Does the News of the Gospel Deserve a Response? - Mark 16:9-20

Sermon Series: Spare Me the Details – Just Give Me Jesus

I would guess that each of us can remember right where we were on September 11, 2001 when we first heard the news that airplanes had flown into the twin towers in New York City.  It was certainly for me, as it probably was for you, the most shocking national crisis that I have ever experienced it.  I wonder how many of us, when we heard the news and saw the images on our screen refused to believe the reports.  Was there anyone who didn’t believe?  No, the reports were too reliable and the news footage was too good for it to be a hoax.  The other thing I wonder is how many of us, when we heard the news and saw the images kept the news to ourselves.  Did any of us?  No one I knew kept it to themselves.  As soon as they heard the news and saw the images they were on their phones calling friends and loved ones to let them know.  Why?  Because this was a life changing event for our country, for our families, and for individuals personally.  But perhaps one of the most amazing aspects of that day is how the news traveled so quickly throughout the country and around the world.  From day to day, tens of thousands of people go about their days not at all concerned about ‘current events,’ or local and national news.  But by the end of the day on September 11, 2001 there were probably just a handful of people in the United States who were not aware of what had taken place that morning.  The news, as incredibly bad as it was, compelled people to share it with others.  It demanded a response.  But when I think about how the bad news of September 11, 2001 demanded a response from those who heard it and saw it I wonder if really good news deserves a response as well.  More specifically, does the good news of the gospel demand a response from those who hear it?  And I would answer that in the last section of Mark’s gospel account we see that it does – in verses 9-20 we see two actions which the news of Jesus’ resurrection should compel us to.

Before we can examine the content of verses 9-20 we have to first examine verses 9-20 as a whole and understand a few things about those verses.  James Edwards begins the section of his commentary on Mark 16:9-20 this way, “It is virtually certain that 16:9-20 is a later addition and not the original ending of the Gospel of Mark. . . Since none of the autograph copies of documents of the NT survives, the Greek text of the NT is constructed from later copies of manuscripts dating from A.D 135 at the earliest to about A.D. 1200 at the latest.  These copies, of which more than five thousand exist, range in size from scraps little larger than postage stamps to complete manuscripts of the Bible.  In general, these copies show remarkable agreement among themselves.  The most notorious exception to this otherwise happy rule, however, is the ending of Mark, which presents the gravest textual problem in the NT.” 

Let me try to explain this just a little.  What James Edwards is saying is that none of the original letters of the NT are still in existence.  For example, we don’t have the actual letter that Luke wrote to Theophilus, which we call the book of Acts.  At some point in time the actual letter was either worn out, destroyed, or lost.  But before that actual letter was lost copies of that letter were created.  Scribes would sit down with the original and copy the letter by hand so that the letter could be sent to other churches.  Then when the copies arrived at other churches, the scribes there would copy those copies so that more copies of the letter could be distributed.  Today scholars, archaeologists, and even shepherds have discovered over 5,000 ancient NT manuscripts.  Some of them are in bad shape and are just a small scrap of paper with a tiny portion of a NT letter on them.  Others are complete manuscripts of the Bible.  But the oldest manuscripts we have only date back to about A.D. 135.  So what does that mean?  That means none of the manuscripts we have are the originals, because they would have all been written before that time.  So in regards to the Gospel of Mark, we do not have the original that Mark, himself wrote.  The ancient manuscripts of Mark we have are all copies of copies.

When it comes to the ancient manuscripts of Mark that we have we discover that the ending of Mark becomes a bit challenging.  The two oldest and most important complete manuscripts of the Bible that we have are called codex Vaticanus and codex Sinaiticus, and neither one of these manuscripts has anything in Mark’s gospel after 16:8.  And that’s not just true of these two manuscripts, many, many other manuscripts leave out 16:9-20.  This then is strong (though not decisive) evidence that 16:9-20 was not original to Mark.

Other evidence exists that 16:9-20 is not originally what Mark wrote.  When verse 9 introduces Mary Magdalene it does so with more detail than Mark would have probably included.  Remember that Mark typically spares details that are non-essentials and having already mentioned Mary Magdalene three other times (15:40, 47; 16:1) it seems odd that he would now specify that she had had seven demons cast out of her by Jesus.  In addition to the non-essential details, we also find words and themes that are unusual to Mark’s gospel.  In verses 9-20 there are 18 words that Mark doesn’t use anywhere else in his gospel.  It’s surprising to find so many different words that aren’t typical of Mark’s vocabulary throughout the rest of the gospel in these last 12 verses.  It’s also unusual to see the emphasis on charismatic type signs in verses 17 and 18 that we don’t see emphasized anywhere else in Mark’s gospel.  So all of this evidence strongly suggests that 16:9-20 is not what Mark originally wrote. 

One of the first questions which we ought to ask then is, “Was 16:8 intended to be the ending of Mark’s gospel?  Is that where Mark originally concluded his gospel?”  Some scholars believe it is.  They believe that Mark intended for his gospel to have an ‘open-ended’ feel – that he wanted his readers to conclude on their own that Jesus had really resurrected.  One can make a strong argument for this, especially considering the Markan sandwich that occurs in 15:40-16:8.  When we worked through those verses we argued that Joseph of Arimathea’s faith was a strong and courageous one because it was built on the message and person of Jesus, unlike the shallow and fearful faith of the women which was built on the miracles which they saw Jesus perform.  Scholars holding that 16:8 was the original ending of Mark’s gospel argue that “a resurrection announcement as opposed to a resurrection appearance is sufficient . . . because for Mark faith is elicited by hearing rather than by sight” (J. Edwards).  The problem with this view is that ‘open-ended’ literary techniques are much more modern techniques, while almost all ancient texts work diligently to state conclusions, rather than to suggest them.  Along these same lines it seems strange that Mark would record promises of Jesus in 14:28 and 16:7 that He would see His disciples again in Galilee, but for Mark not to include any resurrection appearance.  Other challenges to 16:8 being the original ending of Mark include the discouragement that the readers of Mark’s gospel would have been left with.  Most scholars believe that Mark was writing to believers in Rome who were beginning to experience persecution from the Roman government.  These believers would not have been encouraged to persevere under such persecution if Mark’s gospel ended with the women full of fear and fleeing from the tomb.    

So if many ancient manuscripts don’t include anything beyond 16:8, and we have just argued that 16:8 is not the original ending and that 16:9-20 isn’t original either, what happened to the original ending of Mark’s gospel and what do we make of 16:9-20?  The most likely scenario is that the last page of Mark’s original letter was either lost or damaged due to wear and tear.  The reason that so many ancient manuscripts stop at 16:8 is probably a reflection of the fact that the scribes who were copying the original manuscript were unable to copy the last page, and rather than create their own ending, they simply stopped copying where there was no more text.  And 16:9-20 seems to be a later addition made up of “a patchwork of resurrection appearances taken from the other three gospels” (J. Edwards).  The appearance of Jesus to Mary Magdalene in verses 9-11 seems to be a summary of John’s account in John 20:11-18; the appearance of Jesus to the two men who were traveling in verses 12-13 seems to be a summary of Luke’s account in Luke 24:13-35; and the appearance of Jesus to the eleven disciples in verse 14 has similarities to Jesus’ appearance to the eleven in Luke 24:36-38.  So because the content of verses 9-20 can largely be found in other portions of the NT it is okay for us to receive this as trustworthy and instructive, even though Mark, himself, may not have penned it.       

Now on to the content of verses 9-20.  A clear theme comes to the surface in verses 9 through 14 – the unbelief of the disciples.  Notice how the author and compiler of these verses emphasizes that here.  In verse 9 he gives an account of Jesus appearing to a woman, Mary Magdalene to be specific.  Then in verse 10 he says that Mary goes to the eleven disciples who were mourning and weeping because of Jesus’ death and proclaims to them that Jesus was alive.  But verse 11 says that they did not believe that He was alive and that He had actually appeared to her.  Perhaps the witness and testimony of a woman was not good enough for them.  So we find in verses 12 and 13 what would have been more believable evidence in their culture.  The author/compiler of these verses says in verses 12 and 13 that Jesus appeared to two men next.  After appearing to these two men they went back to the eleven disciples and gave an account of Jesus’ resurrection and appearance to them.  But the eleven disciples did not believe them either.  Their unbelief in Jesus’ resurrection was strong – they were convinced that Jesus was still dead and that He could not possibly be alive.  So in verse 14 Jesus takes it upon Himself to appear to the eleven and to prove to them that He had indeed risen.  But he also rebukes them for their unbelief when they heard the testimony of the others.  Jesus wants us to put our faith and trust in Him as the true Son of God and only Savior from sin and His resurrection from the dead should compel us to believe that.  The One who had died a brutal death and who had suffered the wrath of God on our behalf has overcome death and the grave and has risen victoriously.  Who else has done that?  What other religious figure has claimed to bear the sins of humanity, died in their place, and then risen to life once again?  There isn’t one!  This makes Jesus incredibly unique and demands that we give consideration to what He has proclaimed and done.

Paul understood that Jesus’ resurrection was of great importance to faith.  He says in 1 Corinthians 15:12-14, “Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?  But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.  And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.”  The resurrection proves that Jesus is the Son of God.  The resurrection helps provide us with certainty that all of Jesus’ words are true.  The resurrection proves that there is nothing that will ever conquer Christ or those who are truly in Him – including physical death.  It is the greatest assurance we have that Jesus is who He said He was, that He accomplished what He said He would accomplish, and that faith in Him will result in our salvation.

There are all kinds of wrong ideas about what happened to Jesus after He was taken down from the cross and placed in the tomb.  Some people believe the resurrection of Jesus was just a made up tale.  The problem with that theory is that the news of the resurrection became a problem for both the Roman government and the Jewish religious leaders.  If Jesus had not really risen, the Romans and the Jews would have marched the people who believed He had risen right to the tomb and showed them His body.  Others believe that His disciples somehow stole the body and started the rumor that Jesus had risen.  But think about what happened to almost every one of those disciples.  Everyone with the exception of John was martyred for proclaiming Christ and His resurrection.  How in the world does a bunch of cowardly and fearful disciples who immediately go into hiding after Jesus’ arrest work up the courage to steal Jesus’ body, come out of hiding to boldly proclaim His resurrection, and then to a man each go to their death continuing to proclaim His resurrection.  That just doesn’t happen.  The reality is that Jesus did rise and He did appear to His disciples.  As a result of His resurrection appearance the disciples were compelled to believe that Jesus was God’s Son and the Savior of the world – and we should be compelled to believe that too.

Not only should Jesus’ resurrection compel us to believe in Him, it should also compel us to proclaim the good news of what He has done to others.  This stands out in verses 15 through 20.  Before Jesus’ ascension into heaven He gives a final command to His disciples.  In verse 15 He says, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.”  The good news of Jesus’ death for sinners and His victory over sin and death is of universal significance.  Jesus commands the disciples to “go into all the world” and to make the gospel know to “the whole creation,” or all creation.  This good news isn’t just for the Jews, but for all of humanity.  Then He says in verse 16, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”  Proclamation of the Jesus’ death and resurrection is vitally important not simply because of its universal significance but also because of its eternal consequences.  Jesus says that each person’s eternal destination, either heaven or hell, is dependent upon that person’s faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus.  If a person believes (which can only come from hearing the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection) that Jesus died on the cross for their sins and that He rose again as victor over sin and death and by faith surrenders control of his or her life to Jesus, then he/she will receive salvation.  But if one does not believe that Jesus died on the cross for his/her sin, that He rose again, and he/she does not surrender control of his/her life to Him, then he/she will be condemned to an eternity in hell.  Please understand this immensely weighty reality!  Where you spend your eternity is entirely dependent upon a decision that you make.  Will you receive forgiveness of your sins, reconciliation with God, and eternal security in heaven by placing your faith in Jesus, or will you choose not to believe who Jesus is and what Jesus has done and condemn yourself to an eternity of separation from God and experiencing His wrath in hell?  That is a choice we have to make.  And for those of us who have made the choice to place our faith in Jesus and surrender our lives to Him, we have the great responsibility of making known to others what Jesus has done.  Our proclamation may be the only way that some people get to hear what Jesus has done for them and Jesus commands us to make it known in all the world and to all of creation.

Allow me to make a few brief notes on some other parts of verses 16-18.  In verse 16 the author/compiler of these last few verses in Mark’s gospel writes whoever believes AND is baptized will be saved.  However, nowhere in the NT do we find baptism as a requirement for salvation.  That being said, baptism is one of the two ordinances which Jesus, Himself, commanded that we participate in, and during the first century the idea of a believer who did not want to follow through with baptism was unheard of.  So while baptism is not a requirement for salvation, it was so closely tied to a person’s belief and salvation that they were often seen together as they are here in verse 16.  (We will talk much more about baptism next week.)  Then in verses 17 and 18 we see a list of signs that might accompany one’s decision to trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior.  Context becomes very important in these verses and I’ll do my best to walk you through my understanding.  The signs in verse 17 and at the end of verse 18 aren’t too surprising for those who are familiar with the NT.  Verse 17 says that those who put their faith in Jesus “will cast out demons.”  Casting out demons was something that Jesus, Himself, did as part of His ministry.  And in the first century it was apparently something that some who placed their faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior were also able to do.  Verse 17 also says that those who put their faith I Jesus “will speak in new tongues.”  This is something that many people who are familiar with the NT will also remember taking place in the first part of the book of Acts when the day of Pentecost came and the Holy Spirit empowered many of the disciples to speak in new tongues.  Now unfortunately, the idea of speaking in tongues has become greatly distorted in our day.  For many today speaking in tongues is thought of as some heavenly or holy language that is made up of new sounds and incomprehensible words.  However, in the NT that’s not exactly what took place.  When the disciples in the book of Acts started speaking in tongues they started speaking in other dialects and languages that were already known to men but which they had no prior knowledge of or proficiency in.  They began speaking in languages (or tongues) that were new to them, but which others who were present knew and spoke.  This gave those individuals an opportunity to hear the gospel proclaimed in their native language so that they could both hear and comprehend the good news and then respond to it.  The last sign in verse 18 is also one that NT readers would be familiar with, because Jesus would on occasion heal those who were sick.  It’s the first two signs in verse 18 that cause us some trouble.  The first part of verse 18 says “they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them.”  These two signs are particularly difficult to make sense of.  First of all they aren’t for the common good of others.  Casting out demons, speaking in someone else’s native language, and healing the sick all benefit others.  Picking up serpents and drinking poison don’t seem to be of any benefit to others.  The other difficulty is we have no context for what the author/compiler was trying to communicate anywhere else in the NT.  So these two signs have become a great challenge to scholars for two thousand years now.  Obviously belief in Jesus doesn’t exempt His followers from the natural consequences of their decisions and actions.  You guys can’t go home and start playing with copper heads and drinking Drano and think that everything is going to be fine.  The best attempts at explaining these signs that I have come across communicate the idea that if these things should happen by accident or by some form of persecution around the first century to those who were proclaiming the message of Jesus, then they could come through the ordeal without harm to bear witness to the power of God and the trustworthiness of their message.  In the book of Acts Paul was bitten by a poisonous viper on one of his missionary trips and when he did not die or fall over sick the natives began to pay attention to the message that he brought, because they realized his message was accompanied by unusual power.  There is also some evidence that 1^st century believers were occasionally forced to drink poison or tricked into drinking poison for their belief in and faith in Jesus.  In surviving these circumstances it would add credibility to their message and belief.  Those doing the persecuting would be forced to consider if their message really was from God if they had been unaffected by the poison.  But the most important part of these signs is seen in the commentary of verse 20.  These signs were given to the first century believes to confirm the message.  The first century believers did not have a NT to preach from.  They simply taught and spread the message of the apostles.  So skeptics could easily deny the validity of their message if they didn’t want to believe it.  That became much harder to do if the person proclaiming the message had an attesting sign of God accompanying their message.  It would have been a lot harder to write off someone proclaiming to have a message from God that could also cast out demons or bring healing to a sick individual.  It would have been a lot harder to write off someone you hated because of their belief in Jesus, but who was unaffected after drinking a poisonous drink you had given them to kill them.  These signs were given primarily to 1^st century individuals who needed something to verify that their message was from God and that it was a trustworthy one.  It shouldn’t be surprising that those of us in the US have probably never encountered signs like these or been able to perform signs like these.  We don’t need attesting signs in our age and culture because we have the written word of God, which is a better, more consistent, and more subjective source of proof concerning who God is and what He has revealed to us.  But that doesn’t mean that the attesting miracles in believers have ceased altogether.  God is still able to work mighty attesting signs through missionaries and believers in cultures where the written word of God is unavailable to demonstrate to those who are hearing the message that it is a true message from God.

After Jesus had spoken these things verse 19 says that Jesus was taken up into heaven and that He then sat down at the right hand of God.  The NT says that from there Jesus reigns over His creation and makes intercession with the Father on our behalf.  And after Jesus had ascended into heaven, His disciples went out and began to proclaim the good news of Jesus everywhere.

I would argue that the good news of Jesus’ substitutionary death on the cross and His victory over sin and death (which became clear in His resurrection) is even more life changing than the horrific news of September 11, 2001.  The end of Mark’s gospel suggests that the news of Jesus’ death and resurrection is of universal significance and eternal consequence (something the news of September 11, 2001 was not).  But unlike the news of September 11^th there are millions who have heard, but who have not believed its truth.  Unlike the news of September 11^th there are millions who have heard the news and believed, but haven’t felt compelled to tell anyone.  And unlike the news of September 11^th there are still many today who have not heard the news at all.  Why is that?  Let me encourage you to really give some consideration to the news of the Gospel.  Do you look like one of the disciples in verses 9-14?  Perhaps you have heard the news of Jesus’ death and resurrection but you have chosen not to believe it.  The evidence for Jesus’ resurrection in the Bible and history is incredibly strong.  And if Jesus did in fact rise from the dead it means He really is the Son of God and the words He proclaimed about salvation coming through Him must be true as well.  You need to consider that and respond by putting your faith in Jesus.  Or perhaps you have already believed the message of Jesus’ death and resurrection, but you’ve never felt compelled to tell anyone.  Jesus commanded the eleven and the rest of His disciples to be about the business of proclaiming Him in all the world to all of humanity.  It’s a life changing, and potentially life saving message for all those who hear and that should compel us to share it with all that we can.   

Small Group Questions for Discussion

1. Read Mark 16:9-14.  In these verses we emphasized the unbelief of the disciples but also communicated the idea that Jesus’ resurrection should compel us to believe.  What are some reasons why people don’t believe in the resurrection of Jesus?  What evidence do we have that supports the resurrection of Jesus?  What does the resurrection of Jesus tell us about who He is and what He has done?

2. Read Mark 16:15-20.  In these verses we emphasized the idea that Jesus’ resurrection should also compel us to proclaim.  Mark 16:16 is a very important verse that says, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”  What does it mean to ‘believe?’  What does it mean to be ‘saved?’  What does it mean to be ‘condemned?’  Why are those who don’t believe condemned?  Is baptism really a requirement for salvation, why or why not?

3. Do we feel compelled to proclaim the message of Jesus’ death and resurrection, why or why not?  If the author/compiler of the ending of Mark’s gospel suggested that God would provide help in the form of attesting miracles to those proclaiming the message of Christ, is there any reason that we shouldn’t expect the accompanying power of God when we proclaim the message of the Gospel, why or why not?  If we should expect it, will it look the same?  Why or why not?  If it doesn’t look the same, what does it look like?

4. What step of faith does this passage of Scripture require us to take as individuals and as a small group?  How do we work this out on mission?