn't continue the story
of the women referred to in v. 8; instead, it moves on to Jesus' appearing to Mary Magdalene.
Also, for Mark to introduce Mary Magdalene here as though for the very first time (v. 9) is odd because she had already been introduced (Mark 15:40, 47, 16:1).
According to one scholar, the vocabulary isn't consistent with Mark. These last verses don't read like Mark's. There are eighteen words here that are never used anywhere by Mark, and the structure is very different from the familiar structure of his writing. The title "Lord Jesus," used in verse 19, is never used anywhere else by Mark. (See: Perspectives on the Ending of Mark, By David Alan Black)
You don't have to agree with me on this point. Either way, I think the major emphasis of Mark 16 is back in verses 6-7. And while I don't think Mark wrote verses 9-20, I do think they're pretty safe. They're lifted out of other passages of Scripture.
Verse 9 is found in Luke 8:1-3; verse 10 is in John 20; verses 12-14 are from Luke 24. Verse 15 is the Great Commission from Matthew 28:19. Verse 16 is John 20:23.
Verses 17 and 18 are a little different: "And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name, they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes; if they should drink anything deadly, it will not harm them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will get well."
Many of you know that I grew up in East Tennessee, and I have some real-life kinfolk back in those hills and hollers who have interpreted this verse wrongly, in my opinion. Jesus is not telling us to prove our faith by taking up snake handling. There's no command here. In all seriousness, people have died because they took this verse the wrong way.
We do see Jesus granting the Apostles the power to cast out demons and perform miracles. We see Paul survive a snakebite in Acts 28. So verses 17-18 aren't unbiblical. They just need to be applied carefully.
Actually, all of Scripture needs to be applied carefully. And there is truth in Mark 16:9-20, but I'm convinced Mark stopped writing in verse 8.
They went out and ran from the tomb because trembling and astonishment overwhelmed them. And they said nothing to anyone since they were afraid.
That's an abrupt ending. It feels more like a pause than a conclusion.
The women are utterly convinced of the resurrection through the empty tomb and the angel's words. They're overcome. They're speechless. And so is Mark.
But that left some in the early church uncomfortable. So later on, someone who was copying down Mark's gospel added some info from the other gospels to explain more about what happened after the resurrection.
That's helpful, but we don't really need it, do we? We have all we need in these 8 verses. Mark is a sudden gospel. The word "immediately" in most English translations is found 24 times in Mark. That's as many as Matthew, Luke, and John put together.
An abrupt end is fitting for Mark.
We're left in silence. They told no one. Now, we know their silence didn't last, or else we wouldn't be sitting here today, and they wouldn't have been obedient to the command to go and tell.
The very brief summary of Mark's whole gospel is that Jesus came to serve and to save by giving His life as a ransom. That's the good news of the gospel, and the application of that truth is that His people go and tell that news.
Three things convince the women in Mark 16 to go and tell.
Convinced by what they didn’t find. (16:1-4)
This chapter opens very early the day after the Sabbath. That’s Sunday. This is why the church now gathers on the first day of the week—we call it the Lord’s Day. It’s the day Jesus was resurrected, and the women are the first witnesses, having just gone through the worst two days of their lives.
They had devoted their whole lives to following Jesus. Then they saw Him betrayed and murdered right before the Sabbath (Saturday). They weren’t allowed to do anything on Saturday, so they had nothing to do but mourn. It would have been absolutely dark and dreadful.
Sunday starts pretty dark, too. They go as soon as they can, and the sun isn’t even all the way up yet, but there’s enough light to see the stone has been rolled away.
Here's where the ability to place yourself in their sandals is vital, church. With 2,000 years of church history in your back pocket, you see the stone rolled away and think resurrection, right? If you’ve been around the church very long at all, that is your response.
That’s not on anybody’s radar here. Grave robbers were a real issue in the ancient Near East. Folks were often buried with valuables. Jesus had no valuables, but the robbers didn’t know that. He was in a rich man’s tomb after all. So naturally, their minds go to grave robbery.
The women in Mark 16 were convinced of the good news of the resurrection because they came expecting to anoint a dead body and they didn’t find one. They were there to anoint the body to mask the smell of decomposition. If they expected a resurrection, they wouldn’t have wasted the cash on these extremely expensive oils.
They saw Jesus's body go into that tomb on Friday. They didn't see Saturday, though. Saturday had been a busy day around the tomb.
Matthew’s gospel helps us here. In Matthew 27:60, Joseph of Arimathea takes Jesus's body, wraps it, and places it in a tomb. A great stone is rolled in front to seal the tomb. The Pharisees break Sabbath law by meeting with Pilate and convince him to place guards at the tomb.
Matthew 28 tells us early Sunday morning, before Mark’s account begins, another earthquake happened. An angel rolled away the stone, the battle-hardened soldiers guarding the tomb passed out, and it’s revealed that Jesus is risen.
The guards regain consciousness, realize what happened, and report back to the Jewish leaders. The Jewish leaders bribe them to keep the truth quiet.
There are no guards in sight when the women arrive in Mark 16. There’s no stone blocking their way, and there’s no Jesus. These women were convinced by what they didn’t find.
By the way, notice that in the gospel accounts nobody disputes the empty tomb.
Women, disciples, guards, Jewish leaders, they all agree on that. All four gospels and all the folks mentioned in each of them recognize the truth of the empty tomb. We need to be as absolutely crystal clear as we can on this, church: we believe in the literal bodily resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Without His resurrection, we cannot expect resurrection. We cannot expect eternity with God.
The women didn’t expect resurrection. They came prepared to see the fallen Jesus, not the risen Jesus. Yet, the empty tomb convinced them.
They were convinced by what they didn’t find. But they were also:
Convinced by what they found. (16:5-6a)
In verse 5, they enter the tomb, and I've got to think they were moving quickly. They’re in shock. They think the body has been stolen. Mark writes: "When they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side; they were alarmed."
Mark has a gift for understating things. 'They were alarmed.' I bet they jumped out of their skin. They expect to see a stone blocking their way to a dead body, and they find a young man in a dazzling white robe just sitting there like it's the most natural thing in the world.
If heaven has instant replay, the 12-year-old in me wants to see this scene. They had to be in absolute disbelief. "Don’t be alarmed."
Imagine trying to process truth from an angel, as Luke’s gospel calls him, while your mind's still reeling from everything that has happened. Their response is terror. That’s what the word Mark uses here means. They respond in terror.
But don’t miss what God is doing here, church. He’s giving these women exactly what they need to know the truth and respond to it. The empty tomb wouldn’t have been sufficient because we know from the text they thought that meant grave robbers.
God gives us enough truth to follow Him faithfully. He never leaves us wandering in the dark. He won’t give us all the answers, but He’ll give us enough. And His revelation might be terrifying. Often the truth God gives us is really hard to hear, but He gives it to us nonetheless.
Today, we don’t typically get an angelic messenger popping out from behind the door. We get what Paul called in Acts 20 the whole counsel of God’s Word. If we feel like God has left us in the dark, it might just be that we haven’t dug up the truth we need right here.
God gives these women enough truth to take the next step. We have the testimony of the empty tomb, we have the testimony of the angel—a testimony of earth and a testimony of heaven. And it’s those two things that change the women’s hearts.
Convinced by a change in their hearts (16:6b-8)
Look back to verse 6:
6 “Don’t be alarmed,” he told them. “You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they put him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you to Galilee; you will see him there just as he told you.’”
8 They went out and ran from the tomb, because trembling and astonishment overwhelmed them. And they said nothing to anyone, since they were afraid.
The message from the angel is clear: "Go. Tell His disciples and Peter." Why Peter? Well, he needed a little extra grace after that messy denials situation. The angel's laying it out: Jesus is on the move, headed to Galilee.
Jesus told them in Mark 14:28 that He’d meet them in Galilee after the resurrection. Maybe that memory was jarred loose for them.
They're at the tomb, they’re taking in the reality of the resurrection and the angel's message. They become the very first eyewitnesses of the resurrection.
But they're not just strolling away from that tomb; they're fleeing. Trembling and astonishment have seized them. This isn't your run-of-the-mill fear; it's more like being in a state of wonder that defies description. They're phobic, not because they're afraid of harm, but because they're grappling with an experience that's beyond their ability to comprehend. It's like their minds are blown, and they're left speechless.
That's how Mark wraps it up—he leaves us in a state of wonder, in awe, just as it should be in the face of the resurrection of Christ. This is history. The angelic testimony seals the deal. We're talking about the most pivotal moment in Christ's life, in the world's history, and in our own lives. The resurrection isn't just some side note; it's the cornerstone of our justification and our faith. To brush off the resurrection is to reject the undeniable evidence of the angels, of eyewitnesses, of Scripture itself, and ultimately, to deny the very truth of God. The resurrection changes everything. If there’s no resurrection, we might as well go home. That’s not my opinion; that’s the apostle Paul.
12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say, “There is no resurrection of the dead”? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised; 14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is in vain, and so is your faith. (1 Cor 15)
Mark leaves us with the fact of the resurrection and its impact on the first eyewitnesses because the resurrection is foundational to our faith.
It’s not a footnote in the narrative of Christ's earthly ministry; it’s the headline.
From Adam and Eve onward, sin severed our relationship with God. Romans 3 tells us our sin earns God’s wrath, and that’s a debt none of us can pay. Justice looks like God pouring out His wrath on all humanity. Justice is devastation. And our God is a God of justice, but He’s also a God of grace. He devastated Jesus instead of you, if you belong to Him.
In the fullness of time, the Son of God took on human flesh, stepping into creation to redeem the fallen and the broken. This love culminated on the cross, where Jesus bore the weight of our transgressions, where the innocent Lamb became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God.
The resurrection is God's divine "Amen" to the finished work of Christ on the cross. It is the affirmation that the sacrifice offered was accepted, that the price paid was sufficient. In the resurrection, we witness the ultimate vindication of Christ's redemptive mission—death could not hold Him, the grave could not confine Him. Jesus is the conqueror of sin and death.
This resurrection is a historical event, but it is not merely a historical event. It’s a reality that echoes throughout this life and eternity.
By repenting of our sin—that means turning away from it—and placing all our hope for salvation in Jesus Christ alone, we are saved. We get the blessing won by His victory.
Our sin is credited to Jesus, and His righteousness is credited to us. The resurrection is the receipt. It’s the confirmation of this transaction.
I have to believe it’s on this day that confirmation was given to these women. They arrived with no expectation of resurrection—despite Jesus’s teaching otherwise. And they left astonished.
As much as I hate to disrupt Mark’s dramatic ending in verse 8, the women told. We know they did because it’s testified to in the other gospels—but also because we’re here today. One witness to the work of Jesus told someone else. The Holy Spirit worked in their heart and brought them to life. They told someone else. And 2,000 years of those witnesses going and telling that Jesus is risen led you to this room today.
Here, I hope you grasp that the mandate for you is just the same. Jesus is risen. Go and tell.
It’s hard to know how much of Pheidippides’s story is truth and how much is legend. But as best we can tell, a man had good news, urgent and lifesaving news that needed to be shared. And he gave his life to do it.
News of Jesus’s resurrection is the only life-giving news there is. And you’re a day runner. You’re a messenger of that good news. Are you following the mandate? He has risen. Go and tell.
Questions for further discussion and reflection
How does Scripture to support the idea that the resurrection is foundational to our faith?
How does the you explain the impact of the resurrection on our relationship with God and our salvation?
Why is the resurrection considered the confirmation of Christ's work on the cross?
How would you explain the women's change of heart and their conviction to go and tell others about the resurrection? Why do you think this change in their hearts is significant?
The sermon mentions that the resurrection is not just a historical event but also a reality that echoes through life and eternity. How does this understanding of the resurrection impact the way we live our lives as Christians?
Do you agree with the sermon’s assessment that Mark's gospel stops at verse 8? Why or why not?What are some practical ways we can fulfill the mandate to "go and tell" about the resurrection of Jesus in our daily lives? How can we effectively communicate this message to others?
The sermon mentions that the women were the first eyewitnesses of the resurrection. How does their response to the resurrection challenge us to be faithful witnesses of Christ's work in our lives?
How does the sermon emphasize the importance of the resurrection as the cornerstone of our faith?
What does the sermon mean by the resurrection being a "receipt" for our salvation? How does this metaphor help us understand the significance of the resurrection?
Discuss the role of fear and awe in the women's reaction to the resurrection. How can we balance a healthy fear of God with the joy and assurance that the resurrection brings?
How can you personally respond to the mandate to "go and tell" about Jesus's resurrection? What steps can you take to share this life-changing news with others?