They went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. - Mark 16:8
The ending of the Gospel of Mark is almost a scandal. How could the oldest Gospel, the oldest retelling of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus fail to include the appearance of the resurrected Jesus? It is such a scandal that sometime in the early middle ages, some well meaning scribes - it was often monks who did the work of making copies by hand - added an ending that the felt was more palatable.
The thing is, the writer of the Gospel of Mark had been building up to this decision point all along. In the very first verse of the Gospel, Mark declared “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” And that was the last time Mark directly identifies Jesus as the messiah or even the Son of God. Instead, Mark shows us the faith of those that Jesus encounters. Foreigners, demonic figures, even Roman centurions and foreigners will call Jesus Son of Man and Christ and even the Son of God after singular powerful encounters with Jesus. But, for the disciples it is a slow road to understanding fraught with misunderstanding what Jesus has come to do in the first place.
Theologian Richard Lischer, goes even further to point out that this unfinished quality of the Gospel of Mark is a feature, not a bug, for exactly this reason. He says:
In the original ending of Mark, the disciples and women are like projectiles emanating from some Big Bang. Where they will land, God only knows. The various stories in the Gospels are open-ended. When Jesus says, "Go and do likewise," or "Go, tell your friends what great things God has done for you," we do not actually see the characters perform. It is clear that the reader will interpret the story by finishing it.
After all, the story of what God is doing through Jesus doesn’t end at the empty tomb. You and I are invited, empowered and encouraged by the Spirit to share the wonderful news of the empty tomb in all of our relationships and throughout our lives.
There are a lot of good things coming this month. Despite our Holy Week snowstorm, when my mind has been wandering, I’m thinking about green grass and this year’s garden. I’m excited to celebrate spring break with my kids. I’m ready for BBQs and getting outside on these longer, brighter evenings. This is a season of new life!
In the coming weeks, I’m excited for a Service of Healing on 14th of April. Our new Parish Nurse, Ruth Peterson will be participating and it should provide a wonderful opportunity to get to know her better.
I’m looking forward to sharing that joy and new life of the Spirit of the living God with all of you as we move into this season of Spring!
Thanks and peace,
Pr Colin
