Bible Study on Mark - Part 27, Mark 16:9-20

We began this portion of our study with a few more comments on the argument about whether verses 9-20 should be included at the end of Mark, Chapter 16. Some, including some Lutherans, feel that we should not include or study these verses, primarily because two important, early manuscripts of the New Testament, rediscovered in the last few hundred years, do not include these verses.

On the other hand, others, including older Lutheran scholars, feel these verses belong, because the great majority of other manuscripts do include these verses. Also, a number of early church leaders, who lived before the time the two manuscripts mentioned above were copied, written down, quote from verses 9-20 of Mark. These verses clearly existed in the very early church and were considered part of God’s Word, from Mark’s Gospel, by Irenaeus, Tatian the Syrian, Hippolytus, and Justin Martyr, who all lived in the 100’s to early 200’s AD, not long after the Gospel of Mark was written.

I am no great scholar, but only a retired parish pastor. I will let the scholars argue more about this. Most important, though, what is in Mark 16:9-20 clearly agrees with what we can find in other New Testament passages. We can trust what is said, based on letting Scripture interpret Scripture for us. I have gone on, therefore, in this study, including and talking about these final verses of Mark’s Gospel.

We heard last week that the women left the angel and the empty tomb, ecstatic with the news that Jesus was alive, but also astonished and fearful about what to do (Mark 16:8). Mark tells us in verses 9-12 that the appearances of the living Lord Jesus to some of them made all the difference.

Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene (Mark 16:9). Mark tells this in his typical simple, straight-forward way - just the facts. He also includes the detail that Jesus had earlier cast 7 demons out of this Mary, whom he had mentioned already in Mark 15:40-41 and 16:1ff. (Read Luke 8:2 and John 20:11-18 for more detail about this resurrection appearance of Jesus.)

Mary Magdalene and other women then had courage to go and tell the disciples about the risen Lord, as they were instructed to do. The disciples were still in great sorrow and mourning, though, and would not believe the women (Mark 16:10-11). (See also Luke 24:10-11.) This fits with what Jesus had said earlier in Mark’s Gospel, when He had often spoken of the lack of understanding and the hardness of heart of the chosen disciples. This passage also emphasizes that women, as well as men, were important in both hearing and sharing the Good News of Jesus. Mary Magdalene was the first to see the risen Lord, and she and other women were the first to be witnesses for the risen Lord.

In Mark 16:12-13, Mark again just gives the fact of the appearance of Jesus to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, that same Easter day. Jesus appeared in such a “form” that they could not recognize Him until He “broke bread” with them. (See details of this in Luke 24:13-35. Note how these disciples still did not seem to be grasping and believing this, until Jesus Himself appeared to them.)

Mark then tells in a very simple way of the appearance of Jesus to the “eleven” chosen disciples. (See, for example, Matthew 27:5, where we hear what happened to the 12th disciple, Judas.) Mark emphasizes again the call of Jesus for them to believe in Him and His resurrection and not be so skeptical. (Mark 16:14). (See how these same things are described in much more detail in Luke 24:36-43 and John 20:19-29.)

This is the whole point of Mark’s Gospel - to help people to believe in Jesus as their Savior and to keep trusting in Him. The disciples would soon be facing the same doubt and skepticism, too, that they often had struggled with, in the people they were now to be witnesses to.

In Mark 16:15-16, then, Mark records words of Jesus telling His disciples what their chief message and work would be in the future. They were to “go into all the world and proclaim the Gospel to the whole creation.” They were also to make it clear that “whoever believes and is baptized will be saved,” but also speak of the grave danger of unbelief. (See Matthew 28:16-20 for a close parallel to what Mark tells us here - make disciples of all nations by baptizing and teaching all the Word of Jesus. See also Luke 24:44-48 - proclaim in Jesus name to all nations; and John 21:15-22 - Peter is to “tend“ and “feed” God’s sheep, His people, and he is to “follow Jesus” above all.)

In Mark 16:17-18, Mark also records the promise of Jesus that God would sometimes give “signs” that would go along with proclamation of the Gospel and help and encourage “those who believe” and support the sharing of the faith “in Jesus’ name.” Some would be able, by God’s gift and power, to “cast out demons” and heal people who were sick. (Remember that Jesus had already given this gift to His chosen disciples, as we heard in Mark 6:7,13, when they were sent out to assist His work. See also Matthew 10:1 and a number of examples in the Book of Acts, when healings look place. Read Acts 3:1-16, and note how Peter and John make it clear that a man lame from birth was healed by God’s power in the name of Christ and not by their own power or piety.)

Jesus also promised that some would “speak in new tongues.” That happened very dramatically on Pentecost, when believers could suddenly speak in languages that they had never learned in order to communicate the message of Christ to people from many nations who had come to Jerusalem. (See Acts 2:1-21 and also Acts 10:44-48 as examples.)

Jesus also said that some would “pick up serpents with their hands” and “drink deadly poison” and not be hurt. A New Testament example of the first is when Paul was shipwrecked on the island of Malta and bitten by a deadly viper and was not harmed. Read Acts 28:1-6. See also the words of Luke 10:17-20, where “demons are subject to“ and defeated by the disciples, through Jesus’ power. Jesus also said, “I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions.”

The only portion of Mark 16:9-20 where there is not an example in the New Testament is someone drinking deadly poison and surviving. However, there is an ancient tradition that the Apostle John once drank poison and survived. There is also a story from the early Christian leader, Papias, recorded by the early Christian historian, Eusebius, that a follower of Jesus, Justus Barsabas, had drunk poison and was not harmed. These are only traditions, not Scripture. They do reflect, though, the confidence that God is with His people and caring for them, and if it is His will, He can help them through very dangerous situations in life. (Read Hebrews 11:32-38, for a list of Old Testament people who were helped in dramatic ways, according to God’s plan. Note, though, that some of these people died in faith, sometimes in very tragic ways, yet confident that they would “rise again to a better life.”)

The Scriptures also warn that people are not to “put the Lord God to the test” by doing foolish or dangerous things, just to see if God will take care of them. Jesus was tempted by Satan to jump off the pinnacle of the temple, because surely God’s angels would take care of Him. He refused to do such a thing. (See Matthew 4:5-7). This also rules out what some cultic groups have done - handling poisonous snakes in worship and assuming that God will take care of them, for example.

Mark 16:17-18 is also not a guarantee that all believers will have these “signs” in their own lives, either, as some “charismatics” have tried to say. God gives His gifts and blessings as He chooses. We cannot demand that God must do what we want. Some also think that these “signs” were especially designed for the early Christians, so that the early church could be off to a great start in the age of the apostles. There are also indications that some of these “signs” would cease, after the apostolic age. See 1 Corinthians 13:8.

We do not for example, look for new Scriptures to be added to the Bible, as the Mormons and other groups have done. We have what we need already in Christ and His Word. Remember also that the chosen disciples could not always cast out evil spirits. Read again Mark 6:17-29. Jesus also did not give “signs” and miracles just because people wanted them. Read again Mark 8:11-13.

God can and does also work through ordinary means. “Anointing with oil” was a kind of medical treatment in the ancient world. The Good Samaritan used it, and a badly beaten man was healed. See Luke 10:30, 33-37. We have doctors and nurses and medicines that can help so many people today, too.

People today also have a gift for learning languages and thus can become missionaries to share the Gospel with other cultures in other languages. Others become Lutheran Bible Translators and can translate Scriptures into languages for people who have never had a Bible in their own tongue.

We have antidotes available today, too, that can help with snakebites and poisons. We thank the Lord for these advances in knowledge and treatment, and for people willing to help and serve us with these gifts in so many ways.

God is still God, of course, and He can still do miracles today or whatever He knows is best. Many of us know people who were not expected to live, but have lived through terrible illnesses and other troubles, by God’s grace. We have also had times where we prayed and prayed for help and did what we could, but people still died and things did not turn out as we wished. We simply have to trust God and His plans, in His wisdom, as hard as that sometimes is.

Above all, God has provided the primary way He still works for our ultimate good, through His Word and Sacraments, by which we are brought to faith in Christ and continue in faith and receive the strength to live this life and be prepared for eternal life, through Jesus and what he has done for us. One of the greatest miracles today is that through Baptism and the Spirit’s working through that Word, we who were dead in our sins and sinful nature have been brought to a whole new life and an eternal future, in Christ. (See Mark 16:16 and Romans 6:3-4 and Ephesians 2:1-6.) The last two verses of Mark’s Gospel, Mark 16:19-20, assure us of God’s continued work for us, in Christ, in this way.

Verse 19 tells of Jesus’ ascension into heaven, and His place now at the right hand God, after He had completed 40 days of appearances alive again, after His resurrection, and His teaching the disciples and other followers. Mark puts it very simply again, and affirms that Jesus is Lord, as shown by all that this Gospel tells us. Jesus lives and reigns with God the Father and can still, as Lord, be with His believers, in all that is also described in verse 20. (See also Luke 24:50-53 and Acts 1:4-14 for more detailed descriptions of the ascension and the call of the disciples to go to “the end of the earth’ as witnesses for Jesus.)

That work of witnessing is summarized in Mark 16:20, again in a very direct way. “They went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them,” giving His good gifts and confirming the message of salvation that they brought. The whole Book of Acts and the rest of the New Testament is a dramatic description of verse 20, as the Gospel was spread. Read Acts 1:15; 2:41,47; 5:14,42; 6:7; 8:4; 9:31; and on and on.

Verse 20 continues to be carried out even today. Remember the first verse of Mark’s  Gospel: “The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God”. The spread of the Gospel continues and will continue until the last day, when Jesus returns in glory.

See again Mark 13:24-27. We have been reached with the Gospel and trust in our Savior and still have time to share that Good News with others. That is what our Lord wanted to have happen, when He gave us the Gospel of Mark and all the other Scriptures. See 2 Peter 3:9. It is still a story also about us and how we are saved: “He who believes and is baptized shall be saved” (Mark 16:16). And it is a story also about how others can also be saved through Christ and His working through our witness to His saving sacrifice for the world.