The Year of Mark, #6 Resurrection in Mark’s Gospel
16th December 2011 - by Fr Tom O’Reilly
Mark begins his story by saying he is relating the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God (1:1). But where does Mark end his story? The vast majority of interpreters say that the original ending of his story comes at 16:8, when the women left the empty tomb in fear and said nothing to anyone, even though they had been commissioned to tell the disciples that Jesus would meet them in Galilee. The longer ending (16:9-20) differs in language and style from the body of the Gospel and is not found in significant manuscripts. This early second century addition, which is part of our canonical Gospel, most probably came from a scribe who felt that Mark’s Gospel needed some account of appearances of the Risen Lord, which he supplied by taking information from the other Gospels.
In reading the passion narrative, one could easily conclude that Jesus’ life and mission ended in failure and God had forsaken him. The words of the young man in white interpret the meaning of the empty tomb (16:6). God has entered the story and vindicated the Son who faithfully responded to his call. The apparent failure of Jesus has been reversed by the action of God in raising him from the dead.
What does the episode of the empty tomb tell us about the outcome of the disciples’ story? We see that Jesus does not give up on disciples who have failed miserably. They are reminded of his promise to meet them again in Galilee, the place of call and response (16:7; cf. 14:28). After many failures, they are called to begin again on the road of discipleship. The women disciples are commissioned to pass on this invitation, but they fail to do so! Mark ends his portrait of disciples with yet another reminder of their deep-seated fear and failure to respond (16:8). The abrupt ending of Mark’s Gospel leaves us with these questions: Is there any hope for disciples who fail continually? Does the meeting between failed disciples and the risen Jesus take place?
Obviously, Mark wants us to conclude that the meeting in Galilee did take place. The very existence of the Christian community at the time of Mark is testament to the fact that the risen Jesus resumed his relationship with disciples who failed badly. The continuing failure of disciples does not frustrate Jesus’ promise to remain with his own. Just as God transformed the ‘failure’ of Jesus’ life through the resurrection, so the same God can raise fragile and faltering disciples from their failure. Where human beings fail, God succeeds. In their own experience of fear, flight and failure, the original readers of Mark’s story found courage to walk the road of discipleship again, knowing now that they must depend not on their own efforts, but on the powerful presence of the risen Lord who goes before them.
We have stressed that Mark’s Gospel is a transforming story inviting our participation. The second century scribe who added the longer ending to the Gospel rightly recognised that it is a story crying out for completion. Mark left his story open-ended. He is dealing only with the ‘beginning’ of the story (1:1). The story continues in our lives today and our response shows how the story continues to unfold. Jesus continues to proclaim the Kingdom of God to us, asking us to follow him. He patiently tries to lead us into a fuller understanding of his identity and what it means to walk behind a lowly Messiah. When we fail again and again, he does not give up on us, but continually invites us to meet him in ‘Galilee,’ the place where we experience his powerful risen presence. Only then can be rise from our failures and proclaim to others the good news of Jesus Christ.
