Commentary in Simple English on the Gospel that Mark wrote

Chapter 16 is one of the great problems of the Bible. We do not know what happened when Mark wrote it. We could explain what we have here like this: -

(See Matthew 28: 1-8; Luke 24: 1-10.) [16.1]

Joseph and Nicodemus would have washed the body of Jesus. They wrapped about 34 kilograms of spices in the linen cloth (John 19: 39). However, no one had put oil on the body, as was the custom. So several women set out for the tomb on that first Easter morning (verses 1 and 2). They had not thought their way through what they wanted to do. Probably several men would have been needed to force the stone away from the entrance. The tomb was above them on a rock face. It was when they looked up that they saw that the stone had already been rolled away (verse 4). Matthew speaks of angels at the tomb that morning. The other three Gospels do not say much about them. (See Luke 24: 23.) The women went into the tomb. There they saw a young man. He sat on the stone bench on the right hand side. If this is Mark, he has had to find something else to wear. He lost his clothes earlier on! (See 14: 51 and 52). No wonder the women were frightened (verse 5).

What the young man said to the women (verses 6 and 7) was what Jesus had said in the Garden. (See 14: 28). Peter has a special place in verse 7. He had failed badly. Yet Christ's love and grace could bring him back. Indeed, what had happened to him was needed. The experience would help him to lead the churches in the years to come.

The women left the tomb and ran away. The end of verse 8 really reads: 'for they were afraid of.......'.

Of course, the empty tomb is not the thing we need. We need Jesus risen from the dead. Jesus is alive for ever. He has beaten death itself. So the Gospel would not have been complete without verses 9 - 20. It seems clear, however, that Mark would have told us how Jesus appeared to His followers in Galilee.

Matthew 28:9 and 10 and John 20:10-18 tell us about the meeting of Mary Magdalene with the Lord. The followers of Jesus found it hard to believe that He was risen. (Verse 11). This is important. Jesus had promised that it would happen. Yet they had not understood when He told them. They were not just waiting to be told that it had happened. They were taken by surprise.

The full story of the walk to Emmaus (verses 11 and 12) is in Luke 24: 13-35. Then in verse 14 Jesus shows Himself in the room later that same evening. (See Luke 24: 34; 1 Corinthians 15: 5.)

Verses 15-18 probably tell us about the great meeting in Galilee. (See Matthew 28: 16-20; perhaps Luke 24: 45-49; John 20: 21-23; and 1 Corinthians 15: 6.) Perhaps Jesus met His followers at the Lake of Galilee to prepare for this meeting (John 21).

In verses 15-18 we have the orders which Jesus gives to His people and to His Church.

All down the years since the days of Jesus, there has been danger for Christians. Some people have known that if they say that they are believers in Jesus, their enemies will kill them. It is true in many lands today. I would like to tell them to be secret followers. I cannot. We have to remember the words of Jesus (8: 38).

It was some days later that Jesus led His followers out of Jerusalem to the Mount of Olives near Bethany (Luke 24: 50 and 51; Acts 1: 9). We can read in the Acts of the Apostles something of the way in which the followers of Jesus spread the Good News. For almost two thousand years now men and women have taken the Good News to parts of this world where it has not been heard before. May the Lord help those who read this book to understand the Gospel of Mark better and to take it where it has never before been heard.