I will be focusing on Mark 16:1-8. The extended ending (verses 9-20) is not in our earliest manuscripts.[1]
The original ending of Mark ends quite abruptly. The women have an encounter with an angel and are “trembling and bewildered” and “afraid”. Understandably so, for anyone looking for a body and encounters an angelic being. But reading this cliffhanger as part of the ancient church is both a literary and engagement device.
Mark 15 is the chapter where Jesus stands before Pilate, is mocked and beaten by the Roman guards, crucified, killed and buried. Read alone, it is a story of defeat - a Jewish leader of a small movement is crushed under the mighty hand of Rome. He was a man from a fragile people; a people that has struggled the past few centuries for power and identity amongst imperial rulers.
However, the authors of the Gospels are quick to portray that God’s own people, or rather the religious leaders of Israel at the time, delivered Jesus to death and the fault lays with primarily with them.[1] Underlying this narrative is the tension of the Jews and their relationship with Rome; that is, how will God liberate the Jewish people from their pagan rulers?
Here’s a popular passage that many Christians should be familiar with (Mark 8:27-29):
Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.” [1]
Peter’s confession here is a major declaration in the lens of orthodox Christian doctrine and church history. This is the second time in Mark’s Gospel (the first being at the beginning of the Gospel) where Jesus is indicated to be the Messiah. This is also one high point in Mark’s Gospel in terms of narrative and character formation (for both Jesus and the disciples). Peter, speaking for the disciples, finally get who Jesus is (despite having trouble understanding his parables). Jesus is blatantly declared to be the Messiah by characters within the story, not just the narrator. This sets the tone for the rest of the Gospel - Jesus’ ministry in Jerusalem and what it means to follow the Messiah.
But Wait! There’s More…
Jesus is having a lot of back-and-forth with the Pharisees since Mark 2. The author of this Gospel puts two Sabbath episodes together. The previous (2:23-28) is about how the Sabbath was made for man and how the Son of Man is Lord over the Sabbath (fighting words to the Pharisees). In this particular Sabbath episode, Jesus asks an interesting ethical question: “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” (3:4) An odd question, given the context. It’s the Sabbath, Jesus is in the synagogue and He just asked a man with a shriveled hand to stand. Surely, no one was killing anyone else.
However, no one was exactly seeming to do good, either. Jesus was probably invoking a form of hyperbole here, but His lesson becomes clear. Jesus restores the man’s hand on the Sabbath. Rather than using one’s day of rest to do the Lord’s work, the Pharisees saw fit to do as little as possible - even helping those in need. But Christ was not abiding by their laws, so Jesus needed to be eliminated. The Pharisees began a plot to kill because this one man healed.
Jesus turns the question of ethics into a double-edged sword. You are either saving lives or killing. If, especially in our quest for holiness, we are not actively restoring the lives of others, then we are no better than Pharisees. In short: Doing nothing about what should be done is evil. So on our Sabbaths (whether you have one ritualistically or sporadically), when we are so focused on becoming more of our idea of holy, we need to ask ourselves:
“Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?”
So, I’ve finished Isaiah and have now started the Gospel of Mark. This Gospel hits the ground running - it takes no time to get into the ministry of Christ. One thing I try to be aware of when I read Scripture is comparing my practice, and the practice of the church culture around me, to the actions of Christ. Finding difference between how we act and how Christ acts exposes to us how we are not “Christ-like”. And this hit me pretty strongly in the first two chapters of Mark. Two relational/missional ideas run in the actions of Christ in the first two chapters: (1) Jesus doesn’t settle for “I’ll pray for you” and (2) Jesus actually spends time with sinners.
