Mark 16:9 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Mark 16:9

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(Synoptics: Mark 16:9-10)This is a summary statement, as is Luke 24:9-10. In fact, John tells us that before she had come with news of the resurrection, she had made a previous journey to at least two of the disciples. She had run back directly to see Simon Peter and John, probably reaching them before the other women. She speaks in the plural – ‘They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him’ (John 20:2) – confirming that she had gone with the other women, although these are not mentioned by John. John says that she ran to tell Peter and John and the force of the language has the ring of someone hurrying to bring urgent news. Perhaps the other women remain longer at the tomb. Her message is not that the angels say he has risen, but that the tomb is empty. Had she left the other women before the angels appeared to the women and spoke of the resurrection? She may have responded to seeing the stone rolled away and the body gone, by leaving immediately without investigating further. The other women on departing from the tomb are said to have gone to the eleven ‘with fear and great joy’, indicating a measure of restored belief. But Mary Magdalene who comes back to the tomb after speaking to Peter and John (John 20:2) is still disconsolate (John 20:11). She does not seem to have heard the angels’ message. The Lord then appeared to her and she too was amazed. The Lord appeared first to Mary Magdalene. She is identified as the one out of whom he had cast seven devils. Like the Gadarene demoniac she could testify what great things the Lord had done for her, and she expressed her gratitude by her ardent devotion to the Lord, refusing to be separated from him. That devotion was rewarded with this first appearance. Since she was the first to see the risen Lord, and since he also appeared to the other women as they were on their way back from the tomb to tell the disciples (Matthew 28:9), Mary Magdalene must have run to tell the eleven and come back to the tomb and seen the Lord, before the other women saw the Lord and went to the disciples with their report. When Christ made her aware that it was he who spoke to her, she was so shocked, and with surprise she exclaims, ‘Rabboni [Master].’ She can scarcely take it in. She didn't expect it, and she was overwhelmed. She returned, and the others had already told the disciples, and then she joined them. Why were the disciples mourning and weeping? Because they thought Messiah had been crucified, and all was finished. They loved him and trusted him, but they didn't expect the resurrection, even though they had been told by him beforehand. They failed to exercise faith in Christ’s prophecy that he would rise again.

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We believe and we accept that the closing verses of the Gospel of Mark – verses 9 to 20 – are part of the inspired word of God. There is a certain amount of doubt has crept into even Bible believing circles, evangelical circles, concerning this, because so many of the modern versions, though they include them, point out that they are not found in the earliest manuscripts. That’s something of a nonsense thing to say, but I mention this in just in passing. I read that at the last count, some 99.8% of the earliest of Greek manuscripts all include this passage, and only a tiny number of omit it. Nevertheless some versions of the Bible end the book at verse 8. This is a senseless controversy. It started off years ago by cynical unbelieving scholars to cast doubt on the closing verses of Mark. It is absurd when such a majority of manuscripts affirm, and quotations from very early Christian and other writers in the second century quote from this very passage. Critics have advanced a range of arguments to suggest that these verses are replacement verses for some other conclusion that is lost, or that they have been added on subsequently. They do so on the basis of two ancient texts – Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus, which lack these verses. It would be extraordinary to end the Gospel at verse 8 on an anticlimax; it is not a concluding verse in any sense. Neither is it credible that there could be a Gospel which did not include an account of the resurrection, especially in what is thought to be the first Gospel. Belief in the resurrection is essential to salvation – ‘But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; ⁹ That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved’ (Romans 10:8-9). Claims are made about the change in style of the Greek of these verses, and that they are inconsistent with what has gone before, but the subject matter is different and calls for different vocabulary. It is objected that there is nothing in these verses about Galilee, even though the angels’ message was that Christ was going ahead of them into Galilee (verse 7). That however would also be an argument against Mark 14:28, which is not in question. Matthew records the same prediction (Matthew 26:32) and he tells us that the great commission was delivered to the disciples in Galilee (Matthew 28:16). Mark’s version of the great commission in Mark 16:15 could also possibly be given in Galilee without Mark stating this. His account of these events is compressed and there could easily be a gap between his account of the great commission and his account of the ascension of Christ which happened near to Bethany (Luke 24:50). Any suggestion that a different original ending of Mark 16 has been lost must be ruled out by those who believe in the Lord’s preservation of his word.

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Mark 16:9 Commentary and Bible Study