An angel tells the women who came to the tomb: “Jesus has risen! He is not here.”
The earliest manuscripts end with a cliffhanger. Those who saw the empty tomb refused to tell anyone because they were afraid.
In this final section, we see the disciples struggled to believe, that Jesus appeared before them for many days, that He commissioned His disciples to go into all the world – which all of them did and many of them willingly died proclaiming they saw Jesus alive!
#NewTestament #NewTestament1Year #NewYear #Jesus #faith #spirituality #deconstructing #reconstructing #deconstructingchristianity #reconstructingfaith #postchristianworld #postchristian
This episode was filmed in India where those who follow Jesus are sharing about the One True God to people who believe in many gods much like the Christians in Rome that Mark was writing.
Video:
Mark 16 Notes:
Jesus took on Himself all of the evil of humanity, but something remarkable happens on the 3rd day.
An angel tells the women who came to the tomb: “Jesus has risen! He is not here.”
The earliest manuscripts end with a cliffhanger. Those who saw the empty tomb refused to tell anyone because they were afraid.
Remember, Mark was writing to persecuted Christ-followers to remind them of the life, ministry, teachings, death, and resurrection of Jesus to encourage them to persevere and not be afraid! Instead they should go out with boldness declaring that Jesus is alive!
Now, later manuscripts added the final section. This shouldn’t bother us. Just as we can trust that God moved in the hearts of those who wrote the letters, poems, prophecies and histories that make up the Bible, we can trust that God allowed this update with more details that happened after the resurrection.
The Bible is a real book written by real people! It is not a magical book written by angels on gold or dropped out of heaven. There is something beautiful about God using real people to convey His message to the world. That means He can use us!
As a quick aside: remember that the Gospels are histories so they are descriptive. They are not prescriptive like the letters of Paul. Just because the Bible describes something that happened does not mean it should happen now. Some things happened that were good. Some things happened that were not good. For example, just because the Bible says some of the disciples “pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all” does not mean we should pick up snakes and drink poison to prove our devotion to Jesus as some in the Apalachian mountains do. There are other prescriptive passages that tell us to pray for those who are sick that they may be healed, so the description of that happening then is affirmed as still happening now.
In this final section, we see the disciples struggling to believe that Jesus appeared before them for many days, that He commissioned His disciples to go into all the world – which all of them did and many of them willingly died proclaiming they saw Jesus alive!
How has reading the story of Jesus helped you grow in faith?
Who will you tell about what you are learning about Jesus?
Have you experienced Jesus as alive in your life?
If not, would you like to do that?
