04/24/11
Mark 16:1-8
Hudson UMC
It is amazing to read the same story in each of the four gospels and see how each evangelist emphasizes some details over others and, all together, help us to understand the fullness of the event. Some people throughout the years, have pointed to these slight narrative differences and claimed that they undermine the truth of the Bible. This argument would go something like this: “If each of the four gospels do not agree in every single detail, at least one of them is wrong, and if one of the gospel writers is wrong, the whole authority of the Bible gets thrown out the window.”
This, of course, is something of a weak argument. After all, why would the church preserve four gospels if they agreed at every single point? It seems like such a waste. If every detail was absolutely the same, we would not have four gospels but only one. If that were the case, those who have already made up their mind to doubt the gospel would simply claim that, since there was only one testimony preserved, it is not reliable for it could easily be falsified. If not that, it could be claimed that all the witnesses to the resurrection conspired together so that they would have only one story. If that were the case, it would be claimed that there was only one gospel because the early church worked out a single lie between them.
And yet, it would do us well to remember that the church has never been all that worried about the differences in the details between the different gospels. It is true that, from time to time, certain individuals felt a little uncomfortable about it so they made what we call a harmonization of the gospels, where they try to get all the details to come out, but it is my opinion that this has tended to do more harm than good, because, however serious the discrepancies might be, creating a new account that comes from all of the gospels and yet agrees with none of them, seems the wrong approach.
But if we actually look at the details that don’t all agree, we find that absolutely no key claim of Christian faith is at stake in any of them. The evangelists do not all agree as to who got to the empty tomb first, but they all agree that the tomb was, indeed, empty. They do not all share with us the exact same last words of Christ on the cross, but the all agree that he was crucified innocently on our behalf and in our place. It would be better if we thought of the differences between the gospels as being something like the differences between what each of our eyes see. After all, the whole point of our having two eyes and not only is that they each see two different images, images that are actually different at every single point. However, they are not fundamentally incompatible, but combine together to provide a three-dimensional view of the world, with a layer of depth that is missing from each image on its own. When we examine each of the gospels and think them together, we see Jesus in a depth that we would miss if we read only one gospel.
The reason why I share this, in addition to any help it might provide to any who might be struggling with such things, is because Mark has a very interesting ending to his gospel. Matthew tells us that, after the resurrection, the Roman guards conspired together with the priests and elders and agreed to say that they fell asleep and Jesus’ disciples stole the body. Luke tells us the story of the two men walking to Emmaus and of Jesus’ ascension. John, as we saw earlier in the year, tells us of the many meetings of the risen Christ with his disciples, including that marvelous interaction between Jesus and Peter on the seashore.
Mark, however, has a somewhat different ending. There is good reason to believe that Mark’s account of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus ended at verse eight. You will find that your Bibles continue on for another twelve verses. Don’t worry, they have been there for a long time and the church has, as far as we have records, always acknowledged those verses as scripture. The practice of multiple authors was not at all uncommon at the time and we should not let this shake our confidence in that to which the Bible bears witness.
However, it does raise the question of why Mark might end his story like he did. We read about the two Mary’s and Salome coming to the tomb, being utterly astonished that the stone had been rolled away and that Jesus was no longer there, and being told by the angel to, “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.” But what do we read after this? Do we hear about how the women immediately went and did what they were told, rejoicing that their Lord was alive? Not at all. We read, “So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and the said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” To make it even more awkward of an ending, the very last word in the very earliest Greek manuscripts of Mark is the word γαρ, which means, “for,” as in, “for they were afraid.” Imagine a book that ends with the word “for.” It seems ridiculous.
What amazes me is that there are some Biblical scholars who have drawn some absolutely amazing conclusions from this abrupt ending. Some have said that there is no resurrection account in Mark, that Mark does not really believe that Jesus was raised from the dead, that Mark’s Jesus repeatedly refused to call himself “Messiah,” because he wasn’t Messiah. These are rather shocking conclusions to come to, and I must say that they strike me as quite wrong. After all, the very first verse of the gospel according to Mark reads, “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the son of God.” Clearly, there is no confusion in Mark’s mind as to who Jesus really is. So, what can we do with this somewhat abrupt ending?
Well, we could say, as some have done, that it was not really the original ending, that we just lost what was originally there and that is why someone else tried to put it back from memory. That doesn’t really help us, either, though, because that just means that we don’t really have any idea how Mark wanted to end his story.
In my opinion, I think we should consider what might be the case if we actually allow Mark to have ended his book in this sudden, somewhat awkward way. After all, there can be no doubt that the people for whom Mark wrote his gospel would have been confused about what happened next. It was, after all, a Christian community, a group of people who had been decisively formed by the story of Jesus. People then, much like today, did not pick up and read the story of Jesus without knowing the end. The suspense is seldom so great that we could imagine that someone was sitting there, with a copy of Mark’s gospel in their hand, reading to the end and saying, in all seriousness, “What happened next?”
Whoever reads of this unexpectedly empty tomb and the angel who proclaims in no uncertain terms that Jesus is alive and is going to meet with them and was unclear about what happened next is surrounded by a community of people who can all testify that Jesus indeed was raised from the grave. Their community only existed in the first place because Jesus was resurrected and had actually met with his disciples. Tradition tells us that Mark’s gospel actually has its origin in the preaching of Peter, whom Mark followed and wrote down what he heard. Surely the people had heard of Peter. Though he had been such a bonehead while Jesus was ministering on earth, though he had been so wishy-washy and had denied Christ three times within a few hours of professing his undying devotion to him, the people who heard or read Mark’s story of Jesus would have been intensely aware of the fact that this is not how Peter remained. This one who had made so many mistakes had been utterly transformed by Christ’s resurrection and the gift of the Holy Spirit and became the rock upon whom Christ built his church.
What does this mean for us? It means that Mark might just have ended his story suddenly because he expected the people to be so aware of the resurrection, because their very lives were bound up with it, that they would realize that what happens next is not just another story, but something which involves them in every way. The story ends suddenly and if anyone were to ask what the next chapter of God’s story looked like, the people could say, “That is where we come in.” The end of the gospel is only the end of one tiny part of God’s story. It ends suddenly because we find ourselves suddenly swept up in it. We, too, in our own way have seen the resurrected Lord, have had the Holy Spirit poured out in our lives, so we, too, are involved in the next chapters of God’s story.
Brothers and sisters, the story of the gospel is not over. The evangelists told us the story of Jesus, told us of when God became one of us and one with us, but the story was never meant to end there. The life, death and resurrection of Christ was the central event in all of human history whose effects ripple out like a stone thrown into a calm lake. The four gospels all end here, not because there is not more to tell, or because there was not more teaching and preaching of Christ to tell us about, but because they have told us enough to go and rejoice in the good news. Christ has risen! God has demonstrated that he is victorious even over death! This is truly good news. God has so loved the world that he gave up his only begotten Son so that we might not perish but have everlasting life.
Brothers and sisters, if this is indeed true, what a difference this makes. It means that God has not closed himself off from us but ahs come oh so very close and met us where we are, transforming our lives and the lives of others. It means that we have a God who cares for people, even while they are yet sinners. It means that we have a story, as the song says, to tell to the nations. It means that God has revealed himself to us fully and finally, doing the unthinkable and dying on our behalf and in our place. Christ is alive, he is risen and he has ascended to heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father, where he prays for us even to this day. If this is not cause for rejoicing, I do not know what is. So let us rejoice, for we have a God whose compassion knows no bounds, and who has adopted us as daughters and sons of the Lord of the universe. Let us truly join in God’s story for that is why Mark ends so suddenly. Christ was raised, not just to be a miracle once upon a time, but for God to break into our world of space and time and work miracles every day, by healing the broken, saving the lost, and giving us the very life of God. So let us go forth with praise. Let us pray.
AMEN
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