How it all ends!

Reflecting on Mark 16:1-8

"He has risen! He is not here." (Mark 16:6)

There is something odd about how Mark ends his Jesus story.
The earliest manuscripts do not have verses 9-20.
When only later manuscripts include words, they are suspected as additions.
A later editor added something to make more sense of something odd.
And the ending of the earliest manuscripts is, or seems… unfinished.

In the shorter version, that Mark ends with the women is odd.
Women were not considered to be reliable witnesses.
And as Mark puts it, these women “said nothing to anyone.”
The Jesus story does not end here; why would Mark end here?

Was the full ending lost somehow (record-keeping was not as reliable then)?
Or did Mark die before he could finish the story (many disciples were martyred)?
Or was this how Mark wanted to end the story, to capture the oddity of it all?
We can only guess, and will never know for sure.

This week I will reflect on the whole chapter, including the later part.
The first two days I will look at Mark 16:1-8 as the full ending.
Then I will look at Mark 16:9-20, and what we can learn from it.

Imagine if Mark intended to end with Mark 16:1-8.
If so, Mark’s main point is “He has risen! He is not here.” (Mark 16:6)
This statement alone is shocking… unbelievable.
The women did not go to the tomb expecting this.
They were alarmed by the angel, by the empty tomb, and the message.
So alarmed, they were stunned, speechless.

We are so familiar with Jesus’s resurrection, we do not feel the shock anymore.
Like the punchline of a joke we’ve heard many times, we don’t react anymore.
But everything depends on this ending; no resurrection means no good news, no hope.

“If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.” (1 Corinthians 15:13-19)

If Jesus is not risen, then like all other ‘saviours’, his message is useless.
The good news message of grace, mercy, love, joy, peace is a waste of time.
Love does not win; sin, misery and death are the last word.
The women come to the tomb, anoint the body, leave and eventually die.
And we do the same; we live, we struggle, loved ones die, we die… THE END.
If it all ends in death, why bother trying to live long, or be happy, or be good?
Why fight against evil, why bother helping others who suffer, who will die anyway.
If it all ends in death, then maybe those who choose to take their lives are wiser.
If life is just misery and death, why put ourselves through it.

Actually, death as the last word is an even more odd ending.
We long for life, we do care for those who suffer, we grieve at the grave.
We long for life, and we long for love, and we long for goodness.
We long for everything that Jesus represents, everything Jesus says.
People experienced Jesus as good news, despite misery and death.
These women were honouring Him, even though He was dead.
Why? … because what He said and did was life-giving.

“He has risen! He is not here.” (Mark 16:6)
Even if Mark 16:1-8 is the full ending, it is enough for me.
Jesus is not dead (in the tomb), Jesus is alive and well.
Everything about Jesus, all that is good and hopeful, is alive and well.
There is hope… not even sickness, suffering and death can take that away from us.
When we stand by the grave of a loved one, we can have this hope too.
‘They have risen! They are not here!’
We can encourage those who suffer, who struggle and who grieve.
Jesus is alive, and so is the hope of love, goodness and joy… forever!

I hang on to this hope, though this world feels more like a graveyard.
Jesus is not dead, Jesus is alive, and that changes everything.
This is the ending we all hope for, the ending that Jesus guarantees!

PRAYER
Lord Jesus, I can't prove anything about this story. Yet as odd as it seems, deep down within me I sense the rightness and goodness of this story: life, love, goodness and joy will overcome to darkness and despair of death. Death is not the last word, the odd ending. Life is the last word, the final ending.