The sequence
of our Easter meditations at Eastside has followed the chronology of Scripture:
(i) Palm
Sunday - Jesus received with Hosanna’s
(ii) Thursday
- the night that He was betrayed, Jesus celebrated the Passover and
instituted what we now know as the Lord’s Supper.
(iii) Friday
- the cross
(iv) Saturday - the silent
day when Jesus rested on the Sabbath day from
His finished work on the cross
(iv) Sunday, the first day of the week (16:2) - the day of the Resurrection.
Everything
happened, just as Jesus had said earlier in Mark 8:31; Mark 9:31 and Mark 10:33-34.
He had said
that He would be killed and after three days He would rise again.
On this
Resurrection Sunday I want us to
consider Mark 16 which is not often used because of the controversial
ending. I need to briefly comment on that note in your Bibles
which says concerning the
ending to Mark’s gospel, “Some of the oldest oldest
and most reliable New
Testament manuscripts do not include Mark 16:9-20”.
The oldest manuscripts referred to here are
the Codex Sinaiticus and the Codex Vaticanus. The King James Bible of
1611 contains vv. 9-20 without the footnote because the translators of this
version used the Textus Receptus, the
text handed down through the church age.
Since 1611, however, older manuscripts have been discovered, notably in
1844 when the archaeologist Constantin von Tischendorf discovered ancient
manuscripts at the Monastery of Saint Catherine on Mt. Sinai. These documents
did not include vv. 9-20.The conclusion has therefore been that these verses
were added later. This may disturb some and
you wonder whether there has not more tampering in the Bible. We can put your
fears to rest. When these more ancient documents were discovered by von
Tischendorf in 1844, and later the discovery of the Dead sea scrolls [1]from
1946 onwards, it was found that there were some discrepancies with the Textus Receptus, but not of a major
nature. No major or even minor doctrine was affected by the differences.
But what
can we say about what is taught in vv. 9-20? Apart from verses 17 and 18 there is nothing
unusual or controversial here. It is entirely in harmony with the other
gospels. So, we are free to focus on the great theme of this chapter, namely the
Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. In this chapter we see two repeated thoughts concerning the resurrection:
The
first is, “They did not believe”.
The second is, “He appeared“.
These two phrases dominate the content of Mark Chapter 16. Let’s consider them in
greater detail
1.
The ever present problem
of unbelief
Think about this. Nobody lived physically closer to Jesus than
these people here mentioned in our text.
They were privileged to see with their own eyes His real miracles and the
evidence of His sinless life. They were privileged to hear His convicting
preaching. They heard him say on numerous occasions that He would be killed,
buried and raised again. The sobering
reality is that against all this no-one
of Christ’s close associates really believed Him when He said that He
would rise from the dead! Whilst we take
note of the recurring “unbelief“ of all concerned, we must not read ‘unbelief’
here as something of a final fact. These
people all had loved Jesus deeply in life. They were missing him sorely now. They mourned and wept (16:10).
Mary Magdalene owed him her very life, for Jesus had cast out 7 demons
from her (16:9). The two walking in
the country (16:12) were according
to Luke (24: 13-35) talking about these things on the road to Emmaus. It is
clear that they were depressed at this thought
that Jesus had been crucified and buried in a grave. They had no
expectation of His resurrection. The language
of the text reveals this. Now again, this
has nothing to do with cynical unbelief. In their minds they were simply not
able to bring themselves to believe that Jesus would come back from the dead,
even though He had proven that He had the power over death in the raising of
Lazarus in John 11.
Now let’s take a look at a cross section of these people.
The
women: Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome bought spices,
after the Sabbath was past, and early on
Sunday morning they went to the tomb
to anoint the dead body of Jesus. That in itself is a sign of unbelief.
If Jesus said that He would rise on the third day, then there was actually no
need to buy and apply these funeral spices. All they needed to do was to wait
for the resurrection! But they clearly did not expect the resurrection. So, when
they came to the tomb the next day (the first day of the week) they saw that
the tomb stone had been rolled away, but still they made no connection. John
records that Mary Magdalene had run back to tell Peter about this. She reported
(note the language of unbelief) … “They
have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid
Him.” (Jn. 20:2,13). No thought
of the resurrection. Even when Jesus appeared to her a little later, she thought that He was the gardener (Jn. 20:15) supposing that he might have
carried the body of Jesus away. Only when Jesus addressed her by her name, “Mary”[2], did she recognise Him. This is the power of unbelief! There are none
as blind as those who will not see! A
closed mind chooses to see what it wants to see. This is what we are up against when we share
the Gospel! However, as I have reminded
you, this is not cynical unbelief- and yet we shall see that it is still sinful
unbelief.
The
disciples: the angel at the tomb confirms the
fact of the resurrection to the women: “Do
not be alarmed, you seek Jesus of
Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here … but go and
tell his disciples and Peter
that he is going before you into Galilee. There you will see him, just
as he has told you” (vv. 6,7). When
they told the grief stricken disciples, they too would not believe her. Even
though they have heard the Lord Jesus speaking to them plainly about His
resurrection they did not hear Him!
Observe the power of the closed mind, the stuck mind, the power of
unbelief! We all engage in selective hearing. We all choose to hear what we
want to hear! The doctrine of election is a classic case. How many of us have
not initially refused to hear this clear biblical truth and were angry with those
that preached it? Jesus repeatedly challenges us to consider carefully how we
hear, e.g. Mk 4:9,23,24; 8:18
The 2
men on the Emmaus road : In vv. 12
&13 we find an incident which described
in greater detail in Luke’s gospel (Lk. 24:13-32).
Two men are walking on the road to Emmaus. Lost in grief and depressed about
the things that had happened to Jesus in Jerusalem, ‘their eyes were kept from recognising him’ (Lk.24:16) as He joined them. Later He opened their eyes to
recognize Him (Lk.24:31). For the first time we are helped to see the
remedy for unbelief,… they were helped
to see !
The
11 disciples: In v.14 we find the 11 disciples in Galilee when Jesus suddenly joins them. We read, “...and he rebuked them
for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed
those who saw him after he had risen.” This is an important insight. Jesus
categorizes this unbelief as a sinful hardness of heart!
Now, you may say, “I
believe in the resurrection of Jesus with all my heart“. We, modern New Testament believers, having
been exposed to the Easter story for so many years find it easier to believe in
the resurrection than the women and the disciples, because we have become so used
to hear this familiar story! So let’s
see whether we cannot try another avenue to test our own tendency to unbelief.
If you believe in the resurrection of Christ and do not question this because
the resurrection is now an established, historical fact, then do you also
believe in the second coming of the Lord Jesus?
To get close up and personal: are you living in the constant
anticipation of His appearing, whether by your death or by His personal appearing
in the clouds? And does it make a difference to the way in which you live now
and make decisions now? Do you get the point?
2.
He Appeared!
This is the act of Grace: He appeared to deal with their unbelief!
He appeared - this phrase is repeated 3 times in vv.9-20:
(i) 16:9
“He appeared first to Mary
Magdalene”
(ii) 16:12 “he appeared in another form to two of
them”
(iii) 16:14 “Afterward He
appeared to the Eleven themselves...”.
He came to
deliver His beloved people from
unbelief by His post resurrection appearances.
And these were not the only. In 1 Corinthians
15:3-8 the apostle Paul speaks of
many more resurrection appearances, “…he appeared
to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than
five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living,
though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all
the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one
abnormally born.”
Paul wrote these
words about 20 years after the resurrection. Many of those who met the risen
Jesus Christ were still alive at that time. From Paul’s perspective the
evidence for the resurrection is utterly overwhelming! And the resurrection appearances were not
that of a ghost. This was a physical Christ! He spoke to Mary. He spoke to the men on the
Emmaus road. They also had a meal together on that occasion. The apostles ate fish that Christ had caught
and prepared at the seaside. Ghosts don’t do breakfast for their friends!
He appeared says Mark three times. He appeared, says Paul 4 times in the
letter to the Corinthians just quoted.
Peter says the same thing in Acts
10:39-41 in the home of a Roman soldier: “We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in
Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him from
the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. He was not seen
by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen – by us who
ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach
to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of
the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who
believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name”
This is what we also affirm today on this Resurrection
Sunday. He appeared! And He will appear again
at the second coming. We have to get over the fact that supernatural
is not irrational! Yes, we do not understand how a man can die and live again,
but are we saying and assuming that we can know everything? Surely our own
experience tells us that we don’t know everything!
There is the planet Mars, and we have a rover there,
but the truth is that we know very little about Mars. But we know that Mars is there, and we trust that we will see more of
it in years to come. The Resurrection of Jesus is a fact. The
evidence is there, and Jesus took care to present the evidence in His post
resurrection appearances. He knows how weak and unbelieving we are, and so He
took care to strengthen our faith by His post resurrection appearances. Don’t be slow to believe all that is
written in the Scriptures. And thank Him that He works even this day to overcome our unbelief with Grace. Thank God for the gift of
the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit given to us at Pentecost.
Where does the knowledge of
the Resurrection leave us?
The ending of Mark (16:15-20) like Matthew 28:18-20
leaves us with the Great Commission: The resurrection leaves us with an
evangelistic duty.
For almost six weeks before the Ascension, the Lord Jesus Christ was with the disciples
and then He gave them a great commission.
He said to them, “Go into all the
world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is
baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned”. (vv. 15,16)
Go and tell! Do
not be unbelieving, tell people about His
life, death and resurrection.
Verse 20 tells us, “and they went out and preached everywhere.” They went out
and it was not long before their world knew that there was a
resurrected Saviour whom God had sent to save those who would believe in Him, from
their sins. Soon there were believers
everywhere – in Rome, in Corinth, Ephesus …in every major city in Asia minor in
the Roman and Greek world, and spreading into North Africa and Europe and into the Far East. Many of them experienced
persecution and sufferings; numbers lost their lives doing this work. They
endured it all. Would they have done this if they weren’t convinced that Jesus
Christ had risen from the dead and had commanded them to go? What else can
explain the fact of the growth of the church in the world today? Do not be unbelieving… Grace has been given to you not only to believe but to be active in the sharing of your faith? Does
your neighbour know about Jesus?
Cure the unbelief of the world by the proclamation of the grace of God !
