The Resurrected Christ

Mark 15:40–16:8 – “Introducing…Jesus” – September 5, 2021

Introduction

Read Mark 15:40–16:8.

Sometimes in a book or a movie you learn something at the end that changes everything about what you’ve just read or seen.

The whole thing was a dream.
Or Kevin Spacy was lying the whole time.
Or Darth Vader is really your father and Leia your sister.
Bruce Willis was dead the whole time.

It’s true with people, too.

Sometimes you learn something about a person that completely changes how you see his life.

What we’re looking at this morning is the ultimate version of that truth.

The resurrection of Jesus completely changes how we see the rest of his life and ministry.
If you take away his resurrection, he’s historical—but not the focus of worship for millions of people around the world in 2021.
If you take away his resurrection, there is no church.
And we have no salvation.
It’s the resurrection of Jesus that changes history from BC to AD.

“Introducing…Jesus”

The final sermon in the gospel of Mark.
John Mark the cousin of Barnabas, the co-worker of Paul and Peter.
John Mark is writing in the 50s with Peter the apostle as his key source.

Mark 8:31; 9:31; 10:33–34.

Three times Jesus prophesied that he would be killed.
Three times Jesus prophesied that after three he would rise.
Prophesying your death is one thing. Prophesying your resurrection?

NEXT WEEK: Relationships that Work.

Glory in the resurrected Christ: (1) The Longer Ending of Mark, (2) The Burial of Jesus, (3) The Proclamation of the Angel

Prayer—200 Gospel Conversations, Tuesday Talks, Dan Morrill.

I. The Long Ending of Mark

The long ending of Mark in your Bible is likely included with several footnotes and maybe even brackets to separate it from the rest of Mark.

My ESV sets it apart with a heading: “[Some of the earliest manuscripts do not include 16:9–20.]” They take this unusual step twice. Here and John 7:53–8:11, the woman caught in adultery.

For Mark 16:9–20 they add a footnote and give you a brief overview of the variations we have of the ending. Verses 9–20 is one variation. It’s called “the long ending.”

I don’t think it’s the original ending of Mark. I think the original ending is after verse 8. We’ll get to that.

A situation like this is a good excuse to remember what our Bible is.

Our ESV didn’t drop out of the sky.
Little gold tablets to Joseph Smith—then we just copy what’s there.
Like Jesus is GOD INCARNATED IN A MAN.
So the Bible is God’s Word written through men.
In the words they knew, in words they and their readers understood.
Wrote using the tools of the day—ink and parchments.
What they wrote on those original documents is INSPIRED BY GOD.
Those originals were copied and copied and preserved and copied…
And then translated into English and then our ESV—or your preferred.

Critics might say that this copying guarantees mistakes and we shouldn’t trust our Bibles. REMEMBER:

NUMBER of manuscripts
- Tacitus’ history of Rome: 3[1]
- Josephus’ The Jewish War: 50.
- Those numbers are typical.
- BUT THE NT?
- There are over 5,000 Greek manuscripts for our NT.
- When you add translations of the NT into other languages, the number of ancient documents gets to 20,000.
- A massive number!
ANTIQUITY of manuscripts
- Aristotle’s Poetics written 350 BC, earliest manuscript somewhere around 1000 AD, over a thousand years later.
- Josephus’s The Jewish War, written in the 1^st century but no manuscript till the 10^th century, almost 900 years later.
- Tacitus a Roman historian, wrote around 100 AD. Earliest manuscript is 900 years later.
- Again, this is pretty typical for ancient works.
- BUT THE NT?
- Some of the NT fragments date to the 100s AD.
- Two of the most important manuscripts contain the whole Bible in Greek.
- Codex Sinaiticus mid-300s.
- Codex Vaticanus also mid-300s.
- Add translations of the NT into other languages also ancient.
CHURCH FATHERS
- But the NT doesn’t just live in NT fragments and manuscripts.
- It also lives in the sermons and writings of the church.
- From beginning NT documents seen as inspired, different.
- From the beginning they were treated as Scripture.
- So in the 1^st century, begin to see quotations of the NT.
- g., letter of 1 Clement (d. 100) dates to the 1^st century.
- Lived at the time of the apostle John.
- 1 Clement dozens of quotations and calls them “Scripture.” E.g., chp 34 citing Rev 4 and 5 as “Scripture.”[2]
- The quotations of the NT in other documents are almost enough to reproduce the entire NT. Not quite, but they are abundant.
COMBINE ALL THESE FACTORS
- Scholars have a mountain of evidence.
- By comparing manuscripts they can tell in almost 100% of texts what the original was.
- Weed out careless mistakes…
- Intentional changes…

TAKEAWAY:

There is no rival in ancient literature to what we have with our Bibles.
The glory of the Bible.
The glory of what’s in our hands.
The glory that what we read in these words contains what God inspired.
What the original authors wrote.
These words are unlike any other words.
And the history of these words is unlike any other words.
“All Scripture is breathed out by God!” (2 Tim 3:16)

This leads us to the passage before us.

Why do most Evangelical scholars—not all, but most—think these verses were not in the original gospel of Mark?

External Evidence:

There are three main versions of the ending of Mark:

Ending at v. 8 in the two oldest and best manuscripts—Codex Sinaiticus, Codex Vaticanus—mid-300s. Complete OT/NT in Greek.
Ending at v. 20 in many ancient manuscripts
A shorter ending added at v. 8, which then adds the longer ending as well.
Ending at v. 20 with some language added at v. 14 (only 1 manuscript).

The longer ending begins to be quoted in the 2^nd century, so it’s extremely early.

Phrases from it pop up in a few places in Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and a 2^nd century harmony of the gospels called the Diatessaron written by a heretic Tatian.

The early manuscripts show an INSTABILITY with the ending of Mark.

Eusebius (ca. 260–340) and Jerome (ca. 347–420) in the 4^th century know of the manuscript differences.
Both know some manuscripts have longer but best ones stop at v. 8.
Yet, Jerome did what many Bible publishers do.
When he published the Vulgate, the Latin Bible which was used for over a thousand years by the Roman Catholic Church, he included the longer ending.

The Internal Evidence:

Disrupted language:

The repeated but clumsy mention of “Mary Magdalene” in vv. 1–2 and v. 9.
The subject of the verb in v. 9.
If the women come “very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen” in v. 2 and then the events of vv. 3–8, it is jarring to go back to “rose early on the first day of the week” and mention Mary again—as if Mark hadn’t already mentioned her.
It gives the feeling of a text copied on to another text.

The vocabulary:

There are 17 words used in Mark 16:9–20 found nowhere else in Mark.
For a passage that has only 172 words total, this is a big number.

The theology: Verse 16 to me is jarring.

It’s not a slamdunk, but it would be unique in the NT to say without any qualification baptism saves you.
Passages like Acts 2:38 and 1 Peter 3:21 qualify this idea clearly.

Conclusion: Early and historically interesting, but not written by Mark.

I think Mark intended to finish his work at Mark 16:8.

First, Mark’s pattern is not to include everything he could.

No birth narrative, nothing before Jesus’ baptism.
Jesus’ temptations are simply: “being tempted by Satan… he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him” (1:13).
Tons of Jesus’ teaching left out.

Second, Mark begins with a voice crying in the wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord, and he ends with the angel crying out in the tomb that “He has risen!”

Third, he ends with the witness testimony of the angel—which is no less powerful than recording resurrection appearances, which are also personal testimony.

Fourth, Mark’s gospel never existed alone. It was always accompanied by personal witnesses to the resurrection—like Peter!

Fifth, God gave us a fourfold gospel record. If the evidence of “two or three witnesses” is needed to establish a clear record, the fact we have FOUR WITNESSES is a big deal.

What does Mark want us to know in his conclusion?

Remember his beginning:

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. (Mark 1:1)

II. The Burial of Jesus

Read Mark 15:40–47.

“Women looking on from a distance”

“Mary Magdalene” (v. 40)—name and where she’s from.
“Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses” (v. 40).
I think this is Mary the mother of Jesus—similar to Mark 6:3:

Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? (Mark 6:3)

Then “Salome” (v. 40).

Their commendation: “They followed him and ministered to him” (v. 41).

Following Christ + Serving (diakoneō) = the language of discipleship.

“Joseph of Arimathea” (v. 43)—also commended.

Notice Mark’s emphatic testimony that Jesus had died:

“breathed his last” (v. 37)
“breathed his last” (v. 39)
“the body of Jesus” (v. 43)
“already died” and centurion confirmed (v. 44)—professional executioners
“the corpse” (v. 45).

Only then was he buried—and buried with the two Marys as eyewitnesses (v. 47).

It’s important for us to see: We are saved because Jesus died.

Without his death, the penalty for sin hasn’t been paid.
He suffered physically
He received the wrath of God
But he also needed to die for the payment of our sins to be paid.
Remember: Romans 6:23, “The wages of sin is death.”
If Christ doesn’t DIE for us, we still owe those wages.
But this is the good news.
“Christ died for our sins!”
Really the gospel in 5 words: “Christ died for our sins.”
That’s why Mark makes such an emphasis on the death of Jesus.

TAKEAWAY: The death of Jesus reminds us what a big deal our sin is.

Not enough for Jesus to come and teach us.
Or model for us how to live.
He had to come and die to save us.
It was the death of Jesus that was required for us to be saved.

But as we know. His death is not the end of the story!

III. The Proclamation of the Angel

Read Mark 16:1–8.

Once again the three women.

Present at the tomb…because they were going to honor him: “go and anoint him” (v. 1). Not embalming to preserve but fragrances to honor.

Commended as disciples, so commended as witnesses to the empty tomb.

The women commissioned by God to be witnesses. There are “two or three witnesses” (Mary and Mary). And they see each step of the way, which was necessary.

Example of Jewish attitude toward women as witnesses:

The following are unfit to give testimony, as they are considered thieves and robbers: One who plays with dice or other games of chance for money; and those who lend money with interest; and those who race pigeons and place wagers on the outcome; and merchants who deal in produce of the Sabbatical Year, which may be eaten, but may not be an object of commerce; and slaves. This is the principle: Any testimony for which a woman is unfit, these too are unfit. Although in certain cases a woman’s testimony is accepted, e.g., to testify to the death of someone’s husband, in the majority of cases her testimony is not valid.
Mishnah Rosh Hashanah (New Year) 1.8

They saw him crucified, so there could be no question like maybe they actually saw him on Thursday before he died.

Time stamp: Early Sunday morning with the sun up.

Stone: The wealthy would use large round stone discs to cover the entrance of a tomb. Would allow reuse of the tomb.

The angel: “A young man” (v. 5)—Angel of the Lord, dressed in a white robe.

Matthew “angel” (Matt 28:2, 5) and Luke “angels” (Luke 24:23)

THE PROCLAMATION/THE GOOD NEWS:

Comfort: “Do not be alarmed” (v. 6).
Knowledge: “You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified” (v. 6).
Another witness to the death of Jesus.
The glory: “He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him” (v. 6).
One of the most amazing things ever seen in human history is WHAT THEY DIDN’T SEE—they didn’t see the corpse of Jesus! “He has risen!”
Spread the Word: “But go, tell his disciples AND PETER” (v. 7).
Don’t miss that personal ministry to Peter.
Peter the one who denied Jesus early Friday morning.
Well, on this Sunday morning 48 hours later, the Lord wants Peter to hear.
Peter failed Jesus but Jesus would not forsake Peter.
Reunion: “He is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you” (v. 7).

THEIR REACTION IS DRAMATIC

“Went out and fled”
“Trembling and astonishment had seized them”
“Said nothing to anyone”
“For they were afraid.”

TAKEAWAY: What the angel told the women to do, God tells us to do: “Go, tell” (Mark 16:7).

GOSPEL CONVERSATIONS
Well done!
TUESDAY TALKS

Conclusion

Let’s think about the angels’s gospel presentation: “He has risen; he is not here” (Mark 16:6).

“He has risen!”—In fulfillment of OT prophecies—Ps 16:8–11
“He has risen!”—In fulfillment of Jesus’ own prophecies—Mark 8:31; 9:31; 10:33–34
“He has risen!”—To demonstrate that he is the Son of God—Rom 1:4.
“He has risen!”—To complete his work of redemption
Thomas F. Torrance:

The resurrection is God’s great act of Amen to the Cross…the Father’s Amen to Christ’s high priestly self-offering in obedience and sacrifice for sin.
Thomas F. Torrance, Space, Time, and Resurrection[3]

His work of redemption wasn’t just to die for sins.
Also to be raised to new life.
That’s what we experience when we believe in him.
We experience being BORN AGAIN, RESURRECTION LIFE, “NEWNESS OF LIFE”!

There are a lot of situations when the end is not the end. Just the beginning.

A pregnancy…. A graduation
A job training program

And that’s so true with the resurrection of Jesus.

Christ being raised from the dead is a new beginning for us.
It’s not the end of anything.
It’s the sunrise after the longest night.
It’s an announcement that things will be different now.
Not heaven on earth—But a foretaste of heaven even while on earth.

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. (Rom 6:4)

Newness of life is being held out to us in the resurrection of Jesus: Take it!

The resurrection reminds us we don’t need a little change or life hack: We need a resurrection!

Just like our country doesn’t need a little adjustment or change: It needs a revival!

Prayer and closing song (“Chris is Risen,” Matt Maher)

[1] Andreas Köstenberger, Darrell Bock, Josh Chatraw, Truth Matters, 53.

[2] http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/1clement-roberts.html

[3] Cited in Peter Lewis, The Glory of Christ, 357.