Markan_ending - Page: 1 of 1

The Gospel of Mark originally ended at 16.8. The "shorter ending" of Mark was probably added in the 2nd cen. In the end of Mk's gospel, the women who are charged with telling Peter and the disciples that Jesus is going ahead of them into Galilee don't say anything to anyone because they are afraid. This is an incredibly bizarre ending to a work that begins with the words, "The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." One scholar, Robert Fowler, has called Mark's gospel "the story of a story that was never told" (250).

Many times in the Second Gospel, Jesus commands people not to tell who he is or what he has done, but it's often the case that people go out and proclaim Jesus, anyway. Now, when the time for proclamation has come, the witnesses to the resurrection don't say anything to anyone. This is an example of the kind of irony that we find in many places in Mark's gospel.

By saying that the women ran away in fear, Mark is saying that they did not respond in faith. The women of Mark's gospel have, for the most part, done well up to this point, e.g., the woman with the hemorrhage, the Syrophoenician woman, the woman who anointed Jesus. However, we shouldn't be surprised that they don't respond in faith at the crucial moment. After all, the Twelve, Jesus' closest companions, are nowhere to be found. We haven't seen any of them since the trial scene. Everyone abandoned Jesus during his passion and crucifixion. Throughout the gospel, Jesus has been constantly misunderstood. Now, when the crucial time for proclamation comes, Jesus' followers don't respond.

Mark seems to give us an unsatisfactory ending, but that may be his point. In ending the gospel in this way, Mark intends the kind of indignation that we tend to feel when we get to the ending. The women shouldn't have been afraid, because the good news needs to be proclaimed. Fear has been portrayed in Mark as the opposite of faith. The reader doesn't want to respond in fear, and so he or she feels the imperative to do what the women have not: to proclaim the message that Christ is risen.

Was the message ever proclaimed? Where the disciples redeemed? It's important to keep in mind that every prophecy of Jesus in Mark's gospel has come true. For example:Jesus' followers did become deserters (14.27); Jesus did suffer, he was crucified, and he was raised from the dead (8.31; 9.31; 10.33-4); Peter did deny Jesus 14.30).

In 14.27-28, Jesus prophesies, "[A]fter I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee." If Jesus will meet the disciples in Galilee, this points to their redemption, despite their previous desertion of Jesus. Somehow, even though the women ran away terrified, the message will be told. The very fact that Mk was able to write down his account indicates that, in one way or another, the message was told.