Conversation Points for Mark 16:1-8

Study Format:
1. Read passage aloud. What did you notice in the reading? What words or phrase caught your attention?
2. Read passage aloud a second time. What questions would you ask the text?
3. Read passage aloud a third time. What do you hear God calling you to do or be in response to this text?

Interesting Ideas to Consider:
• You’ll notice in your Bible that the 16th chapter of Mark has 20 verses. After today’s section, you may see brackets around 16:8b and the title “The Shorter Ending of Mark” and around 16:9-20 and the title “The Longer Ending of Mark.” Jesus’ predictions of his death in 8:31; 9:31; and 10:34 have all prepared us the reader to expect Jesus’ resurrection. These two sections are bracketed because they do not appear in the oldest manuscripts, leading scholars to believe that they were not in the original version. Instead, scholars believe scribes added these various endings in an attempt to clear up the seeming ambiguity of how Mark’s Gospel ends, with the women saying “nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”
• The women’s fear and silence is a repeat of the denial and flight of the disciples during Jesus’ crucifixion. Also, fear at the sight of an angel is the generally appropriate response, it’s why angels always start their remarks “do not be afraid” (Luke 1:29-30). Normally, the fear subsides with the angel’s encouragement. And we know that the disciples did eventually proclaim the Gospel, since the story was told.
• Based on Jesus’ conversation with the Sadducees in 12:8-27 and the presence of Moses and Elijah at the transfiguration (9:4), in Mark’s Gospel, “resurrection” means that the person is not dead but with God in heavenly glory. It is not the same as return to bodily existence, as in the case of Jairus’s daughter (5:43).
• In Mark’s Gospel, fear is generally a demonstration of a lack of faith. For example, their fear during the storms (4:40-41; 6:50-52). This fear isolates those who experience it and keep them away from Jesus.
• The scene opens by linking to the previous section in the time (“the day of Preparation” (15:42) and “When the Sabbath was over” (16:1)) and the people present (“Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses” (15:47) and “Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James, and Salome” (16:1)). The phrase “early in the morning” connects it to the early morning meeting with Pilate (15:1) and helps emphasize the “third day”.
• The women’s concern with the stone (v. 3) reminds the reader that they witnessed it being rolled in front of the entrance (15:46b).
• The concrete identification of Jesus in v. 6 serves to answer any question that the women may have gone to the wrong tomb.

Works Sourced:
Perkins, Pheme. “The Gospel of Mark.” The New Interpreter’s Bible Volume VIII. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1995.