Markan Jesus

1. JESUS, The Suffering
Son of God
The Gospel
according to Mark
Actiones
nostras,
quaesumus
Domine,
aspirando
praeveni et
adiuvando
prosequere: ut
cuncta nostra
oratio et operatio
a te semper
incipiat et per te
coepta finiatur.
Per Christum
Dominum
nostrum. Amen.

2. Sancte Iohannes
Baptista de La Salle!
Ora pro nobis!
Vivat Iesus in
cordibus nostris,
in aeternum!

3. JESUS, The Suffering
Son of God
The Holy Gospel
according to Mark

4. Mark's story of Jesus' ministry is action oriented.
Recounting little extended teaching of Jesus,
Mark shifts scenes rapidly (eÙqÚj) [euthys],
"immediately," is almost a standard linking word
in Mark). Jesus is constantly on the move,
healing, exorcising demons, confronting
opponents, and instructing the disciples.

5. Contents & Outline
This fast-paced narrative is punctuated by six
transitional paragraphs or statements, which
divide Mark's account into seven basic
sections.

6. • Preliminaries to the ministries (1:1-13)
• First part of the Galilean ministry
(1:16-3:6)
• Second part of the Galilean ministry
(3:13-5:43)
• The concluding phase of the Galilean
ministry (6:7-8:26)
• The way of glory and suffering (8:27-
10:52)
• Final ministry in Jerusalem (11:1-
13:37)
• The passion and empty-tomb
narratives (15:1-16:8)

7. Like the other three gospels, Mark is
anonymous. The title, "According to Mark"
(Kata' Markon), was probably added when
the canonical gospels were collected and
there was need to distinguish Mark's version
of the gospel from the others.

8. The gospel titles are generally thought to
have been added in the second century but
may have been added much earlier.
Certainly we may say that the title indicates
that by A.D. 125 or so an important segment
of the early church thought that a person
named Mark wrote the second gospel.

9. Mark's connection with the second gospel is asserted or
assumed by many early Christian writers. Perhaps the earliest
(and certainly the most important) of the testimonies is that of
Papias, who was bishop of Hierapolis in Phrygia of Asia Minor
until about A.D. 130. His statement about the second gospel is
recorded in Eusebius's , written in 325.

10. "Mark became Peter's interpreter
and wrote accurately all that he
remembered, not indeed, in order,
of the things said or done by the
Lord. For he had not heard the
Lord, nor had he followed him, but
later on, as I said, followed Peter,
who used to give teaching as
necessity demanded but not
making, as it were, an
arrangement of the Lord's oracles,
so that Mark did nothing wrong in
writing down single points as he
remembered them. For to one
thing he gave attention, to leave
out nothing of what he had heard
and to make no false statements in
them.”

11. Three important claims about the second gospel emerge from
this statement:
1.Mark wrote the gospel that, in Eusebius's day, was
identified with this name.
2.Mark was not an eyewitness but obtained his information
from Peter.
3.Mark's gospel lacks "order," reflecting the occasional
nature of Peter's preaching.
The importance of these claims is magnified when we realize
that the presbyter Papias is quoting is the presbyter John,
probably the apostle John himself. If Papias is to be trusted,
the identification of Mark as the author of the second gospel
goes back to the first generation of Christians.

12. PROVENANCE

13. Early tradition is not unanimous
about the place where Mark wrote
his gospel, but it favors Rome.

14. The anti-Marcionite prologue to Mark
(late second century?) claims that Mark
wrote the gospel "in the regions of
Italy." Both Irenaeus and Clement of
Alexandria (according to Eusebius)
suggest the same thing.

15. Several considerations are said to confirm a Roman
provenance:
(1) the large number of Latinisms in the gospel;
(2) the incidental mention of Simon of Cyrene's sons, Alexander
and Rufus, at least one of whom may have been known to
Mark in Rome (when writing to the Roman church, Paul greets
a Rufus [16:13]);
(3) the apparently Gentile audience of the gospel;
(4) the many allusions to suffering, which would be appropriate if
the gospel was written under the shadow of persecutions of
the church in Rome;
(5) the fact that 1 Peter 5:13 locates Mark in Rome with Peter in
the early sixties; and
(6) the connection with an important early center of Christianity,
which would have explained the gospel's quick acceptance.

16. DATE
Mark has been dated in four
different decades: the 40s,
the 50s, the 60s, and the 70s.

17. A Date in the 40s
 on the basis of historical and papyro logical
considerations.
 that Mark's "abomination that causes desolation"
(13:14) is a reference to the attempt in A.D. 40 of the
Emperor Caligula to have his image set up in the
Jerusalem temple
 Peter may have journeyed to Rome in the 40s after
being freed from prison (see Acts 12:17) and that Mark
may have written the gospel at that time.
But so early a date for Mark's gospel makes it hard to
explain the silence of Paul and other New Testament
writers about it, and it does not perhaps allow sufficient
time for the development of the tradition behind Mark.

18. A Date in the 50s
there is evidence that Peter was in Rome in the mid-50s, making it
possible to date Mark in the later 50s without contradicting the well-
established tradition of the origin of the gospel.
From the relationship of Mark to Luke-Acts. The argument assumes that
Acts ends where it does, with Paul languishing in a Roman prison,
because Luke published the book of Acts at that time (about A.D. 62). This
would require that the gospel of Luke, the first volume of Luke's literary
effort, be dated at about the same time or slightly earlier. If we then
accept the prevailing scholarly opinion that Luke used the canonical Mark
as one of his key sources, Mark must have been written at the latest in
the late 50s (to allow time for the gospel to circulate).
This argument is based on two key assumptions: that
Acts is to be dated in about A.D. 62, and that Luke
has used canonical Mark. The latter may be
granted; but the former is not so clear.

19. A Date in the 60s
The majority of contemporary scholars
date Mark in the middle to late 60s for
three reasons.
First, the earliest traditions favor a date
for Mark after the death of Peter.

20. A Date in the 60s
Second, and perhaps more important for
most, the internal evidence of Mark is said
to favor a date during, or shortly after, the
onset of persecution in Rome.
Mark has much to say about the importance
of disciples' following the "road to the cross"
walked by our Lord. This emphasis best fits a
situation when Christians were facing the
grim prospect of martyrdom, a setting that
would have obtained in Rome at the time of,
or after, Nero's famous persecution of
Christians in A.D. 65.

21. A Date in the 60s
Third, Mark 13 is said to reflect the
situation in Palestine during the Jewish
revolt and just before the Roman
entrance into the city, and thus it must
be dated between 67 and 69. None of
these points is decisive. The tradition
about the date of Mark is neither
especially early nor widespread, and
other traditions place the writing of
Mark during Peter's life- time.

22. A Date in the 70s
The main argument for dating
Mark as late as the 70s rests on
the assumption that Mark 13
reflects the actual experience of
the sacking of Jerusalem by the
Romans. But the argument is
seriously flawed. As several
scholars have shown, Mark 13
shows very little evidence of
being influenced by the course
of events in A.D. 70.

23. Conclusion
A decision between a date in
the 50s and one in the 60s is
impossible to make. We
must be content with dating
Mark sometime in the late
50s or the 60s.

24. AUDIENCE AND PURPOSE
Mark is a self-effacing narrator. He tells
his story with a minimum of editorial
comments and says nothing about his
purpose or his intended audience. We
must depend, then, on the early
testimonies about Mark and on the
character of the gospel itself for
information about his readers and his
purpose.

25. Audience
The extrabiblical sources point to a Gentile Christian
audience, probably in Rome. The Roman destination of
Mark's gospel is simply an inference from its Roman
provenance. If Mark wrote in Rome, he probably wrote to
Romans.

26. Mark writes to Gentiles seems clear from his translation
of Aramaic expressions, his explanation of Jewish
customs such as the washing of hands before eating (7:3
- 4), and, in the few texts he includes on the subject, his
interest in the cessation of the ritual elements in the
Mosaic law (see 7:1-23, esp. v. 19; 12:32-34).

27. It is also worth reminding ourselves that Mark's
"audience" was almost certainly just that: Christians
listening to Mark's gospel being read aloud to them.

28. PURPOSE
Mark's purpose is much harder to
determine.
Redaction critics typically stress
theological purposes in the writing
of the gospels, and this has
certainly been the case with
respect to Mark.
However, the dominant view that
Mark was the first gospel to be
written always made redaction-
critical study of Mark something of
an uncertain enterprise.

29. PURPOSE
There are four
representative
interpretations, the first
focusing on
eschatology, the
second on Christology,
the third on
apologetics, and the
fourth on politics

30. Willi Marxsen
• Mark wanted to prepare Christians for Jesus' imminent
parousia in Galilee.
• He argued that Mark focuses on Galilee as the place
where Jesus meets with his disciples at the expense of
Jerusalem, where Jesus is rejected and killed. Jesus'
command to his disciples to meet him in Galilee (14:28;
cf. 16:7) was taken by Marxsen as a prediction to Mark's
community of Jesus' glorious return to them. But the
meeting with Jesus to which these verses refer is clearly
a post-resurrection meeting, not the parousia.
• Moreover, the geographic contrast that Marxsen (and
some before him) discerns is much better explained as a
reflection of the actual course of Jesus' ministry than as a
theologically motivated invention of Mark's.

31. Theodore Weeden
• found in Mark a polemic against a "divine man"
Christology, a way of viewing Jesus that saw him as a
wonder-working hero but denied or neglected his suffering
and death.
• Mark wrote a gospel that emphasized the humanity and
suffering of Jesus.
• Mark a focus on Jesus' suffering, but he goes too far in
identifying Mark's opponents as people who held to a
divine-man Christology.
• For one thing, evidence for a polemical stance in Mark is
not at all clear - he probably does not have any opponents
in view at all. For another, the very existence of a
Hellenistic divine-man concept as a category into which
early Christians would have put Jesus is open to question.

32. S. G. F. Brandon
• Mark as apologetic.
• He thought that Mark had attempted to mask the political
implications of Jesus' life – and especially his death.
• Jesus was a sympathizer with the Jewish revolutionaries,
the Zealots. For this reason he was crucified by the
Romans, a method of execution generally reserved for
political criminals. By branding Jesus as a rebel against
Rome, his crucifixion made it very difficult for Christians to
win a hearing from the Roman public-particularly in the
aftermath of the Jewish revolt in Palestine, when, according
to Brandon, Mark wrote his gospel.
• To overcome this difficulty, Mark transferred as much of the
blame for Jesus' death from the Romans to the Jews as he
could, a process revealed by the many manifestly
unhistorical features in the Sanhedrin and Roman trials.

33. Richard Horsley
• argues that the major purpose of Mark is to present Jesus
as arguing for a particular social-political program.
Opposition between Jesus and Jewish leaders in the
gospel has to do with competing visions of Israel's
restoration and kingdom programs, not religious issues
per se.
• justified in his claim that Christian interpreters have too
often ignored the political dimension of the gospel. But his
political categories appear to be imposed on a gospel that
self- evidently speaks in religious categories.
• His criticism of interpreters for reading into the gospel a
Christian theological agenda sounds a bit ironic in light of
the similarity between his understanding of Mark and
contemporary "liberation" theologies.

34. These four specific
suggestions about Mark's
purpose represent only a
sampling of recent proposals,
but they share with many
others the fault of being
overly specific and based on
only a selection of the data.
Any attempt to determine
Mark's purpose must take
into account the gospel as a
whole and refrain from
arguing beyond the evidence.

35. The
Beginning of
the Gospel:
Jesus The
Messiah,
The Son of
God who
fulfills
Scriptures

36. The Beginning of the Gospel of
Jesus Christ” (1:1)
- Greco-Roman world would not
recognize “Christ” as a name.
- not even meaningful for most.
- Christ was a title in Jewish
circles
- - Greek equivalent of the
Hebrew word “messiah”
- Mark then is a book about
Jesus the messiah.

37. MESSIAH
– two major meaning
for 1° century Jews
1. Future King of
Israel, delivers
God’s people from
their oppressor and
established a
sovereign state of
Israel thru God’s
power.

38. MESSIAH
– two major meaning
for 1° century Jews
2. Cosmic deliverer
from heaven,
would engage in
supernatural
welfare with the
enemies of the
Jews and bring
divine victory over
their oppressors.

39. Jesus did not conform to either of
the general conceptions of this
title. He neither overthrew the
Romans in battle nor arrived on the
clouds of heaven in judgement.
Instread he was unceremoniously
executed for treason against the
state. WHAT IN THE WORLD COULD
IT MEAN TO CALL HIM A MESSIAH?

40. The Gospel begins by describing the
forerunner of Jesus, The Son of God
and the miraculous proclamation of
his own Sonship.
- Greco-Roman world
- Jewish Circles
- Son of God – referred to
someone who had a particularly
intimate relationship with God,
who was chosen by God to
perform a task, and who thereby
mediated God’s will to people on
earth

41. However there are plenty of
“sons of God” in the Jewish
circles even during the time of
Jesus.
What does Mark mean by
beginning his account with
the declaration, by God
himself, that Jesus is his son?

42. JESUS THE
AUTHORITATIVE
SON OF GOD

43. Jesus is an authoritative leader, who he
speaks people obey. (1:16-20)
Jesus is an authoritative teacher; when
he gives instruction, people hang on to
his word (1:22)
Jesus is an authoritative healer; when he
commands the forces of evil, they listen
and obey (1:24, 27, 29-31, 32-34)
This portray as an authoritative Son of
God sets as the stage for the rest of the
Gospel.

44. Despite Jesus fame, amasses,
the amazing teachings, and
miraculous deeds, Jesus, this
authoritative Son of God, is
almost universally
misunderstood by those with
whom he comes in closest
contact.
He is opposed and
misunderstood Son of God.

45. JESUS THE
OPPOSED
SON OF
GOD

46. A good deal of Marks’s Gospel
shows that despite Jesus’ fantastic
deeds the leaders of his people
opposed him from the onset; and
theit antagonism escalates until the
very end.
-Mark does not portray Jesus as
standing in opposition to the religion
of Judaism.
- Jesus scarcely bent on subverting
the jewish religion.

47. Who opposes Jesus?
• JEWISH SCRIBES – the literate elite and
study the sacred traditions of Israel & teach
them to others.
• PHARISEES – who were strongly committed
to maintaining the purity laws in the Torah.
• THE HERODIANS – group of Jews but Mark
didnt identify them. Maybe collaborationist
i.e. supporters of Herod.
• SADDUCEES – upper class Jews who were
closely connected with and strong advocates
for the Temple cults in Jerusalem. In charge
with the Sanhedrin (Council to the High Priest)
• CHIEF PRIEST – upper class Jews priest who
operated the Temple and oversaw the
sacrifices

48. Even from the beginning (3:6) the
opening stories of conflict, Jewish
authorities are constantly on the
attack and in the end, the chief priest
triumph, convincing the Roman
governor that Jesus has to die.
But why, ultimately, they do so?
They find Jesus threathening because
if his popularity and find his words
against their Temple cult offensive
(11:18)

49. But the Jewish authorities do not
see Jesus’ death merely because
they are jealous or because they
disagree with him over legal
theological & cultic matters.
They opposed him because he is
God’s unique representative on
earth – God’s authoritative Son –
and they , cannot understand who
he is or what he say.

50. JESUS THE
MISUNDERSTOOD
SON OF GOD

51. Who then realizes that Jesus is the
Son of God?
-God knows that Jesus is His Son for he
declares it at the Baptism (1:11).
- Evil demons recognized Jesus as the
Son of God (3:11; 1:24)
-Who else knows? Only two other
persons: the author of the Gospel and
the us the Readers.

52. No one recognizes Jesus’ identity!
First half of the Gospel…
1. Those closest to him. His own family
thinks he was crazy (3:21)
2. Jesus’ own towns people. He is a
mere carpenter knowing his family
(6:1-6). They refused to accept his
divine source of power (2:7) and
claims to come from Beelzebul
(3:22)
3. Jesus’ own disciples even though he
chose them to follow him (3:13-19)
& gave them private instruction
(4:10-20)

53. The disciples question was genuine:
“Who then is this, that even wind and
sea obey him?” (4:41)
Jesus walking on water: “for they did
not understand… but their hearts are
hardened.” (6:51-52)
Jesus expresses his own exasperation:
“Do you not yet understand?” (8:21)
Midpoint of the Gospel where the have
an inkling who he is.

54. JESUS THE
ACKNOWLEDGE
SON OF GOD

55. Key understanding for Mark’s
portrayal of Jesus lies in the story of
a blind man who regains his sight
(8:22-26).
Jesus does not perform the miracle
immediately and effortlessly. A
gradual healing of the blind man.
Symbolism can be understood in the
immediate context as the gradual
understanding of the disciples of
Jesus.

56. Starts with Jesus’ question:
“Who do people say that I am?” (8:27)
“But who do you say that I am?” (8:29)
Peter replies: “You are the Christ.”
Up to this point Jesus was
misunderstood by everyone, by family,
neighbors, religious leaders and
followers & now finally someone
realizes who he is, at least in part.

57. Readers knows Peter’s confession is
correct.
Mark did not reject or repudate
rather orders the disciples not to
spread the word: “And he sternly
ordered them not to tell anyone
about him.” (8:30)
This is what we call: The Messianic
Secret in Mark

58. THE MESSIANIC SECRET
-He refuses to let the demon speak
“because they knew him”. (1:34,
3:12)
-Healing of the Leper: “…say nothing
to any one.” (1:43).
- Young girl raised from the dead.
“…that no one should know this.”
(5:43)

59. THE MESSIANIC SECRET
Why does Jesus not want anyone to
know that He is the Messiah, the
Son of God?
William Wrede - Since the Historical
Jesus himself never urged secrecy at
all he did not actually see himself as
the messiah. After his death,
however, his followers begun to
proclaim that he had been the
Messiah.

60. THE MESSIANIC SECRET
Wrede explains that the early Christian
community invented the idea that
Jesus tried to keep his identity under
wraps. They then fabricated the stories
of Jesus’ commands to silence to show
that a messianic Jesus did not proclaim
himself to be the messiah.
The Markan Jesus does not want
people to have the wrong idea about
him, thinking that he was the kind of
messiah they were anticipating.

61. Still, Peter’s identification of Jesus as
a Messiah is correct only in part.
Jesus begins to teach that he (8:31)
“must suffer many things, and be
rejected by the elders and the chief
priest and the scribes, and be killed,
abd after three days rise from the
dead.”
Jesus is the Messiah, but he is the
Messiah who has to suffer and die to
bring salvation to the world.

62. Peter rebukes and reject because of his
different view of Jesus’ messiahship.
Peter’s failure to percieve this truth forces
Jesus to turn the rebuke back on him: “Get
behind me Satan! For you are setting your
mind not on the divine thing but on human
things.” (8:33)
Peter clearly has begun to see, but not yet
clearly; like the blind man who was gained
sight gradually.
For Mark, however, Jesus is the suffering
Son of God

63. JESUS THE
SUFFERING
SON OF
GOD

64. Early portion of the Markan
Gospel indicates that Jesus will
die (2:20; 3:6)
After Peter’s confession Jesus
three times predicts his
impending passion & death in
Jerusalem and strikingly after
each “passion prediction” the
disciples never do understand
what Jesus is talking about.

65. First Prediction (8:31-32)
Jesus declares that he must be rejected and
killed, Peter, who just declared Jesus as
Messiah, not understanding fully, takes him
aside and rebuke him.
Jesus turns the rebuke on Peter and begun
teaching that suffering is not only his but his
followers as well: “Whoever would come
after me must take up the cross and follow
me.”
Being a disciple means affliction and pain,
not power and prestige; it means giving up
one’s life in order to gain the world. (8:34-38)

66. Second Prediction (9:2-13; 30-34)
Happend after Jesus transfiguration.
Jesus predicts his coming death and
Mark states that the disciples do not
know what he means (9:30-31)
Afterwards the disciples were arguuing
who is the greatest (9:33-34) and Jesus
tells them that being a disciple means a
life of lowly service rather than grand
eminnence.

67. Final Prediction (10:33-34)
James and John, two of the closest
disciples request position of prominence
when jesus enters his glory.
Jesus tells them that following him
means certain death and that if they
want to be great they must become the
slaves of all.
“For the Son of Man came not to be
served, but to serve, and give his life a
ransom for many (10:45)

68. From this point Mark narrates the
“Passion Narratives”
Jesus enters to Jerusalem (11:1-10)
He enters the Temple and drives the
bussiness there occuring opposition
from the Jewish leaders (11:15-19).
He teaches in the temple again
making conflicts with the leaders
and stirring the crowds to be against
him ( 11:28-12:40)

69. Jesus launches a lengthy discription
of the imminent destruction of the
Temple (13:1-36)
Finally the passion account itself.
- He was annointed by an unknown
woman, the only person who knows
what will happen to Jesus (14:1-9).
- Celebrates the last supper with his
disciples (14:12-26)

70. - Goes to the garden of Gethsemane
to pray that he not be required to
suffer the eminent ordeal (14:26-42)
- Jesus was arrest (14:43-52)
- Trial before the Sanhedrin,
confronting the witnesses who
accused him of opposing the Temple
(14:53-65)
- Peter’s deny him three times as
predicted (14:66-72)

71. Finally Jesus was asked directly by
the high priest concerning his
identity: “Are you the Christ, the Son
of the Blessed One?”
Jesus confesses his identity and
predicts that the “Son of Man”, the
cosmic judge from heaven, will soon
arrive on the clouds of heaven
(14:61-62).
Sanhedrin charges him of blasphemy
and finds him worthy of death.

72. Next morning they delivered him over to
Pilate who tries him on the charge of
claiming to be the King of the Jews (15:1-
15)
Jesus refuses to answer his accuser,
Pilates condemns him to execution for
treason against Rome.
Pilate gave the Jewish crowd an option to
free the insurgent Barabas or Jesus. (15:6-
15)
They prefer Barabbas. Jesus was flogged,
mocked and beaten. They take him off
and crucify him at 9:00 a.m. (15:25)

73. JESUS’
DEATH AS
THE SON
OF GOD

74. It is clear for Mark’s Gospel that Jesus’
disciples never do come to understand
who he is.
Betrayed to the Jewish leaders by Judas,
one of his followers, denied three times
by his closest disciple Peter and all others
scattered.
Marks wants his Readers to understand
that the disciples were shock when their
hopes concerning Jesus as messiah were
totally dashed. For which of course is
misplaced.

75. So until the very end, when Jesus was
actually crucified, there was nobody in
the Godpel who fully understands this.
In Mark’s narrative may even intimate
that at the end Jesus himslef was in
doubt.
In Gethsemane, he prayed three times
not to undergo his fate which he finally
accepts with yet more uncertainty.
Desert, rejected, publicly humilated,
beaten, spat, flogged, nailed, mocked and
crucified along two criminals.

76. Jesus suffered this entire ordeal in silence,
until the very end, when he cries out in Words
of Scripture: “My God, my God, why have you
forsaken me?” (15:34)
He then utters a loud cry and dies.
Is this a genuine question of the dying Jesus?
Does he truly feel forsaken in the end even by
God? Does he not fully understand the reason
for his death?
Readers may disagree with this, one point
however, there can be no disagreement. Even
though that no one in the Gospel appears to
know the significance os Jesus’ death, the
reader knows.

77. Mark reveals it by narrating two events
that transpire immediately after Jesus
breathes his last: the curtain in the Temple
is torn in half from top to bottom (15:38)
and the Roman centurion confesses Jesus
to be the Son of God (15:39).
The curtain in the Temple is in the area of
the Holy of Holies, which separates the
presence of God from the outside world
was torn in half.
It signifies that God is no longer removed
from his people; his holiness is now
available to all.

78. No longer do his people need to rely on
the Jewish high priest and his sacrifice for
their sins on the Day of Atonement.
The ultimate sacrifice has been made,
voiding the necessity of all other. Jesus,
the Son of God, has “given his life as a
ransom for many” (10:45) People now
have direct access to God, who comes to
them in the death of Jesus.
Another equally significant is Mark’s
citation of the Roman centurion who
precided his crucifixion.

79. This Pagan soldier, seeing Jesus die,
proclaims, “Surely this man was God’s son”
(15:39).
This brings the recognition of Jesus’ true
identity full circle. It was proclaimed at his
baptism at the beginning of the Gospel
(from heaven); it is now proclaimed at his
crucifixion at the end (on earth).
Significantly to be noted is the one who
made the proclamation: A PAGAN
SOLDIER, one who has not been Jesus
follower.

80. Mark points out that the proclamation will
not find fertile soil among Jews, either
those who had known Jesus or those who
had not.
Embraced principally by those outside
Judaism, by Gentile as represented by the
Roman centurion.
Jesus the Son of God, rejected by his own
people but acknowledge by the Gentiles
and it is this confession of the suffering
and death of the Son of God, Mark reveals,
that has brought salvation to the world.

81. JESUS THE
VINDICATED
SON OF
GOD

82. A fascinating aspect of Mark’s Gospel is the way
in which he chose to conclude it.
He was buried by a respected leader among the
Jews, Joseph of Arimathea (indicating, perhaps
that not all Jews were bound to reject him
(15:42-47)
Two woman see where he is place and the next
day is the Sabbath.
The early morning after the Sabbath, Mary
Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and
Salome come to provide a more decent burial
and discovers that the stone before the tomb
has been rolled away.

83. Inside the find a young man in a white
robe who tells them that Jesus has risen.
He instruct them to tell the disciples and
Peter that Jesus is going ahead of them in
Galilee and that they have to go there to
see him (16:1-7)
Then the breathtaking conclusion: The
women flee the tomb and tell nobody
anything, “for they were afraid” (16:8)
The ending left readers in time
immemorial shocked and dismayed.

84. Put off by the ending that some
copyist of the Gospel added an
ending of their own, appending
twelve additional verses that
describe some of Jesus’
appearances to his disciples,
though the ending is considered
now as secondary.
Other propose that some copies of
the ending of the Gospel got lost.

85. However, Mark’s ending is
unnecessary.
Mark devoted considerable effort
to demostrating that the disciples
could never understand what Jesus
meant when he talked about dying
and rising again.
They never do understand, to the
very end. Mark’s reader, however,
understand.