TGBC Tuesday 16 Feb 2021. The Gospel according to Mark: postscript
Saint Mark April 25
Almighty God, who by the hand of Mark the evangelist hast given to thy Church the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God: We thank thee for this witness, and pray that we may be firmly grounded in its truth; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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P.S. to Mark's gospel (16:9-20)
Early on the first day of the week, after Jesus had risen, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had driven out seven demons. She went and told those who had been with Him, who were mourning and weeping. And when they heard that Jesus was alive and she had seen Him, they did not believe it.
After this, Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them as they walked along in the country. And they went back and reported it to the rest, but they did not believe them either.
Later, as they were eating, Jesus appeared to the Eleven and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen.
And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 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 with their hands, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not harm them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will be made well.
After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.
And they went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked through them, confirming His word by the signs that accompanied it.
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Up through yesterday I have immensely enjoyed this six weeks or so of reading through the Gospel according to Mark with The Good Book Club. Mark is my favorite book of the Bible, Mark comes to life as a friend after my own heart. I love rooting around among his verses, opening his closets, having skeletons fall out, searching his basement, opening up old trunks in his attic, looking out back behind his garage, going through his dumpster! For all that New Testament scholars love to say how rough and unpolished Mark is, Mark is First and Best. Praise to you, Lord Christ!
But as for Mark 16:9-20 above: the outrageousness of later dull and undiscerning editors' postscripts to the evangelist's brilliant text can hardly be overstated. Lifted from Matthew, Luke and John long after Mark wrote, it's more than enough that they added Mary Magdalene, and two walking walking along in the country, thinking to "finish" Mark's perfect story; but to canonize Jesus rebuking unbelievers, and "whoever does not believe will be condemned" are bullying threats that produced a warped, inerrantist literalism and offensive, overbearing, obnoxious, self-righteous evangelism in the church; and "they will pick up snakes with their hands" is a bizarre promise that has beguiled the wild-eyed naive and foolish who evidently learned nothing from the story of Adam and Eve with the serpent in the Garden.
RSF&PTL