Saturday in Easter Week
Saturday in Easter Week
We thank you, heavenly Father, that you have delivered us
from the dominion of sin and death and brought us into the
kingdom of your Son; and we pray that, as by his death he
has recalled us to life, so by his love he may raise us to eternal
joys; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy
Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
from the dominion of sin and death and brought us into the
kingdom of your Son; and we pray that, as by his death he
has recalled us to life, so by his love he may raise us to eternal
joys; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy
Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Saturday in Easter Week | 118:14-18 or 118:19-24 | Acts 4:13-21 Mark 16:9-15,20 |
| | | |
Mark 16
When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. 2And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. 3They had been saying to one another, ‘Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?’ 4When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. 5As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. 6But he said to them, ‘Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. 7But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.’ 8So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.*
The Shorter Ending of Mark
[[And all that had been commanded them they told briefly to those around Peter. And afterwards Jesus himself sent out through them, from east to west, the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation.* ]]
The Longer Ending of Mark
9 [[Now after he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. 10She went out and told those who had been with him, while they were mourning and weeping. 11But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it.
12 After this he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country. 13And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them.
14 Later he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were sitting at the table; and he upbraided them for their lack of faith and stubbornness, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen.* 15And he said to them, ‘Go into all the world and proclaim the good news* to the whole creation. 16The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned. 17And these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18they will pick up snakes in their hands,* and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.’
19 So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. 20And they went out and proclaimed the good news everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it.*
+++ +++ +++
For the most part, modern Bible scholarship says that the best ancient manuscripts conclude the Gospel according to Mark with verse 16:8, the women fleeing terrified after meeting the young man dressed in white (presumably an angel). Early church fathers (Origen, Clement, Eusebius, Jerome) seem to have no knowledge of a longer ending. Verse 9 (shorter ending) and verses 9-20 (longer ending) seem to have been added later to smooth out the original abrupt ending. Knowing this seems important as part of the task of discovering what the original author meant to say and why, and what he intended to achieve.
Mark’s thesis throughout his gospel is that no one understood that Jesus was the Son of God except Jesus himself (revealed to him at his baptism), some demons that he cast out, and the Roman centurion who saw him die. Mark’s agenda seems to be to persuade his audience that Jesus is the Son of God and to make us exasperated that nobody understood when it is so obvious. Superlative evangelism. Adding material at the end to make a better story defeats Mark’s purpose.
Moreover, verses 16-18 seem incredible, incompatible with what Jesus would likely say, and perhaps more suited to a later agenda of threatening those who might fall away from the Church..
Shalom: Peace.
Sabbath: right shoe first.
TomW+