Talk 48 Mark 16:1-20 The Resurrection and Great Commission
Welcome to Talk 48 in our series on Mark’s Gospel. This will be the final talk in the series, and we’ll be looking at Chapter 16 which is Mark’s account of Jesus’ resurrection and his final instructions to his disciples which are often referred to as The Great Commission. We'll work through the chapter a verse or two at a time, and will begin by reading verses 1-4.
When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus' body. 2 Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb 3 and they asked each other, "Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?" 4 But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away.
Verses 1-2
In our last talk we commented on the devotion of these and many other women who had faithfully followed Jesus right from the beginning of his ministry in Galilee. Now we see them buying spices to anoint Jesus’ body. What they did not know was that Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus had already done so when they buried him in accordance with Jewish burial customs (John 19:40), and that by the time they were to reach the tomb Jesus would have already risen. But of course, like the rest of the disciples, they were not expecting him to rise despite all that Jesus had told them. If they had been, they would have known that to anoint his body would be completely unnecessary!
Verse 3
The stone which Joseph put in place would have been in a sloping groove down which he had rolled the stone to cover the entrance to the tomb. The two Marys had seen him do this (15:47) and now, on the way to the tomb, realised that unaided they would be unable to move it back. Why hadn’t they thought of this before? When we are grieving we don’t always think as clearly as usual and now the women are anticipating a problem which, as they were soon to discover, would not be a problem at all! The Lord had already dealt with it!
Verse 4
Have you ever set out to do something for the Lord which you felt sure he wanted you to do, and then discovered that you’d got it wrong? Or perhaps, as you’ve set out to do it, doubts have come into your mind, unforeseen potential problems have occurred to you, and you’ve wondered how you could possibly achieve your goal. That’s certainly been my experience, and that exactly what was happening with these women. Their motivation was pure. What they were doing they were doing out of love for the Lord. But their mistake – if it was a mistake – was that, like the rest of the disciples, they didn’t remember or didn’t believe what Jesus had said. Was the Lord displeased with their actions? Surely not. As we see in the next few verses, they were given the great privilege of announcing the news of the resurrection to the other disciples. Even when we get things wrong, the Lord still has work for us to do.
Now let’s read verses 5-8:
5 As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. 6 "Don't be alarmed," he said. "You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.'" 8 Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.
I want you to notice the extreme emotions experienced by the women in these verses. This is completely understandable. They were grieving – over the terrible suffering they had so recently seen inflicted on someone they so dearly loved – over the fact, or what they thought was a fact, that all their hopes for the future had been dashed – over the loss of a loved one. As we have seen, they are not thinking clearly. They are wondering who can have moved the stone. They enter the tomb and are confronted by an angel! No wonder they’re alarmed, trembling and bewildered.
But grieving can bring with it other emotions too, as I have recently discovered in my own experience. I’ve found that we can weep tears of sorrow and, paradoxically, tears of joy too. And I’ve experienced both at the same time! And there’s a hint in verse 8 that that is what these women were experiencing too. The word translated bewildered in the Greek is ekstasis. It can also mean astonishment or amazement. But interestingly, in Matthew’s account he uses a different word, chara, which means joy!
And where does this joy come from? It comes from the news the angel brings them – Jesus is not here. He has risen! What a consolation that was to become! And it’s our consolation too. Because he lives, we shall live also. And our loved ones who die in the Lord are not here. They are with Christ, which is far better. And the day will come when we will see them again, as these devoted women soon were to see Jesus.
Perhaps it’s this strange mixture of emotions that can account for the fact that, despite the good news, the women fled from the tomb and said nothing to anyone because they were afraid. This was presumably just their initial reaction, because verse 9 tells us Mary Magdalene, at least, went and told the good news to the other disciples. And according to the angel’s instructions, that was to include Peter. If, as is widely believed, Mark derived his information from Peter, it’s perhaps significant that Peter gets a special mention here. It was Peter who had denied the Lord and who in John 21 is graciously given the opportunity to reaffirm his love for Jesus. Even when we fail him, the Lord is constantly seeking to draw us back to himself.
But that, according to the earliest manuscripts is where Mark’s Gospel abruptly ends. Verses 9-20 are viewed by some scholars as a later addition. But these verses have for a long time formed part of Scripture as we know it and, as we shall see, the basic truth contained in them is confirmed elsewhere in the New Testament.
So now, verses 9-11.
9 When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons. 10 She went and told those who had been with him and who were mourning and weeping. 11 When they heard that Jesus was alive and that she had seen him, they did not believe it.
The fact that Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene is confirmed in all four Gospels, although as usual the other Gospels give more details than we find in Mark. Although initially afraid to say anything (v8), possibly due to emotional trauma, she has now gained the courage to do so. And if we read John’s account the reason is clear. She has seen the Lord. He has spoken to her. He has called her by name. The encounter with Jesus makes all the difference. She goes and tells the other disciples that she has seen him. Bearing in mind the repeated lack of faith exhibited by the disciples throughout Jesus’ ministry, we’re not surprised that at first they did not believe her.
This unbelief is stressed again in verses 12-14:
12 Afterward Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking in the country. 13 These returned and reported it to the rest; but they did not believe them either. 14 Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen.
Of course, verses 12-13 are a very brief summary of Luke 24:13-35 where Jesus appears to the two disciples on the Road to Emmaus, and where Jesus appearing to the Eleven follows immediately afterwards. We sometimes blame Thomas because he refused to believe until he saw for himself (John 20:24-28), but it seems that the other disciples were no less guilty, and Jesus’ words to Thomas were applicable to them all – Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. And the importance of believing is stressed in the following verses where faith is the essential prerequisite for salvation and for seeing miracles performed in Jesus’ name.
Verses 15-18
15 He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well."
Now that Jesus has died and risen again, the work he had come to do has been accomplished. The Lamb of God has been slain to take away the sins of the world. He has borne the punishment that our sins deserved, and forgiveness and salvation are available to all who will believe. That’s good news indeed and all the world needs to hear it. The disciples, and all disciples after them, are to go and spread the message to all creation.
But why creation? Because, as Paul teaches us in Romans 8:21-22, all creation was affected by Adam’s sin and all creation has been groaning right up to this present time and is waiting to be liberated from its bondage to decay. For that we must wait until Jesus returns, when the entire creation will see the manifestation of the victory he accomplished at Calvary. Forgiveness of sin and eternal life are available right now to all who will believe, but the final outworking of Christ’s victory at Calvary, the abolition of sickness and death, the redemption of our bodies, the new heavens and the new earth, are all future blessings for which we must patiently wait.
But even now God grants us foretastes of those blessings through the miracle-working power of the Spirit. Most of the miracles Jesus promises in these verses are seen again and again in the Book of Acts. The Spirit-filled disciples drive out demons, speak languages they have never learnt, and heal the sick in Jesus’ name. Paul was even delivered from snakebite. The only miracle listed here that is not mentioned in Acts is drinking deadly poison. And these miracle signs were not just for the early church. William Burton records in his book Signs Following examples of all these miracles taking place in the early days of the Congo Evangelistic Mission.
But that does not mean that the Lord Jesus intended us to claim these signs as promises. What he is saying is that these are the kind of miracles we can expect when we go out to proclaim the good news. Spiritual gifts are distributed as the Holy Spirit determines (1 Corinthians 12:11). Our responsibility is to tell others about Jesus and to trust the Holy Spirit to confirm what we say with whatever kind of sign he chooses.
Verses 19-20
19 After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. 20 Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.
In Mark’s Gospel verses 15-20 are the last recorded words of Jesus before he returned to Heaven. Luke’s Gospel and the first chapter of Acts (which gives a little more detail about Jesus’ ascension into Heaven) records his last words as telling his disciples to wait until they are baptised in the Spirit and that they would receive power when the Spirit came upon them and be his witnesses to the ends of the earth. There is, of course no contradiction here. The power of the Spirit was, and still is, essential if miracles are to happen in Jesus’ name.
The message that Jesus is alive is confirmed by the fact that he is still working miracles today. He is still seated at God’s right hand. All authority is his on earth as it is in Heaven. It’s with that authority that, in the words of Matthew’s Gospel, we go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. He will work with us, if we will only go and tell.
As I have already said, this is the final talk in our series on Mark. In January, God willing, I will begin a new series which will take the form of personal testimonies to God’s goodness to me throughout my life. Meanwhile, some 300 podcasts of my teaching remain available.
